Milosevic 'prepared' for trial

Milosevic was the first sitting head of state to be indicted by an international court

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Lawyers for former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic say he is "completely prepared" for his war crimes trial which starts on Tuesday.

Milosevic is charged by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in the Hague with crimes against humanity in Croatia, genocide in Bosnia and crimes against humanity in Kosovo.

It will be the biggest European war crimes trial since Hitler's henchmen were tried at Nuremberg after World War II.

Milosevic met his lawyers on Monday and told them he would cite in his defence the words and deeds of Western leaders during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.

"He is completely prepared for tomorrow. Mentally and physically," Serb legal adviser Dragoslav Ognjanovic told Reuters after a three-hour meeting with Milosevic.

Hundreds of journalists, international officials, lawyers and human rights activists converged for the start of a trial expected to last at least two years.

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Milosevic, who lost power to reformists in Belgrade after elections in 2000, has branded the court "illegal" and the charges against him "monstrous."

He has dismissed the charges as a conspiracy by the West to tarnish the memory of his 13-year rule, and has chosen not to appoint defence counsel in a show of contempt for the court.

The tribunal has entered "not guilty" pleas on his behalf to all three indictments and appointed three prominent international lawyers as "friends of the court" to ensure he has a fair trial.

Former U.S. President Bill Clinton, his Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, and former British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook are among those Milosevic intends to call to testify.

Milosevic was charged with war crimes in Kosovo in 1999. Indictments on Croatia and Bosnia followed last year. As a result, prosecutors will deal first with Kosovo before introducing evidence from the two earlier conflicts.

The Kosovo indictment accuses him of responsibility, alongside four other senior Serbs, for the murder of 900 Kosovo Albanians and expulsion of about 800,000 civilians from their homes.

In the Croatia indictment he is accused of responsibility for the deaths of hundreds of Croats and other non-Serbs between August 1991-92 and the deportation of 170,000.

The Bosnia indictment is the most serious of the three, including the charge of genocide.

Hundreds of thousands died in the three conflicts

He is accused of responsibility in Bosnia for the Srebrenica massacre of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys, the siege of Sarajevo and the deportation or imprisonment of over a quarter of a million.

CNN's Chief International Correspondent Christiane Amanpour said: "Throughout the 1990s, in the name of preserving Yugoslavia, Slobodan Milosevic instead presided over its destruction.

"He led Yugoslavia into three wars that left hundreds of thousands dead, first in Croatia, then in Bosnia and finally in Kosovo. Civilians were primary targets, a violation of the laws of war handed in the Geneva conventions after World War II.

"The term ethnic cleansing became synonymous with Bosnia, as Serb forces there loyal to Milosevic tried to carve out a separate state by forcibly moving the non-Serb civilian population. They unleashed heavy artillery against multi-ethnic cities like Sarajevo, and laid siege to towns and villages throughout the state.

"Snipers targeted men, women and children. Markets full of people shopping were shelling, and in scenes unknown in Europe since World War II, there were concentration camps, mass rape, and the forced prostitution of women and very young girls. And almost every day, deportations, which added to the millions of refugees."

The West, the United Nations and NATO engaged in shuttle diplomacy, peacekeeping, sanctions and eventually air strikes, in an attempt to halt the conflicts.

Milosevic, who has already spent seven months behind bars in The Hague, could spend the rest of his life in prison if convicted.