(22 Sep 2000) Serbo-Croat/Nat
XFA
A Belgrade court found world leaders guilty of war crimes on Thursday and sentenced them - in absentia - to 20 years in prison for NATO's bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
Belgrade's district court pronounced President Clinton, Britain's Prime Minister Tony Blair and 12 other leaders and NATO officials "guilty as charged" and ordered warrants be issued immediately for their arrest.
The four-day trial was held in an attempt to resurrect anti-NATO sentiment in Yugoslavia and win votes for President Slobodan Milosevic ahead of Sunday's elections.
About 100 spectators and media were allowed in the Belgrade district court on Thursday as presiding judge Veroljub Raketic read the charges and sentences.
Court-appointed lawyers had been hired to represent the defendants.
As each 20-year sentence was read out separately, the crowd behind a row of 14 empty chairs bearing nameplates of the accused, stood and applauded.
Among those sentenced were President Clinton, U-S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, U-S Defence Secretary William Cohen, German Chancellor Gerhard Schroeder, British Prime Minister Tony Blair, French President Jacques Chirac, as well as NATO former Secretary-general Javier Solana and retired NATO commander General Wesley Clark.
SOUNDBITE: (Serbo/Croat)
"William Clinton is sentenced in absentia to a maximum penalty of 20 years imprisonment."
SUPER CAPTION: Judge Veroljub Raketic
The world leaders were accused last month of war crimes connected with the 78-day bombing campaign.
The judge said the accused had been notified and summoned to the trial through their attorneys but had ignored the court.
He said that was either because they were afraid or they were fully aware of their guilt.
The Belgrade judge also ordered the defendants to pay the cost of the trial.
He pronounced NATO guilty of the deaths of 546 Yugoslav army soldiers, 138 Serbian policemen and 504 civilians - 88 of them children.
Yugoslavia suffered heavily in the 1999 bombing, launched to halt Milosevic's crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
Milosevic has campaigned on mixture of anti-NATO slogans and self-awarded kudos for leading the country's "heroic reconstruction" after the bombing, apparently in the hope this will translate into votes on Sunday.
The Belgrade prosecutor said there was no expiration date for the crimes and added that should any of the guilty parties come to Yugoslavia at any time in the future, they would be arrested on the spot.
The charges, listed in a 120-page indictment, included inciting an aggressive war and committing war crimes against a civilian population, as well as use of illegal means of warfare, attempted murder and violation of the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.
During the trial, footage of the NATO bombing was shown, but no witnesses testified.
The judge said the list of plaintiffs included all citizens of Yugoslavia and no courtroom was big enough to hold all witnesses.
The Yugoslav government alleges NATO leaders violated international law when they ordered the bombing of civilians - an act with that resulted in numerous deaths, grievous bodily harm and destruction of homes and property.
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