Slobodan Milosevic poured fresh scorn on the UN war crimes court today, refusing to plead to "fabricated charges" as the counts against him mounted.
At his third pre-trial appearance since his June transfer to The Hague, the former Yugoslav president remained defiant as the existing Kosovo indictment against him was expanded to include charges of responsibility for sexual assault, and to add tens of thousands to the number of Albanians allegedly deported in 1999.
He refused to plead to an extra Kosovo count of crimes against humanity, or to a brand new indictment accusing him of spearheading a drive against non-Serbs in Croatia in 1991-92. Prosecutors said during a court break that they would submit a third indictment against Mr Milosevic next week for Bosnia including the gravest charge of all - genocide.
Presiding judge Richard May, silencing tirades against a court Mr Milosevic insists is illegal and biased, said he would enter not guilty pleas on the defendant's behalf.
"I have been indicted because I defended my people legally and with legitimate means on the basis of the right to self-defence that every nation has," said Mr Milosevic, who has repeatedly criticised NATO for its bombing raids in Yugoslavia after Serbs cracked down on Kosovo Albanians in 1999.
"The truth cannot be drowned by any kind of flood of false accusations", he railed, calling the charges against him "totally fabricated and... far from the truth".