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CNN Live At Daybreak

Milosevic Trial Gets Underway

Aired February 12, 2002 - 06:19   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.
CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Thanks for sticking with us this morning. In The Hague, Netherlands, former Yugoslavian President Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for crimes against humanity in Croatia and Kosovo, and he's charged with genocide in Bosnia.

CNN's Christiane Amanpour is in The Hague at the United Nation's war crimes tribunal.

Christiane, what's happening today?

CHRISTIANE AMANPOUR, CNN CHIEF INTERNATIONAL CORRESPONDENT: Well today is the beginning of the trial, and it is the day that the chief prosecutor and the prosecuting attorneys are making their opening statements. In fact, they're continuing to do so. It's been underway for almost three hours ago, with one short recess an hour ago.

Today is the day that this tribunal has been waiting for since it was created in 1993. The chief prosecutors here have always said that the point of this tribunal is to bring those accused of being the architects of the disintegration and destruction of former Yugoslavia to justice. The prosecutor herself, Carla Del Ponte, started by giving a scene setter as to how the trial would proceed and how their case would proceed. And she talked about today being a day as never before that the world will see international justice taking place. The importance of this trial in that it must bring an individual accused of responsibility to justice and also act as a preventative measure that these kinds of things that we saw happening in the Balkans over 10 years should never happen again.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CARLA DEL PONTE, CHIEF U.N. PROSECUTOR: We should just pause to recall the daily scenes of grief and suffering that came to define armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The events themselves were notorious, and the new term "ethnic cleansing" came into common use in our language. Some of the incidents reveals an almost medieval savagery and a calculated cruelty that went far beyond the bounds of legitimate welfare.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Now Slobodan Milosevic made history when he was first indicted back in 1999, because he was the first and only ever sitting head of state to be indicted by an international tribunal. Up until now, he has refused to accept the legitimacy of this tribunal. He has constantly called it politically motivated and that it is, he said, "based on lies" against him. He has refused to appoint a defense lawyer.

And, today, when he was listening for the first time to actual details and stories of individual victims in the Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo wars, stories of atrocities with which he was accused, he looked, for the first time, uncomfortable. He shifted in his seat, his eyes were downcast, and he was busy scribbling away on his legal pad in front of him.

But afterward, we asked one of his legal advisers how he though Milosevic took this first day and how he thought the prosecution's case was going.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I don't have that kind of impression that he was upset or things like that. I think that he was very, very calm. Very -- and without visible reaction or things like that. I have no strong comment about prosecutor words. As a matter of fact, I think that they don't have strong words.

He's going to be abused, and I think that this is a trial not only about him, but about Serbian people, Serbian policy, for the last 12 years.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

AMANPOUR: Of course the prosecutor said that this is not about collective guilt, not about guilt of a whole nation -- the Serbian nation -- but about individual responsibility and bringing individuals to justice. The Serbian people -- indeed, Milosevic himself, is trying to portray this trial as being, as I said, politically motivated and biased against the whole Serbian nation. Now for the rest of the day, we expect to have the prosecutor's opening statement. It's going to last several hours. And perhaps tomorrow -- tomorrow morning, we will hear Milosevic's opening statement -- Carol.

COSTELLO: Christiane, can you remind us again what can happen to Milosevic if he is convicted of all of these charges?

AMANPOUR: Yes, the most serious penalty, the most serious punishment, would be life imprisonment. There is no death penalty under this tribunal. And up until now, no one here has received the maximum punishment of life imprisonment.

COSTELLO: Is his family in court today?

AMANPOUR: No. His wife has come to visit him a couple of times, along with his daughter-in-law. But she is not here today. She has said in previously published comments that she wanted to come for parts of the trial, and she may indeed come.

But she is somewhat restricted in her ability to travel to Europe because of sanctions against those high members of the Milosevic regime traveling to Europe. She has been given visas to come and visit him, but they are at specifically designated times. But we do expect to see her at some point during this trial. And, of course, this trial, the prosecutor thinks will last about two years.

COSTELLO: Wow. So why wasn't his wife there?

AMANPOUR: Well, as I said, it's difficult for her to travel because the European Union has put sanctions and restrictions on the ability of Milosevic's family and senior aides of his in those years when he was in power and Milosevic could travel around Europe.

Because of all the crimes that they are committing, because of a lot of financial misdeeds and other -- and other allegations that are against him. So it's difficult for her to get a visa whenever she wants. Although up until now, when she's asked, she's gotten these visas to come here to The Hague. But these are sort of staggered at certain intervals.

COSTELLO: Got you. So those sanctions apply to her too. Thank you, Christiane Amanpour, reporting live for us from The Hague, Netherlands this morning.

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