YUGOSLAVIA: SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC INTERVIEW

(12 Dec 2000) Serbo-Croat/Nat
XFA
Former Yugoslav strongman Slobodan Milosevic on Tuesday insisted his conscience was clear - despite a war crimes indictment and widespread blame for the ruin of his country.

In his first interview since his ouster from power in October, the former president said he could sleep peacefully.

During the two-hour interview, the confident-looking Milosevic also said he did not recognise the U-N tribunal in
The Hague, Netherlands, which indicted him last year for war crimes in Kosovo.

In the interview with the private Palma television station - his first since his October 5 ouster - Slobodan Milosevic defended his record as leader.

The former strongman appeared relaxed and confident during the two-hour interview, which is due to be broadcast on Tuesday evening.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"Had I not done what I did during the past 10 years, they (the current government) would not be able to attack me, they wouldn't have a leg to stand on (EXACT TRANSLATION 'an armchair to sit in' ). They deliver a barrage of accusations from the whole decade of great pressures, sufferings, during which we needed to to fight for our nation. We did everything we could possibly do."
SUPER CAPTION: Slobodan Milosevic, Former Yugoslav President

Milosevic said that the war crimes tribunal, which indicted him last year for alleged war crimes in Kosovo, was a political institution "which represented a mechanism of genocide against the Serbian people."

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
(Question: Are you afraid of the Hague, Mr Milosevic?)
"I do not recognise The Hague. It is a political institution which is a part of the mechanism of ruining Serbian nation and it had proven itself to be such an institution throughout its existence. Also it is an illegal institution."
SUPER CAPTION: Slobodan Milosevic, Former Yugoslav President

Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica has refused to hand his predecessor over to the international war crimes, but government officials recently suggested that Milosevic could be tried in Yugoslavia.

Many in Belgrade want him to face charges for alleged offences committed during 13 years of misrule and four Balkan wars he is accused of triggering.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
(Question: Are you afraid of being brought to trial in Yugoslavia? This is what your political opponents are pushing for. Do you have any reasons to be afraid?)
"I have no reasons. I am not afraid of the Yugoslav courts, I can sleep peacefully, I don't have a guilty conscience."
SUPER CAPTION: Slobodan Milosevic, Former Yugoslav President

Yugoslavia's judiciary has so far not filed any charges against him despite widespread allegations of corruption,
money-laundering, economic mismanagement, repression and suppression of independent media.

SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
"As far as the corruption is concerned, there were some abuses, that's for sure. If we talk about the criminal and the rise of criminal, that was the immediate consequence of the war conditions and sanctions and the consequence of everything that had happened to us. I must tell you that the Socialist Party of Serbia in all party programmes emphasised the battle against crime, and we had good results in that battle, although we did not always go public with our results."
SUPER CAPTION: Slobodan Milosevic, Former Yugoslav President

Milosevic was ousted by a popular revolt after he refused to accept an overwhelming defeat by Kostunica in the September 24 presidential elections.



SOUNDBITE: (Serbo-Croat)
SUPER CAPTION: Slobodan Milosevic, Former Yugoslav President


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