Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic clashed with UN war crimes judges yesterday, branding them biased and again accusing NATO of atrocities in Kosovo.
At a procedural hearing a month before his trial for alleged atrocities in Kosovo, Milosevic said the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal had based allegations he masterminded a brutal campaign in the province purely on British intelligence reports.
Hinting that the court is politically motivated, Milosevic said the trial chamber was also led by a British judge, Richard May.
In a repeat of previous run-ins between the pair, May then turned off Milosevic's microphone, told him he would have his chance to make his case during the trial and closed the hearing.
"This is not the time for speeches," he said, tossing his headphones onto his desk and marching out of court. "We have listened to you patiently."
Milosevic has been charged with five counts of war crimes for the Serb crackdown on Kosovar Albanians in 1998 and 1999. Prosecutors will open their case Feb. 12 at the start of the trial.
Milosevic looked relaxed and defiant as he listened to the proceedings flanked by two UN guards. When asked to comment on what he had heard, Milosevic instead accused NATO and "Albanian terrorists" of war crimes including killing civilians and bombing maternity wards, hospitals, bridges and railways.
Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said his team wanted to call 110 witnesses to testify against him, but May said he would allow 90 given "the size and complexity of the case."
May advised Milosevic to reconsider his decision not to appoint legal counsel and offered him a court investigator to help prepare his defense.
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