Slobodan Milo?evi?

Slobodan Milo?evi? {{Audio|sr-SlobodanMilosevic.ogg|listen}} (Serbian: ???????? ?????????, pronounced {{IPA|}}; born 20 August 1941) is a former President of Serbia and of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia as well as leader of the Socialist Party of Serbia.

Trial

Following Milo?evi?'s transfer, the original charges of war crimes in Kosovo were upgraded by adding charges of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia. On 30 January 2002 Milo?evi? accused the war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him. The trial began at The Hague on 12 February 2002 with Milo?evi? defending himself while refusing to recognize the legality of the court's jurisdiction.

Related Topics:
Genocide - 30 January - 2002 - The Hague - 12 February

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His popularity among the Serbs and Yugoslavs again rose sharply once the trial had begun, as his supporters see it as a travesty of justice and violation of national sovereignty.

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Milo?evi? has a team in Belgrade that helps him, often sending him information available from the secret police files. Serbian insiders often support Milo?evi?'s point of view, while Bosnian and Croatian witnesses have offered a lot of testimonies supporting the indictments. The tribunal has to prove he had command responsibility in Croatia and Bosnia, at least de facto, since formally as a President of Serbia at the time he was not in charge. His influence may have gone beyond his formal duties, but there is little to no record of this.

Related Topics:
Secret police - President of Serbia

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Milo?evi? was not considered by some contemporaries to be a radical nationalist himself (although some of his followers were). Milo?evi?'s rhetoric did not make use of hate speech. At one point during the Yugoslav wars, Serbia had rejected further cooperation with the Croatian Serbs (the Republic of Serbian Krajina), and also with the Bosnian Serbs (the Republika Srpska, in 1993, when Serbia closed the border over the Drina river). After the Dayton Agreement in 1995, the Serbian nationalists (Vojislav ?e?elj's radical party) became his sturdy opponents, up until 1998 when they joined his party in a coalition government.

Related Topics:
Nationalist - Rhetoric - Hate speech - Yugoslav wars - Republic of Serbian Krajina - Republika Srpska - 1993 - Drina - Vojislav ?e?elj - Radical party

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The trial is still a controversial issue and has featured many conflicting and strange testimonies, which are viewed by all sides of the argument to support theories of cover-ups and dishonesty by the opposing parties. For example:

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• the statement by William Walker, the US former ambassador to El Salvador during its war, that he did not remember phoning several senior US officials to say that, at Racak, he had discovered a justification for a NATO war, but did not dispute that officials who said they had received his calls were telling the truth,
• the testimony by General Wesley Clark that Milo?evi? had come to him privately at a conference to admit to prior knowledge of the Srebrenica massacre and in the same evidence that NATO had no links to the KLA,
• the statement by Rade Markovi? that a written statement he had made implicating Milo?evi? had been extracted from him by ill-treatment legally amounting to torture by named NATO officers,
• the statement by Lord Owen (author of the Vance Owen Plan) that Milo?evi? was the only leader who had consistently supported peace and that any form of racism was personally "anathema" to him.

The prosecution took two years to present its case in the first part of the trial, where they covered the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Throughout the two-year period, the trial was being closely followed by the publics of the involved former Yugoslav republics as it covered various notable events from the war and included several high-profile witnesses.

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Milo?evi? got increasingly ill during this time (high blood pressure and severe flu), which caused intermissions and prolongued the trial by at least six months. In early 2004, when he finally appeared in court in order to start presenting his defence (announcing over 1,200 witnesses), the two ICTY judges decided to appoint him two defence lawyers in accordance with the medical opinions of the resident cardiologists. This action was also opposed by Milo?evi? himself and the pair of British lawyers appointed to him.

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In October 2004, trial was resumed after being suspended for a month to allow counsel Steven Kay, who complained Milo?evi? was not cooperating, to prepare the defense. Steven Kay has since asked to be allowed to resign from his court appointed position, complaining that of the 1200 witnesses he has only been able to get five to testify. Many of the other witnesses refused to testify in protest of ICTYs decision not to permit Milo?evi? to defend himself.

Related Topics:
Counsel - Steven Kay

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It is considered likely that, if allowed to present his case, Milo?evi? will attempt to establish that NATO's attack on Yugoslavia was aggressive, thus being a war crime under international law and that, while supporting the KLA, were aware that they had practiced and intended to continue practicing genocide, which is a crime against humanity. If a prima facie case for either claim were established, the ICTY would be legally obliged under its terms of reference to prepare an indictment against the leaders of most of the NATO countries, even though the Prosecutor already concluded an "inquiry" against the NATO leaders.

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