Prosecutors at the UN war crimes court here will this week wind up the turbulent first phase of the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, during which the former Yugoslav President has mounted a fierce if unorthodox defence against charges over atrocities committed in Kosovo.
In the first seven months of the war crimes trial the
prosecution has come under criticism over its tactics, while friend and foe have admitted that Milosevic has waged a vigorous defence.
Since the trial opened on February 12, everyone has been taken by surprise by the way Milosevic, who trained as a lawyer, has represented himself in court — turning down the offer of a defence attorney.
He has seized every opportunity to denounce the UN court as a political instrument, a ”false” tribunal. Each witness brought against him came under a fierce attack on their credibility from the former Yugoslav leader.
His defence was simple: the Serbs were waging a legitimate war against Kosovo Albanian terrorists and NATO and the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
Milosevic’s court style played successfully to the media and to public opinion in Serbia. The image has emerged of the former president getting away with political speeches in court while the prosecution, which will wrap up its Kosovo case by Tuesday, is kept on a tight leash.
The court limited the number of witnesses the prosecution could call and presiding judge Richard May repeatedly questioned the relevance of some testimony.
In spite of such setbacks, the prosecution is gaining ground from a legal point of view.
For the Kosovo section (charges concerning Croatia and Bosnia will follow) the prosecutors have to establish three points: that the crimes listed in the indictment were perpetrated by the Yugoslav forces in Kosovo; that Milosevic was or could have been aware that war crimes were being committed; and finally that he did nothing to stop the crimes or punish the perpetrators.
The prosecution has so far presented 120 witness: victims, experts, international observers and even soldiers in the Yugoslav army (VJ).
Unless the judges are prepared to accept that the witnesses are all lying or have been manipulated by the prosecution, as Milosevic claims, it seems clear that large-scale atrocities took place in Kosovo.
Several international observers, including the UN’s envoy to Bosnia Paddy Ashdown, told the court that they had warned the ex-president at the time that his troops were committing war crimes in Kosovo. In his cross-examination of such witnesses Milosevic never refuted that the conversation took place but focused instead on the actions of the KLA.
The fact that war crimes continued to be perpetrated after the former president was informed of them, points to the third point the prosecutors have to prove; that once he knew of them Milosevic did not take measures to stop future crimes.
Legal experts say that the prosecution has already introduced enough evidence to condemn Milosevic if the trial were to stop now, even if they cannot prove that he directly ordered his troops to commit war crimes.
In all, Milosevic faces more than 60 charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the wars in Kosovo (1998-99), Croatia (1991-95) and Bosnia (1992-95).
For the campaign of ethnic cleansing of non-Serbs during the Bosnian war the former Yugoslav president is also charged with genocide.
The first former head of state to go on trial for such charges, Milosevic (61) could spend the rest of his life behind bars if found guilty.
After a two-week break, the prosecution team will present its case for crimes committed in Croatia and Bosnia. In doing so it will face new difficulties.
Unlike the Serb crackdown in Kosovo, where Milosevic was officially at the head of operations in his position as Yugoslav president, the chain of command in Bosnia and Croatia is murkier because he was just the president of Serbia during that period. – Sapa-AFP