From left: Ramirez, Stone and Gonzales as they appeared on Serb television  ALSO NATO missiles strike central Belgrade Albania, Macedonia seek support for refugees Behind the faces of captured U.S. soldiers The Geneva Conventions: Prisoners of war

April 2, 1999
Web posted at: 4:12 p.m. EST (2112 GMT)

In this story: Clinton: 'No justification for trial' Captives 'puppets on a stage' Confusion works in Milosevic's favor Relatives worry about men's fate RELATED STORIES, SITES

(CNN) -- A Yugoslav official said details about the investigation of three captured U.S. soldiers would become available Saturday, in preparation for a military trial of the men, Yugoslavia's Tanjug news agency reported.

Meanwhile, the Swedish ambassador to Belgrade delivered a message from the United States to Yugoslav officials, demanding that representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross be allowed to see the soldiers.

The Swedes "have not been able to obtain that access and that is troubling to us," State Department spokesman James Rubin said Friday.

Yugoslavia broke off diplomatic relations with the United States after NATO airstrikes began against Yugoslavia, and Sweden is acting as an intermediary between the two countries.

Since announcing that the soldiers were under investigation and would face a trial, Yugoslav authorities have remained tightlipped about details of their capture.

"We've seen reports that they have begun an investigation, but I don't know what that means," White House spokesman Joe Lockhart said Friday. "We've seen reports that they will have a trial and other reports they have decided not to -- clearly that would be the right decision."

Clinton: 'No justification for trial'

President Bill Clinton warned Milosevic again Friday that the Yugoslav leader will be held responsible for the safety and welfare of the U.S. soldiers.

"There was no basis for them to be taken, no basis for them to be held and absolutely no justification for putting them on trial," Clinton said.

Clinton said the soldiers are prisoners of war and protected by the Geneva Convention of 1949, which forbids putting captives of any armed conflict on trial.

The Yugoslav army said it does not consider the three men prisoners of war because Yugoslavia is not formally at war with NATO.

Serb forces captured Staff Sgts. Andrew Ramirez and Christopher Stone and Spc. Steven Gonzales on Wednesday. All three are from the 1st Infantry Division stationed in Schweinfurt, Germany.

Yugoslav authorities said they captured the three on Serb territory and they will be put on trial in Pristina, the provincial capital of Kosovo.

NATO and U.S. officials maintain that the soldiers were part of an international peacekeeping force on routine patrol in Macedonia along the border with Yugoslavia. They contend that the men entered Yugoslav territory either due to force or by mistake.

Captives 'puppets on a stage'

A war crimes expert said the announcement that the men will be put on trial is a diversionary tactic by Milosevic.

Bassiouni says Milosevic will use the three captive Americans to divert attention from the alleged 'ethnic cleansing'

The trial "is just a stage," and the U.S. soldiers are "puppets on a stage," said Cherif Bassiouni, a former war crimes investigator who has studied alleged Geneva Conventions violations by Yugoslavia in Bosnia.

"I'm sure he will keep them alive," Bassiouni told CNN. "The trial is designed to get the American media attention on that particular show that's being staged for us. (Milosevic) will use these men in an illegal way to detract attention from the ethnic cleansing and other crimes that he's committing."

Confusion works in Milosevic's favor

Confusion about the legal status of the three men, the charges against them and the circumstances of their capture are all part of Milosevic's game, Bassiouni said.

"You will hear conflicting reports coming out of (Yugoslavia), all of it designed to get American attention away from the ethnic cleansing," Bassiouni said.

Gutman warns that the fate of the captured soldiers is in the hands of Milosevic

Roy Gutman, author of "Crimes of War," agreed with Bassiouni that the fate of the soldiers ultimately rests with Milosevic and not with a Yugoslav court.

"The Milosevic government has taken over and corrupted the entire judicial system in Yugoslavia," Gutman told CNN. "It has no relation to justice."

Gutman said Milosevic may use the captives as bargaining chips, as in the case of hostages taken during the Bosnian conflict, which ended in 1995.

"It is not inconceivable that (Milosevic) will have them sentenced to some kind of suspended sentence and offer them in exchange for something," Gutman said. "He could sentence them to anything he wants, up to death."

Relatives worry about men's fate

Meanwhile, relatives and friends of the captured men wait and hope.

Frank Jasso, an uncle of Andrew Ramirez in San Antonio, Texas, said that when he saw Ramirez on a Serb television report broadcast internationally, he could tell that his nephew was in pain.

"Not because of any beating," Jasso said, "but because he's in a foreign country and anything can happen to him. We just hope it doesn't happen."

Correspondents Andrea Koppel, Chris Black and Alessio Vinci contributed to this report.

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