PRE-DEFENSE CONFERENCE SUMMARY
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 17, 2004

by Andy Wilcoxson

JUNE 17, 2004 - The Hague tribunal held a pre-defense conference today in the so-called "trial" of Slobodan Milosevic. Not surprisingly, the tribunal used the conference as an opportunity place severe restrictions on his defense.

Milosevic has been denied sufficient time to prepare his defense. The prosecution case ended on February 18th, but the tribunal's medical staff would not allow Milosevic to begin work until March 25th. They also refused to let him work between April 14th and May 25th. On top of that, they will not allow him to work for more than three days a week.

During the time that the tribunal's doctors won't allow Milosevic to work, he is kept practically in isolation. He can not interview witnesses, and he is prohibited from seeing his legal associates. The prison authorities simply send them all away.

In spite of all the sick time that has been imposed on him by the tribunal, they are still requiring him to begin his defense on July 5th. This means that they have denied him even the ridiculously short 90 day preparation period that they had promised him originally.

On top of denying Milosevic any possibility of preparation. They have imposed a 150 day limit on his defense case, which is substantially less time than the prosecution got.

In addition, the so-called "trial chamber" announced that it would only allow Milosevic to call witnesses that it considered to be relevant. It was noted that a large group of witnesses that Milosevic wishes to call are Serbs who were detained in camps in Bosnia and Croatia. In its zeal to crucify the Serbian people and label them as aggressors the tribunal questioned the relevance of these Serb victims, even though their relevance is obvious.

Unlike the prosecution, the tribunal is demanding that Milosevic produce documents and witness lists in a timely and orderly fashion. Acknowledging the double standard, the "Presiding Judge," Patrick Robinson told Milosevic that he should not use the prosecution's prior conduct as a guide for how to present his case.

Milosevic is required to tender all of his exhibits in the next seven days. He is required to produce a list of his first fifty witnesses in the order that he intends to call them. He is also required to present the reports from all of his expert witnesses six weeks before they testify. None of these requirements were imposed on the prosecution. Milosevic constantly received information from the prosecution only at the last minute. For example, when the prosecution called Gen. Morillion, Milosevic was only given the witness statement when he got to the court that morning.

In spite of the tribunal's attempts to deny him his right to a defense, Milosevic remained defiant. He told the tribunal that "The most terrible accusations have been uttered here. The most flagrant lies have been spoken here as well, and the only means to fight that is to present the truth." He went on to say, "I should like here before the public to prove that these are false indictments, false accusations against Serbia, against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, against myself personally, and against what you call Serb troops."

Milosevic demanded that the tribunal subpoena Bill Clinton, Tony Blair, Hans-Dietrich Genscher, and Gerhard Schroeder to testify about their roles in the destruction of Yugoslavia. He said, "Clinton has to appear here. Schroeder, Blair, others, too" Milosevic added, "The reasons for which Mr. Clinton should appear here are quite clear. He decided upon many matters which had to do with Yugoslavia. He uttered a series of lies as a pretext to the bombing of Yugoslavia. He gave the orders."

In spite of Milosevic's request, the tribunal made no formal decision on whether or not they would subpoena these people. Milosevic also requested that the tribunal subpoena intelligence service documents from Britain, Germany and the United States.

The names of the other witnesses that Milosevic intends to call remained confidential. Although, Milosevic did indicate that he will call a series of expert witnesses "in the first wave" in order to "lay the foundation" of his case. Following the experts, he will call the fact-based witnesses who were on the ground and witnessed events first hand.

Milosevic will begin his defense with an opening statement on July 5th, and following that he will call his first witness.

# # #