Milosevic Wants His Freedom Until War Crimes Trial Starts

THE HAGUE —  Slobodan Milosevic vented his anger in war crimes court Wednesday, saying he is being treated like a culprit rather than a victim and asking the U.N. tribunal to free him until his trial begins in two weeks.

The former Yugoslav president asked the five-member panel to order his release, promising to return for a “battle I will not miss” when prosecutors open their case against him Feb. 12.

Milosevic appeared at an appeals hearing on a motion to combine the three indictments against him into a single trial.

Prosecutors said top witnesses who once were close to the ousted leader might be unable to testify in The Hague more than once. They also argued that the cases should be merged because the crimes Milosevic is accused of--in Kosovo, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina--were part of a broad plan to create a greater Serbian state by clearing non-Serbs from areas.

The tribunal said it would deliver its decision later and did not respond to Milosevic’s plea for freedom.

For the first time in his six tribunal appearances, Milosevic was allowed to speak at length, voicing the political theme he was not permitted to deliver previously.

“I would call this [trial] an evil and hostile action aimed at justifying the crimes committed against my country,” he said. Putting him on trial was “an attempt to turn the victim into the culprit,” he said.

Milosevic is charged with 66 counts related to nearly a decade of war in the Balkans, including a genocide charge resulting from the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict. He could be jailed for life if convicted.