Milosevic Begins His Opening Statement: Says Serbian people are on trial

The accused, Slobodan Milosevic, former President of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), began his opening statement on day three of his trial for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. Though he does not recognize the legitimacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, he nevertheless laid out an aggressive defense. He challenged the Prosecution's characterization of the case as directed against him as an individual, saying it is a political trial against the government, army, police, intelligentsia, nation and people of Serbia.

Focusing on the Kosovo part of the charges, Milosevic charged the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) with genocide and war crimes for waging war against FRY. He accused NATO of provoking war to legitimize its own expansion and of intentionally targeting civilians and civilian structures. In addition, he claimed NATO's military action was illegal since it was not authorized by the United Nations Security Council. His position is that the massive number of refugees (between 600,000 and 800,000) and internally displaced persons (approximately 250,000) were fleeing NATO bombs and on orders from the Kosovo Liberation Army.

As for the wars in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, Milosevic continues to deny any Serbian or FRY involvement.

Milosevic's opening statement continues tomorrow.