Everyone to Blame But Me, Says Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic yesterday launched his defence as the first European head of state accused of genocide by blaming everyone but the Serbs and himself for the bloodbath of Yugoslavia's disintegration.

In a four-hour speech at the international war crimes tribunal in the Hague 30 months into his trial on 66 counts of war crimes, Mr Milosevic turned the tribunal dock into a soapbox as he raced through more than 100 years of Serbian history, a narrative that consistently had the Germans and the Vatican in the starring roles as the bad guys in the unending plots to destroy the Serbs.

"The Serb people, the Serb leadership and I personally made every attempt to preserve the Yugoslav community. We were on the side of the law," the former Yugoslav and Serbian president asserted in a vigorous performance that betrayed little signs of the ill-health that caused yesterday's defence statement to be repeatedly postponed.

Bill Clinton and Madeleine Albright, Tony Blair, Helmut Kohl, the mullahs of Iran, the Hizbullah of Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, fascists, neo-Nazis, the Vatican, and the European Union were all blamed for acting in concert with "Albanian terrorists", "Bosnian Islamic fundamentalists", and "Croatian [fascist] Ustashe" to destroy Yugoslavia.

For the four wars that Mr Milosevic fought and lost, leaving more than two million homeless and more than 200,000 dead through the 1990s, the Serbs and their leader were utterly blameless.

"Yugoslavia didn't simply disappear into thin air. It was destroyed violently by a plan and by a war that is still being waged," he declared, stabbing his fingers at the bench of three judges, shuffling his papers, and using his spectacles as a theatrical prop. "The war in Yugoslavia was not started by Serbs or in Serbia. It was started by Ustashe, neo-Nazis, Islamic fundamentalists, and Albanian terrorists. It is not hard to prove."

He added that Nato used depleted uranium shells in the air war against Serbia in 1999 to destroy Serbia's prospects of developing a thriving organic farming sector.

Halfway through Mr Milosevic's opening statement, Judge Patrick Robinson interrupted to warn him that his potted history of Serbdom was irrelevant to the business at hand. "You must discipline yourself," the judge told him. "It's questionable whether a lot of what you are saying is relevant to your case."

Much of the speech was inadmissible as evidence, the judge warned.

Mr Milosevic has 150 days in court to attempt to rebut the 66 charges of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against hu manity in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo between 1991 and 1999. But while the prosecution has pressed criminal charges against a single individual in order to avoid stigmatising any of the peoples of former Yugoslavia as collectively guilty of war crimes, Mr Milosevic's tactics are clearly to distance himself from personal involvement and portray the tribunal as an anti-Serbian plot.

"This is aimed at the audience back home," said Nenad Stefanovic, a Serbian commentator. "Many people will believe it."

Mr Milosevic, devoting a large tranche of his statement to attacks on the legitimacy of the tribunal, which he refuses to recognise, said: "This tribunal is an instrument of war, not of justice." Rising last as the panel of three judges entered the courtroom yesterday morning, Mr Milosevic stood blowing his nose before sitting down and addressing the judge as "Mr Robinson".

Halfway through his statement, Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor, appeared to be dozing off. She was flanked by Geoffrey Nice, the British lawyer who has spent more than two years building a detailed picture of Mr Milosevic's alleged crimes.

Mr Milosevic complained he was not being given long enough for his statement. Judge Robinson told him he was having his "second bite at the cherry" but later ruled that Mr Milosevic could continue his statement this morning.

The judges are examining at least three confidential statements from heart specialists who have examined Mr Milosevic since the trial was adjourned at the beginning of July because of the accused's heart condition and high blood pressure. One of the medical experts has concluded that Mr Milosevic is not fit to defend himself, although he refuses to accept defence lawyers.

The judges are expected to decide later this week whether to impose a defence team on Mr Milosevic. He is scheduled to call his first witness, "a very important expert" on former Yugoslavia, next week.