Milosevic's death casts shadow on war-crimes tribunal

Milosevic's death casts shadow on war-crimes tribunal

Dusan Stojanovic | Belgrade, Serbia-Montenegro 



11 March 2006 06:32

The stock of Slobodan Milosevic had already been rising among Serbs who watched his feisty performances at his war-crimes trial at The Hague.

His death now makes him a martyr -- and brings into serious question Belgrade's future cooperation with the war-crimes tribunal.

A groundswell of emotion in Serbia for the fallen leader known in the West as the "Butcher of Belgrade" would create a political obstacle to handing former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, and five other fugitive suspects, over to the tribunal -- just weeks before the deadline for extradition.

Milosevic's death and the suicide last week in prison of convicted former Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic, a star witness in the Milosevic trial, have created the impression in Belgrade of The Hague as a gallows for Serb nationalists -- a place where the West lets them rot away.

"How are they now going to explain to the Serbian public that Milosevic was not severely ill, as he had claimed, and that the Hague jail is safe for the Serbs?" asked political analyst Brace Grubacic.

Milosevic, who suffered from heart problems and high blood pressure, had recently demanded to be temporarily released to go to Moscow for treatment.

But presiding Judge Patrick Robinson refused, ruling that even with Russian guarantees to send him back, the court was "not satisfied ... that the accused, if released, would return for the continuation of his trial".

Ivica Dacic, the caretaker president of Milosevic's Socialist Party, echoed the views of many in Belgrade on Saturday when he said: "Milosevic did not die in The Hague; he was killed in The Hague."

He added that before dying, Milosevic "managed to defend the national and state interests of Serbia and the Serb people, and everybody should be grateful to him for that".

Toma Fila, Milosevic's family lawyer, said: "Milosevic's death will tear to shreds the tribunal's credibility, which has seriously been tarnished already. He is the sixth Serb to die at the hands of this court."

Former Czech foreign minister Jiri Dienstbier, who served as UN special envoy for human rights in Yugoslavia from 1998-2001, said: "I am afraid that his death will be misused by extremists [in Serbia] who will proclaim [Milosevic] a national hero."

Those fears took little time to materialise. The ultranationalist Serbian Radical Party, staunch Milosevic's wartime allies, said in a statement that "after Milosevic's death, nothing will be the same in Serbia".

"The Radical Party promises to the citizens of Serbia that it will no longer tolerate the harassment of the Serbian patriots and their families," citing alleged "harassment" by Serbia's pro-Western President Boris Tadic and Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic.

Many observers both in Serbia and the West called into question the validity of the Hague war-crimes tribunal for other reasons -- suggesting the chance for a historical reckoning had been lost because the trial was allowed to drag on for years.

Former Swedish prime minister Carl Bildt, who served as the UN special envoy to the Balkans between 1999 and 2001, called Milosevic's death "seriously damaging to The Hague tribunal".

In a written statement to Swedish news agency TT, Bildt said that "despite years of trials we will never have a verdict, and thereby a conclusion regarding important questions of guilt".

Natasa Kandic, a leading human rights activist in Serbia who has provided evidence to the UN war-crimes prosecutors, said Milosevic's death before the end of the trial has caused "historic damage". -- Sapa-AP

http://www.mg.co.za/articlepage.aspx?area=/breaking_news/breaking_news__international_news&articleid=266454

Milosevic Dies in Jail - U.N. Tribunal

Reuters
March 11, 2006

MILOSEVIC DIES IN JAIL - U.N. TRIBUNAL

By Nicola Leske

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has died,
the U.N. tribunal said on Saturday, just months before his trial for
genocide and war crimes in the Balkans wars in the 1990s was expected to
conclude.

"Milosevic was found lifeless on his bed in his cell at the United Nations
detention unit," the tribunal said in a statement.

"The guard immediately alerted the detention unit officer in command and the
medical officer. The latter confirmed that Slobodan Milosevic was dead."

The U.N. court said the Dutch police and a Dutch coroner were called in and
started an inquiry. A full autopsy and toxicological examination have been
ordered. Milosevic's family has been informed, it added.

A tribunal spokeswoman said she could not comment on the cause of death
until the autopsy was completed, but added: "We have no indication that it
was suicide."

French Foreign Minister Philippe Douste-Blazy told reporters in Salzburg
that Milosevic had died of natural causes.

"I would like to spare a thought for all those who suffered so much from
ethnic cleansing, tens of thousands of men, women and children, which
Milosevic conceived and planned," he said.

Milosevic, 64, suffered a heart condition and high blood pressure which had
repeatedly interrupted his trial in The Hague on charges of genocide, crimes
against humanity and war crimes during the bloody disintegration of
Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

As news of the death swept through the Balkans, an official of Milosevic's
Socialist Party, Zoran Andjelkovic, said: "We expect the tribunal to explain
how was it possible, and why they did not let him have treatment in Russia".

Another Socialist party official, reached on his car phone, said simply:
"They killed him, the bastards."

ILLNESS

Cardiologists treating Milosevic in The Hague had warned he was at risk of a
potentially life threatening condition known as a hypertensive emergency,
when surges in blood pressure can damage the heart, kidneys and central
nervous system.

Last month, the tribunal rejected a request by Milosevic to travel to Russia
for specialist medical treatment, noting that his trial -- that has already
lasted four years -- was in the final stages and he might not return to
complete it.

Milosevic, who was overthrown in 2000 and sent to The Hague in June 2001,
said last month his health was worsening and he was hearing noises in his
head. A lawyer by training, Milosevic was defending himself.

