Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is gearing up to fight conviction in the biggest war crimes trial in Europe since the end of World War Two.

Prosecutors at the trial opening in The Hague Tuesday charge Mr. Milosevic with genocide and crimes against humanity committed during three wars in the 1990s that tore apart Yugoslavia.

The wars in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo killed hundreds of thousands of people and created more than one million refugees.

Prosecutors say Mr. Milosevic ordered massacres to eliminate non-Serbs and link all ethnic Serbs into one state. His lawyers say the charges are false and their client will, in their words, "fight for the truth."

The former Yugoslav leader has already spent seven months behind bars in The Hague. If convicted, he could spend the rest of his life in prison.

Mr. Milosevic was forced from power by a popular uprising in October of 2000 after 13 years in power. Serbia delivered Mr. Milosevic to the Hague war crimes tribunal last June, under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union.

Some information for this report provided by Reuters and AFP.

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