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Genocide Indictment Against Milosevic
THE HAGUE, Nov 23 (IslamOnline & News Agencies) - The United Nations war crimes tribunal at The Hague has formally indicted former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic for genocide in connection with the 1992-1995 war in Bosnia, a spokeswoman said Friday.
Milosevic, 60, is due to go on trial in February for crimes against humanity and war crimes committed during the Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanian Muslims in Kosovo and the war in Croatia.
Genocide is the most serious of war crimes and perhaps the most difficult to prove, however a court handed down sentences to Serbs accused of the systematic rapes of Bosnian Muslim women last year.
Judge Richard May of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) late Thursday confirmed the genocide indictment presented on November 9 by chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, said her spokeswoman Florence Hartmann.
In all, Milosevic will face 29 counts of war crimes committed in Bosnia during 1992 and 1995.
The indictment charged Milosevic with participating in a "joint criminal enterprise" the purpose of which was the "forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs, principally Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, from large areas of the Republic of Bosnia and Hercegovina."
Among the worst atrocities of the Bosnian war was the July 1995 massacre of about 7,000 Muslim men by Bosnian Serb forces in the eastern town of Srebrenica. The ICTY considers the Srebrenica massacre to be genocide, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported.
In August, the tribunal found Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic guilty of genocide in Srebrenica, sentencing him to 46 years in prison.
The indictment names a host of Bosnian Serb politician as Milosevic's accomplices including wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander general Ratko Mladic, who top the list of the ICTY's most wanted fugitives.
It also names former Bosnian Serb president Biljana Plavsic and former speaker of the Bosnian Serb assembly, Momcilo Krajisnik. Both are awaiting trial before the ICTY.
Plavsic has been cooperating with the tribunal on her case and the prosecution has told journalists the former president could be called in to testify about Milosevic's role during the war.
The indictment states that Milosevic "exerted effective control" over the Yugoslav army, the JNA and also provided "financial, logistical and political support" to the Bosnian Serb army (VRS).
It also links Milosevic to the Bosnian Serb leadership that carried out the campaign of ethnic cleansing that left 200,000 dead and one million refugees.
The former Yugoslav president "exercised substantial influence over, and assisted" the Bosnian Serb political leadership in planning and preparing the forcible removal of the majority of non-Serbs from municipalities in Bosnia and Hercegovina, the indictment said.
Milosevic is also accused of manipulating Serbian state-run media to "create an atmosphere of fear and hatred" in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia.
Milosevic was transferred to the tribunal last June and his trial on the Kosovo indictment is set to start in February.
Meanwhile, in Sarajevo, Bosnian Muslims welcomed Friday the genocide indictment against Milosevic, saying the new charges would help prevent a repeat of such atrocities.
The indictment is a "confirmation of what entire world knew" about Milosevic's responsibility for the crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims and Croats, Mirza Hajric, the war-time advisor to the former Bosnian President Alija Izetbegovic, said.
"Such energetic work of the tribunal will prevent a repeat of a similar tragedy, as this trial will be a lesson to all those who would like to practice this kind of policy in the future," he added.
"The indictment brings very little consolation to the people who are still mourning their dead", said Dzemal Karic, a 64-year-old taxi driver.
"I am very happy that Milosevic is finally charged. It happened six years after the war, but better late then never," said Behka, a saleswoman.
"Justice has only been partially done, as other criminals, including Bosnian Serb leaders, Karadzic and Mladic, are still at large," said Munira Subasic, head of a Srebrenica survivors association.
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