Case against Milosevic set to end
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Milosevic is defending himself against charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.
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THE HAGUE, Netherlands (Reuters) -- A "hellish circle of revenge" fuelled the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial heard on Thursday as prosecutors prepared to end their two-year case after calling more than 290 witnesses.
The proceedings, regarded as Europe's most significant war crimes trial since Hitler's henchmen were tried at Nuremberg after World War II, will reach a milestone on February 19 when prosecutors finish their case at The Hague tribunal.
The former Yugoslav and Serb president, charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s, will have three months to prepare from behind bars for the opening of his defence.
The trial, which could run until 2006 if Milosevic's defence lasts as long as the prosecution's case, heard on Thursday from a former U.N. peacekeeper that Bosnia had been steeped in "pure hatred" in a war prosecutors say Milosevic helped to fan.
"They were in this hellish circle of revenge. It was more than revenge that animated them all. Not only the men, the women, the entire population was imbued with this," said Philippe Morillon, who reached the rank of general in the French army.
"It wasn't the sickness of fear that had infected the entire population of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the fear of being dominated, of being eliminated. It was pure hatred," he said.
Morillon effectively offered himself and his peacekeepers as a human shield in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica in 1993. The enclave was overrun by Bosnian Serb forces in 1995 and up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys were slaughtered there.
Milosevic, who declined to plead to the 66 counts facing him, has conducted his own cross-examination of witnesses after opting to defend himself against charges he has dismissed as politically motivated "lies."
Judges entered not guilty pleas on his behalf.
Three judges have heard grim allegations of Serb atrocities in Kosovo in 1999, accounts of ethnic cleansing in Croatia in 1991 and of bloodshed in the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
The prosecution's case has been regularly interrupted by Milosevic's bouts of high blood pressure, flu and exhaustion.
Ex-NATO commander Wesley Clark, Balkans envoy Paddy Ashdown, ex-rebel Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic and former Kosovo Albanian refugees have all given evidence.
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