Milosevic makes human rights claim

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- Former Yugoslav leader Slobodan Milosevic has made a complaint to the judges hearing his war crimes trial about the rigorous courtroom schedule.

"You are denying me my basic human needs," he said during a procedural hearing at the end of the day on Friday.

"You are depriving me of two hours of fresh air every day."

Milosevic, who is defending himself against charges of genocide, then described his daily routine to the panel.

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He said he rises at 7 a.m. every weekday to prepare for the 10-minute drive from the detention centre in seaside Scheveningen to the tribunal building in The Hague.

Although the court adjourns at 4 p.m., he said he remains inside the building for at least another hour and often returns to the prison only at 6 p.m.

That schedule, he said, leaves him with two-and-a-half hours until he is locked in his cell.

"Let me be quite clear I am not asking for anything here," Milosevic told the three judges. "I just want it to be known what conditions you have placed me in."

Earlier, the first protected witness to give evidence in trial appeared in court.

Prosecutors can request that the identity of witnesses remains secret and that their testimony against the former Yugoslav president is heard behind closed doors.

Curtains in the court room were closed behind the bulletproof screen separating the courtroom from the public gallery, and external speakers and video screens were shut down during their evidence, which will not appear in the court transcripts to be made public.

Milosevic has the right to be in the courtroom and is entitled to cross-examine the witnesses.

Branko Ruzic, a spokesman for Milosevic's Socialist Party, said the witness was one of two ethnic Albanian women from Kosovo expected to give evidence under protection on Friday.

He told the Associated Press: "It would be better if the entire trial was open to the public, but it is perfectly within the rights of this court to protect such cases.

"Their testimonies, however tragic, can in no way implicate Milosevic."

Milosevic has been charged with five counts of murder, deportation and persecution in the Serbian province in 1999.

He faces another 61 counts of war crimes, including genocide, stemming from the Croatian and Bosnian wars between 1991 and 1995.

He has refused to enter a plea, forcing the court to enter a not guilty plea on his behalf.

Conducting his own defence, Milosevic has challenged many details of the evidence given so far by prosecution witnesses.

Nine prosecution witnesses have appeared at the trial, which started on February 12.

Hundreds more witnesses, including many victims of alleged Serb atrocities, are expected to give evidence during a trial set to last at least two years.

Milosevic's indictment accuses him of responsibility for the death of thousands and the deportation of 800,000.

Prosecutors say that for several months Serbs looted and torched Kosovo Albanian villages as part of a wider plan to rid the area of its non-Serb inhabitants.