Del Ponte defends scope of 4-year Milosevic trial

THE HAGUE, Mar 12 (Reuters) Chief UN war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte defended today the scope of the four-year trial of Slobodan Milosevic and dismissed criticism the strain of this had contributed to his deteriorating health.

Milosevic, branded the ''Butcher of the Balkans'' for conflicts that tore Yugoslavia apart in the 1990s, was found dead in his cell yesterday, prompting relatives of war victims and Balkan politicians to say they had been robbed of justice months before a verdict was due.

The death of the former Yugoslav president brought an abrupt end to his trial and stoked criticism it had been too long compared with the more limited scope of Saddam Hussein's trial in Iraq.

''Of course it is possible to say let's accuse him only for the most important crimes -- those where we can faster obtain a verdict,'' del Ponte told a news conference in The Hague.

''But my view is that it is not only a question of convictions and sentencing, it is also a question of truth -- of facts and truth. It is important for the victims particularly that they have full knowledge of what happened.'' Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo stretching over a 10-year period.

The charges against him included involvement in the siege of Sarajevo during the 1992-95 Bosnia war and the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in the UN ''safe area'' of Srebrenica, Europe's worst single atrocity since World War Two.

''These crimes affected hundreds of thousands of victims throughout the former Yugoslavia,'' Del Ponte said as she defended 466 days of hearings, during which the prosecution case heard 295 witnesses and presented 5,000 exhibits.

''This represents a wealth of evidence that is on the record,'' she said, reminding that others are accused of the same crimes and are still at large.

''Later this year, the trial of eight senior leaders accused of the Srebrenica genocide will begin. Furthermore, also this year, six most senior former Serbian leaders will be tried for crimes committed in Kosovo.'' She added it was important not to envisage the Milosevic hearing as a long trial but rather as a correctly conducted trial.

Milosevic's ill-health had repeatedly interrupted his trial.

Last month, the court rejected his bid to go to Russia for medical treatment, noting the trial was nearly finished and there was a danger he might not return to his trial.

REUTERS CH RN1857