General Milošević’s defense case starts

General Milošević’s defense case starts

General Milošević’s defense strategy – as indicated by his defense counsel in the course of the prosecution case – is expected to be based on total denial that the artillery or snipers under his command committed any crimes.

The defense will be trying to prove that the civilian casualties in that period were either “collateral damage” in the fighting in a built-up area, or were in fact targeted deliberately by their own army to lay the blame on the Serb side.

Also this week at The Hague, the prosecution will continue its case at the two mega trials: that of the seven Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged with genocide and other crimes in July 1995 in Srebrenica and Žepa and that of the six former officials of the so-called Herceg Bosna, charged with crimes in Western Herzegovina and Central Bosnia in the Croat-Muslim conflict in 1993 and 1994.

The prosecution will also continue its case at the trial of the three former KLA commanders: Ramush Haradinaj, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj, charged with crimes against the Albanian, Serbian and Roma civilians in Kosovo in 1998, and at the trial of the former Macedonian interior minister Boskoski and special police commander Tarculovski, on trial for an illegal raid in the village of Ljuboten near Skopje in August 2001.

On Monday, May 21, there will be a status conference in the case against Rasim Delić, former Bosnian Army commander. The Trial Chamber is expected to set a trial date.

Delić is charged, on the basis of command responsibility, with failure to prevent or punish the crimes committed by the so-called mujahedin between mid-1992 and the end of the war in Bosnia. Delić’s trial will in all likelihood begin in June or July.

The preparations for the trial and possible start dates will be discussed at status conferences in the case against Vojislav Šešelj, charged with crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Vojvodina, and in the case against Momčilo Perišić, former Chief of the General Staff of the Yugoslav Army.

The indictment against him is for the support – in materiel, personnel and logistics - provided by the Yugoslav Army (VJ) and Belgrade for the shelling of Zagreb and Sarajevo and the capture of Srebrenica.

The status conference in the Šešelj case has been scheduled for Tuesday, and the one in the Perišić case for Wednesday, May 23.