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Milosevic Trial Opens Today VOA News 12 Feb 2002 06:20 UTC 
The trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic opens today (Tuesday) at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague. Mr. Milosevic faces charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the Balkans wars of the 1990s. He is accused of responsibility for policies that led to the massacres of thousands of non-Serbs and left millions homeless. Prosecutors are expected to focus first on the former Yugoslav leader's role in the Kosovo conflict, then turn their attention to the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. U.N. Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte has described Mr. Milosevic's actions as an effort to achieve a single goal - to create what she called a "greater Serbia". Mr. Milosevic has rejected the legality of the court and the charges against him. He has refused to enter a plea or name a defense lawyer. Judges at the tribunal entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf. However, legal advisers described Mr. Milosevic as confident and ready for the trial. They said he plans to call former and present world leader to appear before the court to testify that they once considered him a peacemaker in the Balkans. The trial is considered Europe's most important war crimes prosecution since the Nuremberg proceedings against Nazi Germany's leaders after World War Two. The trial is expected to last up to two years. A popular uprising forced Mr. Milosevic from power in October, 2000. Serbia delivered the 60-year-old former leader to the International Criminal Tribunal last June, under intense pressure from the United States and the European Union.
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