Milosevic Trial Set to Begin in February

A United Nations tribunal ruled Tuesday that Slobodan Milosevic’s trial for war crimes in Kosovo will begin in February and be followed by a trial for genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina and crimes against humanity in Croatia.

The ruling came after Milosevic refused to enter a plea to an indictment accusing him of committing every crime in the tribunal’s statute, including genocide.

As in previous indictments, the judges entered a plea of not guilty on his behalf.

Milosevic faces three separate indictments for crimes in Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia dating from his 13 years in power in Yugoslavia, during which he is accused of instigating and conducting a decade of ethnic war.

Milosevic has been held at a U.N. facility near The Hague since June. All 66 counts against him carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

The indictment charges that Milosevic “exercised effective control or substantial influence” over the political officials and military officers who committed “the widespread killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats” in an effort to create a larger Serbian state.

During his fourth appearance before U.N. judges, Milosevic dismissed those charges, the most serious crimes in the court’s statute, as misconstrued and absurd.

“This miserable text is the ultimate absurdity. I should be given credit for peace in Bosnia, not war,” Milosevic responded when asked whether he was guilty or innocent.