Milosevic accused of 'savagery'

He entered the dock with a smirk, sighed wearily and slouched in his chair.

Stripped of power yet contemptuous of all around him, Slobodan Milosevic went on trial today accused of the worst war crimes in Europe since the Nazi era, atrocities committed with "almost mediaeval savagery", a special tribunal was told.

The former Yugoslav president, whose cruelty in the Balkans led to the phrase "ethnic cleansing" and earned him the nickname "Butcher of Belgrade" faces 66 counts on indictments of genocide and crimes against humanity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo over a period of 10 years.

The conflict left 130,000 people dead and three million driven from their homes. The court registrar opened proceedings by reading the case number: IT0254T. There followed harrowing descriptions of some of the many acts of barbarity carried out by Serb soldiers under the command of Milosevic. There were reports of mass rapes and an account of an entire family being burned alive, including a new-born baby.

Milosevic, 60, the first former head of state to face such charges, will come face to face with victims describing their ordeals in a trial expected to last two years.

Carla Del Ponte, 55, the Swiss lawyer who is part of a prosecution team headed by British barrister Geoffrey Nice, began her 28-minute opening statement with a tribute to the international co-operation that has brought Milosevic to trial at The Hague. She said: "Milosevic is accused of crimes against the people of his own country and of other countries. How simple that statement is to make, how easy it passes into the court record. Yet how remarkable it is that I am able to speak these words. Today, as never before, we see international justice in action... no one is above the law, or beyond the reach of justice."

She said the prosecution team's task is "to allow the voice of the victims to be heard - many of the victims cannot come to you because they did not survive." She then described why Milosevic is to be tried: "We should just pause to recall the daily scenes of grief and suffering that came to the countries of the former Yugoslavia.

"We saw an almost mediaeval savagery and calculated cruelty that went far beyond the boundaries of legitimate warfare, scenes that the international community was shocked to witness.

"These were crimes against humanity. Crimes of this magnitude affect all of us throughout the world. They touch every one of us because they offend our deepest feelings."

Milosevic made no attempt to disguise his scorn for the court's authority as Mrs Del Ponte anticipated a trial that will "make history".

The court will hear that Milosevic was the architect of numerous atrocities. The bloodshed began soon after he became president of Yugoslavia, in 1989, and culminated 10 years later in his capitulation in the face of bombing by Nato over humanitarian outrages in Kosovo.

"Power is what motivated Slobodan Milosevic," said Mrs Del Ponte. "He had a personal responsibility for these events."

The case will be the biggest of its kind since the Nuremburg trials at the end of the Second World War.

Milosevic could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted on just a single charge. His fate will be decided by a panel of three judges, including Briton Richard May, in a trial expected to cost at least £30million.

Milosevic in his defence intends to try to call various world leaders, including Tony Blair and former US President Bill Clinton, as witnesses.

However this is more a typical act of bravado than a realistic court strategy as there is thought to be no realistic prospect of either actually attending.

He has shown contempt for the US, Britain, the United Nations and Nato, accusing them of imposing "victors' justice" on the country they bombed into submission three years ago.

He has refused to recognise the court and declined to appoint counsel.

The difficulty for the prosecution team is not going to be proving that atrocities took place - the very existence of the International Criminal Tribunal is based on the acceptance of this fact - but on linking Milosevic to them. The tribunal has convicted 26 of the 31 people who have faced trial since its creation in 1993.

But most of them were identified as being present, often in command, at the scene of mass murder or gang rape. With Milosevic the prosecution's difficulty is going to be in finding any "smoking gun" that can show he gave direct orders, or clearly knew of plans, to slaughter or otherwise brutalise civilians.

The trial will begin by concentrating on the most recent events, in Kosovo in 1998-9, before moving back to events in Croatia in 1991 and Bosnia in 1992-5.

The case will take its participants into uncharted legal waters.

But many of those involved are confident the journey will be worthwhile. "Milosevic can rest assured that there is irrefutable evidence against him, proving his responsibility for genocide," Mrs Del Ponte said in an interview yesterday. "I am sure he will be convicted."

The trial's opening phase, which may last four months, will focus on the murder of hundreds of Kosovo Albanians by Serbian security forces and the expulsion of some 800,000 people from their homes in 1998 and 1999.

These acts of aggression led directly to the Nato bombing of Yugoslavia three years ago which in turn helped bring about the downfall of Milosevic.

The case is being closely watched by the international community as it could provide a possible model for future trials of the likes of Osama bin Laden.

Mother burned alive with newborn child
The charge sheet
Film reveals thirst for power
The British judge
The Swiss prosecutor