Posted on 03/06/2004 3:02:55 AM PST by Destro
Posted on Fri, Mar. 05, 2004
Motion Filed to Dismiss Milosevic Charges
ARTHUR MAX
Associated Press
THE HAGUE, Netherlands - The U.N. war crimes tribunal received a motion Friday to dismiss genocide charges against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic for lack of evidence.
The motion came in a 95-page brief by three amici curiae, or friends of the court, who were appointed to help protect the interests of the former Yugoslav president and ensure a fair trial.
The motion also sought immediate acquittal on other charges related to the wars in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia that convulsed the Balkans during the 1990s.
The three independent attorneys argued there was no evidence that Milosevic specifically intended to exterminate Muslims and Croats during the 1992-95 Bosnian War, as alleged in his indictment.
"There is no evidence the accused planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of a genocide or genocidal acts," the amici wrote.
They said the prosecution also failed to prove that any of Milosevic's subordinates committed genocide, which requires proof they had the prior intent to destroy a racial, ethnic or religious group.
The genocide charges "should be excised from the Bosnia indictment at this stage of the proceedings," the motion said.
In a point-by-point review of the indictment, the lawyers challenged the prosecution's evidence as insufficient or nonexistent. They asked the tribunal to acquit Milosevic outright on several counts and to strike dozens of paragraphs from the indictment as unsupported.
Regarding both the Croatian war at the outset of the Balkan troubles and the Kosovo conflict in 1999, the motion sought a ruling on the precise date that the fighting stopped being an internal revolt and became an international conflict. That could affect several of the counts.
The motion had been widely expected. Independent analysts agreed the prosecution case on the genocide charge was weak, and the prosecutors themselves reportedly were bitterly divided over whether to include the charges in the indictment.
The motion came amid a reorganization of the tribunal following the unexpected resignation last month of presiding judge Richard May due to an undisclosed illness.
(Excerpt) Read more at mercurynews.com ...
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