Milosevic to face genocide charges

Former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic will face genocide charges over his conduct of the Bosnian war, the UN war crimes tribunal decided today. The "Butcher of Belgrade", as he was known, has already been charged with war crimes in Kosovo and Croatia.

But the Bosnia indictment is the first to include genocide - the most serious crime in the tribunal's statute.

If convicted of organising the slaughter of thousands of Muslims between 1992 and 1995, Milosevic, 60, would undoubtedly end his days in prison.

Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann today confirmed the move to lodge the third indictment against Milosevic, who led Yugoslavia through four Balkan wars in the Nineties.

Milosevic is charged with 29 counts, including genocide, complicity to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions.