Two trials for Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav leader, refused yesterday to enter a plea in response to charges against him of genocide stemming from the killing and expulsion of tens of thousands of Muslims and Croats in the Bosnian war from 1992-95.

But judges at the UN tribunal in the Hague ruled that his first trial - for war crimes in Kosovo in 1999 - would go ahead on February 12, while a separate trial later would combine the Bosnia and Croatia indictments.

Now a familiar figure in his blue suit and matching tie, sitting defiantly but keeping his self-control, Mr Milosevic dismissed the genocide charge - the gravest possible in international law - as an "absurdity". The court's presiding judge, Richard May, entered a "not guilty" plea on his behalf.

"I should be given credit for peace in Bosnia, not war," Mr Milosevic said in his fourth appearance since being surrendered by Belgrade last summer.

The indictment charges that he "exercised effective control or substantial influence" over officials and officers who committed "the widespread killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats". The aim was to liquidate or deport the entire non-Serb population of parts of Bosnia. There is one count of genocide, one of complicity with genocide, and 27 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Mr Milosevic said: "The responsibility for the war in Bosnia lies with the [western] powers and their agents, not in Bosnia and not with Serbs, Serb people or Serb policy."

Judge May did not cut off his microphone, as he has before. Richard Dicker, of the US-based group Human Rights Watch, said: "He deserves to make his arguments however objectionable they are."