Steven Kay, a lawyer appointed by the tribunal to help Milosevic prepare his
case, said the former Serb strongman had told him a few weeks ago he had no
intention of taking his own life after working so hard to defend himself.

"He knew the risk that he was taking," Kay told BBC television, adding the
pressure of defending himself raised his blood pressure but the case was
expected to wrap up soon.

"There was an end in sight."

Milosevic's brother lives in Russia and prosecutors suspect his wife and son
do too. The prosecution had opposed his release despite a promise by Russia
to return him, fearing he could say his health stopped him from travelling
back to The Hague.

Milosevic had used up more than four-fifths of the 150 days allotted for his
defence, suggesting the case could have been wrapped up in the next few
months barring any new delays. Judges would then need several months to
deliberate before a verdict.

Milosevic was charged with 66 counts of genocide, crimes against humanity
and war crimes in complex indictments covering conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia
and Kosovo in the 1990s. He had declined to enter a plea.

Last week, former rebel Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic committed suicide
at the tribunal's detention centre. Babic had testified against Milosevic
and was in The Hague to appear in the trial of another top Croatian Serb.

(Additional reporting by Douglas Hamilton in Belgrade)

Serbia: Time to Just Say No

http://www.serbianna.com/columns/gordon/001.shtml

 

Serbianna

 

Views & Analysis

 

COMMENTARY
Serbia: Time to Just Say No
By Russell Gordon

March 4, 2006 -- The former Mexican dictator Porfirio Diaz once said "Always tell the Americans yes -- but never say when." If indeed this delaying tactic is the current policy of the Serbian Government in dealing with American demands for the handover of Gen. Ratko Mladic, it is an admirable attempt at reclaiming some vestige of sovereignty. Even the casual observer notes the political nature of the trials at the ICTY in The Hague. However, a few minor policy vacillations hardly recompense for the absence of strategic vision among the Serbian nation for the last 15 years.

The various facets of the Serbian Government must be commended for their attempts to side-step out of the line of fire of American-led regional policy bias. American and Berlin-led policies have indeed wreaked physical and moral destruction upon the remains of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Republika Srpska). But whatever illusions one wishes to view the current scenario under, Serbia is on its knees, and has failed to achieve significant bargaining leeway, perennially out-maneuvered by Washington and their trans-Atlantic minions. The stick has been repeatedly brandished; the carrot forever forthcoming.

Some of Serbia's current acquiescent policies are understandable, taking advantage of opportunities that arise to shift "moral responsibility" for past losses to past leaders and political systems (i.e.-Milosevic and communism). However, many in Serbia have gone to extremes, accepting blame for all alleged crimes in the Balkan wars of succession, and remaining silent about the real crimes committed by the Serbs' adversaries. One journalist who described his Soros-funded media outlet as "independent" demonized those who cast doubt on the exaggerated claims of the Srebrenica issue in an attempt to silence debate. Similarly, Serb writers at Western wire services and "think tanks" have joined in the fray of self-vilification. They have heard the piper, and know the tune. But like the Apaches who turned in Geronimo in return for privilege, yet died with him in the same squalid concentration camp, empire's gauleiters are soon dispensed with when their convenience has outlived utility.

Western "NGO's" such as the American Enterprise Institute, Open Society, European Policy Center, and the International Crisis Group (among others) have continued to rally for the amputation of Serbian territory (in reality, these institutes are often directly linked to the State Department and CIA, making them hardly "non-governmental."). Each step Serbia takes to show flexibility through dialogue is seen as complacency. The result is the expectation among Serbia's regional and trans-Atlantic adversaries that rhetoric aside, Serbia will capitulate to any demand made of her for territorial (or other) concessions.

Audible rumblings have been heard from Washington and Brussels alike on not only Kosovo and Bosnia, but Presevo, Sandzak/Raska, and Vojvodina. No sooner are Washington's Montenegrin jannisaries about to achieve independence, than some in the U.S. Congress called for the annexation of Albanian areas in Montenegro to Kosovo. If this is achieved, little could stop the unification of all Albanian areas from Macedonia to Montenegro, perhaps causing armed conflict to spread into the north of NATO member Greece. After achieving the re-creation of Hitler's territorial division, America would have a compliant Islamist-influenced vassal state (whose narco-mafia terrorists were under their tutelage) to secure their Caucasian oil pipeline through to Vlore.

Much of American policy in Southeast Europe over the last 15 years was motivated by military base relocations, force projection to secure oil supply routes from the Caspian region, and subversion and subjugation of a potentially united rising Europe via NATO. The Serbs exacerbated their losses through an inability to rally their Diaspora as their opponents did, and their bitter historical divisions, since the time of the Ottoman Empire, when Serb jannisaries led Turkish forces against Serbs on the Field of Blackbirds. Indeed, Albanian crime and radical Islamism in Europe may be more than blowback, but rather intended policy. But such forces respect no frontier, and America has already paid for supporting Balkan terrorists. If indicators are born out, 9/11 may be only a prelude.

Serbian mystic Deda Milje is said to have predicted that in coming days "all Serbs will fit under one plum tree." Metaphors aside, unless a unified stance is taken towards national preservation, Belgrade south to Nis may be all that remains of Serbdom. The grand strategist Gregory R. Copley said "No one is [handed] Victory." The question remains of what is to be gained from potentially joining "civil" Europe, a Europe that starved, bombed, and lied - at enormous cost and little promise to the Serbian nation and its future.