Slobodan Milosevic met his lawyers on the eve of his war crimes trial today and told them he would cite in his defense the words and deeds of Western leaders during the blood-soaked Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
"He is completely prepared for tomorrow," Serb legal adviser Mr Dragoslav Ognjanovic said after conferring with the former Yugoslav leader for three hours. "Mentally and physically."
Hundreds of journalists, international officials, lawyers and human rights activists converged for tomorrow's start of a history-making trial expected to last at least two years.
Milosevic has refused to recognise the validity of the Hague-based tribunal, which will try him for alleged crimes against humanity in Croatia in 1991-92, genocide in the 1992-95 Bosnian war and crimes against humanity in Kosovo in 1999.
"His strategy is unchanged. He is not recognising the court but tomorrow... he is going to have his statement or preliminary words," said Mr Ognjanovic, adding that the opening statement could go on for "one or two days."
Supporters of Milosevic accuse the West of turning on him as a scapegoat after using him as a "peacemaker" in the mid-1990s.
The lawyer said Milosevic, who has refused to formally appoint a counsel, would name international figures who had been "involved in the Yugoslav crisis."
"For example, Bill Clinton, (Former Secretary of State) Madeleine Albright, people from Europe," Mr Ognjanovic said.
"He is going to use this courtroom to tell the world public the truth," he added. "Mostly he is going to challenge some people, or to name them, and my opinion is that this tribunal is obligated to call those people as witnesses.
"It will be a very long trial," Mr Ognjanovic added.
