The historic war crimes trial of Slobodan Milosevic enters its second year on Wednesday with the end of the proceedings not yet in sight.
The case against the former Yugoslav president, accused of masterminding the bloody 1990s wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, began on February 12, 2002 but has already suffered repeated delays. Experts think that the trial will go on well beyond the two years originally predicted by the prosecution.
”It will go on a lot longer, I am sure we will talk again for the third year anniversary,” said Avril McDonald, a expert in international law of the Asser Institute in The Hague. The case against Milosevic, the first former head of state to appear before an international tribunal on charges of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, is the biggest undertaken by the UN court here because it spans three conflicts that raged over ten years.
The former Yugoslav leader is charged with atrocities committed during the 1991-95 war in Croatia, the 1992-95 Bosnian war and the 1998-99 Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. In the first part of the trial the prosecution presented 124 witnesses for the Kosovo charges. The court heard horror stories of civilians being burned alive, women raped, villages plundered and summary executions at the hands of the Serb forces.
Because Milosevic’s is the first case before the court dealing with the Kosovo conflict, the prosecution had to prove two elements: one that widespread and systematic violations of human rights took place and two that Milosevic had authority over those committing atrocities.
Last September the prosecution moved to the presentation of the case concerning Croatia. As other cases at the tribunal have already established that atrocities took place in Croatia the prosecution is now focussing on establishing a direct link between Milosevic, who was only the president of Serbia and not the Yugoslav federation at the time, and the Serb troops fighting there.
So far experts agree the prosecution has been doing a good job at proving the charges.
”All the testimonies show the same pattern,” said Heikelina Verrijn Stuart, a legal expert who follows the trial for Dutch media.
She feels that ”many elements” in the Croatia and Kosovo charges have been proved already.
”To be honest I find it hard to believe he will not be convicted of some crimes there is already enough evidence to convict him for command responsibility (for Kosovo and Croatia),” McDonald agrees. A defendant before the tribunal can be convicted under the rules of command responsibility if it has been proven that his subordinates committed atrocities that he could have or did know about and did nothing to stop or punish the perpetrators of such crimes.
As the prosecution prepares to move into the Bosnia charges in the next months it will try to prove the gravest charge in the indictment: genocide.
Although Verrijn Stuart says Bosnia will be the ”final blow” for Milosevic because of the overwhelming evidence of atrocities she feels the genocide charge will be hard to back up. The prosecution needs to show intent to destroy a national, ethnic or religious group. This will be difficult with Milosevic as all the evidence so far shown he never gave direct orders or signed documents and asserted his authority through others in his inner circle.
The prosecution deadline to wrap up the Bosnia case is May 16, 2003 but as the trial has been interrupted several times because Milosevic fell ill it seems likely they will be given an extension.
Milosevic will take the floor to present his defence after the prosecution is finished and in theory he will have the same amount of time as his accusers to tell his side of the story.
The trial was originally expected to end in 2004 but if Milosevic’s health keeps causing interruptions it could go on much longer. – Sapa-AFP