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CNN Live At Daybreak

Milosevic Demonstrates Scorn for War Crimes Tribunal; Village of Racak Closely Follows Proceedings

Aired July 03, 2001 - 07:01   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
COLLEEN MCEDWARDS, CNN ANCHOR: Slobodan Milosevic clearly shows his scorn for the war crimes tribunal. The former Yugoslav president made his first appearance before the court today a memorable one.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour was there and joins us now with that story from The Hague in the Netherlands -- Christiane.

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Colleen, good morning.

As if it wasn't dramatic enough to see, in the dark, the first ever former head of state to be brought to trial under the jurisdiction of an international tribunal -- as if that wasn't enough drama, Slobodan Milosevic himself provided an additional range of drama here when he refused to recognize the jurisdiction of this court.

He called it politically motivated. He said he didn't want to have a defense counsel here. And he would not enter a plea. The presiding judge recommended that he have a defense counsel. He said: "I urge you to reconsider. This is going to be a long and complicated proceeding. Do you reconsider?" he started by asking Milosevic.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, WAR CRIMES DEFENDANT: I consider this tribunal a forced tribunal and indictments forced indictments. It is illegal, being not appointed by U.N. General assembly. So I have no need to appoint counsel to illegal organ.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now, the point of this initial court appearance was for the indictment to be read out to him, for him to be asked whether he understood the charges, and for him to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.

So the presiding judge asked him, "Do you want the indictment read or do you waive that right?" He said, "That's your problem." The judge said, "I take that to be a waive of your rights." Then he asked, "Do you want to enter a plea: guilty or not guilty?" Milosevic refused to enter a plea, again saying that he felt that this was a proceeding designed, as he said, to avoid war crimes committed by NATO against the former Yugoslavia. The judge cut him off and he said: "This is not a time for speeches or political demonstrations. We take you to have refused to enter a plea. And therefore, on your behalf, we enter a plea of not guilty on all the charges."

Slobodan Milosevic was indicted two years ago on four counts of crimes against humanity and the violation of laws and customs of war. Specifically, he is accused of: being complicit in murder, the murder of 600 ethnic Albanians; in deportation, the deportation of 740,000 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo; and in persecution along racial ethnic and religious and political lines.

The next proceeding here -- today's is adjourned -- will take place on August 27 -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: Christiane, it's one thing to bring Slobodan Milosevic before the tribunal. It's quite another to get a conviction. What kind of evidence is going to be needed for that?

AMANPOUR: Well, clearly, it's going to be a very challenging and complex case. Everybody involved in this has said so. There have been American prosecuting attorneys who have helped draw up the indictment against him. And they have said that it's going to be painstaking and slow and methodical.

But they believe that, in the end, it will happen. The prosecution here keeps evidence very close to its chest. They say that they have witness statements and documentation. They hope to have high-level insiders who will come out and speak about what happened in the ruling clique, in the ruling regime that Milosevic led. And they plan to conduct further investigations. And already evidence is coming out from Belgrade itself, these mass graves that have been exhumed over the last several weeks, with the Belgrade authorities clearly pointing to Milosevic's role in what they call a cover-up of crimes against civilians and other atrocities in Kosovo -- Colleen.

MCEDWARDS: CNN's Christiane Amanpour at The Hague, thanks very much -- Carol.

CAROL LIN, CNN ANCHOR: Well, Colleen, the village of Racak in Kosovo is closely tracking the court case against Slobodan Milosevic. The village is the scene of one of the worst mass killings in that province.

Yugoslav security forces killed 45 people in Racak in January 1999, an event that ultimately led to NATO air strikes against Yugoslavia.

CNN's Nic Robertson is back in Racak today with their reaction -- Nic.

NIC ROBERTSON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Well Carol, that's right.

This village of Racak really did trigger -- really did galvanize the international community. We're in the graveyard here, where the 45 people from the village were buried. They were buried about a month after they were killed.

What happened after they were killed: The United States diplomat, who was the lead international observer who was based in Kosovo by then, because of a cease-fire and an agreement with the organization for cooperation of security in Europe, came to Racak the day after the killings. He saw the bodies. He called it a massacre.

The next day, the United Nations condemned the killings. A couple of days later, NATO threatened air strikes against the Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, against Yugoslavia. It galvanized and also focused the ethnic Albanians. They agreed a political position. They went to talks sponsored by the international community in Paris in -- just outside Paris in France.

Shortly after that, when those talks fell apart, that's when the NATO air campaign began against Slobodan Milosevic in Yugoslavia. And it was during that campaign that most of the indictable events that he stands accused of now in The Hague happened. Racak is among those listed. And we were with people here today when they watched on their televisions here for the first time as former President Milosevic was put on trial on the stand.

One man, he said he couldn't really believe that he was actually seeing Mr. Milosevic there taking the stand, accountable -- but people here very touched still, very angry about this situation. They say there are far more people who bear also responsibility along with Mr. Milosevic for what happened here. They would point to some of the security forces who were involved here and some other senior officials. They say they want to see these people go on trial as well.

And perhaps very telling -- the most telling thing here is that many people would say to us: A lifetime in jail is too good for Mr. Milosevic.

The anger here is so deep, many people say he needs to face the death penalty -- Carol.

LIN: All right, thank you very much, Nic Robertson, reporting live from Racak in Kosovo.

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