War crimes tribunal rejects Milosevic's request for release

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Judges at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Wednesday rejected Slobodan Milosevic's request to be released to better prepare his defense, saying they were not satisfied by his assurances he would not flee.

The former Yugoslav leader, who is defending himself on war crimes and genocide charges, has repeatedly demanded his provisional release from a detention facility near the Netherlands-based court, complaining that the court was curbing his right to adequately prepare for his case.

Milosevic said he would not "run away from this battle" if released.

"The trial chamber is not satisfied that if released, he (Milosevic) would continue to appear at the trial or would not pose a danger to any witness or others," Judge Richard May said, reading the court's decision.

"For these reasons, the application is dismissed."

However, May added that the judges "recognize the difficulties" Milosevic may face since he has not appointed a lawyer but speaks for himself.

Three lawyers appointed by the tribunal to assist Milosevic and safeguard his rights asked the court to allow the defendant access to a computer, fax, telephone, video and photocopier, at the detention facility and at the court.

Faces charges

The trial, which began Feb. 12, is seen as the most important since 22 Nazis were tried after the World War II. Milosevic stands accused of 66 charges of war crimes in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia -- where the allegations include genocide -- during Yugoslavia's violent breakup in the 1990s.

Earlier Wednesday, Milosevic challenged the testimony of an ethnic Albanian teacher, claiming Serb forces did not deport Kosovo Albanians but that the refugees fled the province in fear of NATO's 1999 airwar.

The former Yugoslav leader cross-examined Qamil Shabani, 50, who had testified to how Milosevic's troops rounded up ethnic Albanians from Kosovo's southeastern Zegra village and ordered them out of the country.

"There was no deportation, this witness said they were fleeing from the battlefield in the night so as not to be noticed by Serb police and army," Milosevic said.

In his witness statement, Shabani said: "We were aware what would happen to us, people knew they would suffer at the hands of the Serbs, so we were forced to flee."

Troops 'went wild'

Shabani testified how at the start of NATO bombing in March 1999, the Serb troops "went wild," shooting and shelling houses in Zegra, killing one local ethnic Albanian leader and prompting 4,000 villagers to flee.

"So how was this savagery -- as you said it -- visible, how did they become wild, did they froth at the mouth?" Milosevic asked.

"This was visible when they started to mistreat, beat the people, insult ethnic Albanians, shooting at their rooftops," Shabani answered.

Serb forces herded Shabani and other Zegra villagers to the nearby village of Donja Stubla, where the number of refugees grew to 20,000, before he fled across the border to Macedonia with his family.

The first phase of the trial deals with the 1998-99 conflict in Kosovo for which Milosevic is held responsible for the deportation 800,000 people.

He could be sentenced to life in a European prison if convicted.

Another witness began his testimony Wednesday against Milosevic, the 14th to appear in court.

Sabit Kadriu, 41, said he worked as a human rights activist in the town of Vucitrn in northern Kosovo. He described seeing scores of "massacred and mutilated bodies" of ethnic Albanian families in the villages of Cirez, Likosan and Prekaz in 1998 after onslaughts by police and military.

Kadriu, who was detained by police seven times and once sentenced to 20 days in jail, went into the villages to investigate reports of human rights abuses.

Meanwhile, Pierre-Richard Prosper, the U.S. ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues, reassured the U.N tribunal on Wednesday that American support for the court will last until its most wanted suspects -- Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic -- have been put on trial.

Last week, Prosper pressed for the closure of the ad hoc war crimes tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia. In a speech to the House International Relations Committee, he said the Bush administration wanted both tribunals finish their work by 2007-2008.

But after meeting U.N. tribunal's chief prosecutor, Del Ponte, Prosper indicated that the U.S. will continue backing the tribunal's work even if trials run beyond that target date.