Bosnians hail Milosevic move

Milosevic has refused to appoint a legal team

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- Bosnian Muslims have welcomed the U.N. war crimes tribunal's decision to indict former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic for genocide.

"It will not bring people back from the dead or rebuild houses, but it does show that a crime cannot be outdated and that no one can escape justice," said Amer Kapetanovic, a Muslim spokesman for the Bosnian Foreign Ministry.

The 29-count indictment prepared by the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, charges Milosevic with crimes during the 1992-95 war whose goal was "the forcible and permanent removal of non-Serbs from the Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina."

"Milosevic himself admitted his guilt when he said he secretly financed paramilitary units which committed crimes in Bosnia," Kapetanovic said.

Milosevic, extradited from Belgrade on June 28, has already been indicted for alleged war crimes in Kosovo and Croatia. Genocide is the most serious charge he could face.

The 1995 massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica -- just miles from the border with Serbia which Milosevic ruled as president at that time -- is one of the crimes listed in the new indictment.

"Milosevic and his military leadership are guilty for everything, especially for Srebrenica," said Munira Subasic, the head of the Mothers of Srebrenica and Zepa association of the 1995 massacre survivors.

"Not only did three Yugoslav army corps take part in the aggression, but we were also bombed by tanks and howitzers from Yugoslavia for three-and-a-half years," she said.

Ordinary Sarajevans also praised the indictment, saying Milosevic would be punished in the end.

"This charge means a lot to all of us. It means that justice will be finally done and Milosevic will be held accountable for all those crimes committed on his behalf in Bosnia," 38-year-old Muslim Fahro Halilovic told Reuters in central Sarajevo.

"But I am afraid that there is no sentence that could please us and punish Milosevic... even a life sentence would be too mild for him compared to what he did," the security guard said. U.N. Tribunal prosecutors' spokesman Florence Hartmann said that the indictment included "persecution including sexual violence, torture, deportation, inhuman acts, confinement in camps, and imprisonment and many things.

"He is indicted for his superior authority and his responsibility for crimes committed by subordinates in Bosnia."

She said that named in the "joint criminal enterprise" with Milosevic were all the former top Serb leaders including Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic and political leader Radovan Karadzic.

Milosevic has been defiant in his three appearances before the court since he was transferred to the U.N. detention unit in a Dutch prison outside The Hague.

He has refused to appoint a lawyer to defend himself in what he calls an illegitimate and biased court.

Last week, the court agreed to allow a former U.S. attorney general to be his legal advisor, but he will not be allowed to defend the former president in court. Prosecutors plan to merge all three indictments against Milosevic into one trial to shorten his time in court and eliminate overlapping testimony.

An initial trial date has been set for February 12, 2002, but that would be delayed by several months if tribunal judges agree to hold just the one trial.