Trial of Milosevic's Successor Opens in the Hague
July 10, 2006
The 1998-99 Serb crackdown in Kosovo was "a widespread and systematic attack" on its civilian population and created an "atmosphere of terror," the prosecution told the UN war crimes court at the start of a trial of six former top Serb officials on Monday.
"The evidence will show that these six accused were co-perpetrators with (late Yugoslav president) Slobodan Milosevic in a joint criminal enterprise... the aim of which was to ensure continued Serbian control over the province," prosecutor Thomas Hannis said on the first day of the trial of Serbian ex-president Milan Milutinovic and five other close allies of Milosevic.
Following the Milosevic's death in March, the Milutinovic case has become pivotal for establishing what happened in Serbia's mainly ethnic-Albanian province of Kosovo from a legal point of view.
Milosevic's successor
Milan Milutinovic succeeded Slobodan Milosevic as President of Serbia in 1997. He was Milosevic's closest ally and his representative during negotiations on Kosovo in the 1999 Rambouillet conference.
Prosecutors at the UN court in the Hague are alleging that Milutinovic had at least formal control over Serb forces who carried out the atrocities against the ethnic Albanian population. But the former leader insists he had little real power as Serbian president, and was little more than a mouthpiece for Milosevic.
During Milutinovic's term as president, many Serbs indeed referred to him as "a man who doesn't interfere, not even in his job."
Joining Milan Milutinovic at the UN tribunal are former deputy Prime Minister of Yugoslavia, Nikola Sainovic, two former army chiefs of staff and two generals. They too face charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity for the persecution of ethnic Albanians, murder, sexual assault by Serb forces and the destruction of Kosovo Albanian religious sites.
War crimes or an anti-terror campaign?
Hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians fled or were displaced by the Serb crackdown on Kosovo in the 1990s. Stories of Serb brutality, raids on villages and images of streams of refugees shocked the world.
Former President Milosevic and the Serb authorities have always maintained they were taking action against what they branded a terrorist organization, the rebel Kosovo Liberation Army.
The trial opened today as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is facing continuing criticism. Following the death of Slobodan Milosevic in the UN detention center four months ago, questions have been raised about how proceedings are carried out. Milosevic's trial had itself been going on for four years.
Critics say the court needs to simplify and speed up matters by limiting the number of crimes it focuses on. In Milutinovic's case, Judge Ian Bonomy has reduced the number of charges.
One incident, for example, which will not feature in the trial, is the 1999 massacre in Racak, which triggered the Rambouillet conference and the subsequent 78 day NATO air strike on Serbia. The bodies of 45 civilians were found in Racak, allegedly murdered by Serb forces.
It was decided it would be too difficult to prove exactly where the responsibility lies, due to conflicting reports about how events occurred. The court is due to close all Criminal Tribunal cases for the former Yugoslavia by 2010.