Charges Raised Against Milosevic

Reactions of Political Parties

AIM Sarajevo, 28 May, 1999

President of FR Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic and other high military and political leaders of this country were accused of crimes against humanity and violation of war laws and customs, stated Luise Abrour chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia. Besides Milosevic, on the same indictment are president of Serbia Milan Milutinovic, deputy prime minister of FRY Nikola Sainovic, commander of the main staff of the Army of Yugoslavia Dragoljub Ojdanic, and minister of internal affairs of Serbia Vlajko Stojiljkovic. Warrants for the arrest of the indicted were signed by judge David Hunt.

The indictment against Yugoslav leaders drew great attention of the public and the media from the space of our former joint state, probably because such developments had been expected during the bloody war in B&H, when Milosevic, due to his participation in peace negotiations, instead of that of a criminal acquired the epithet of a peace-maker. Would have it been the same if those Milosevic is defying had not lost patience?! For whatever reason, the Balkan and developments on this peninsula are again the headlines in majority of world media and the central topic of talks of both high officials and ordinary citizens at morning coffee or while riding in city buses.

The central daily news show of TV B&H began with this piece of news, of course, and after that high officials of Bosnia & Herzegovina gave their statements about the newly created situation. Most of them agreed that it was high time, that this step of the international community was expected for a long time, that this was an indication that we were finally on the road to justice. The following contribution is noteworthy because of the way it was editted, which we believe was not intentional. After the statement made by member of state Presidency Alija Izetbegovic (it was also stated that he was president of the Party of Democratic Action (SDA), and as it could be concluded based on the contribution that followed, the statement was made in Bihac where Izetbegovic had happened to be on the occasion of "celebration of the ninth anniversary of the Party of Democratic Action"); and Haris Silajdzic, co-chairman of the Council of Ministers (he too appeared with the same small bottle of juice in front of him in another contribution in the capacity of the president of the Party for B&H and proposed "reconstruction of Dayton"), a statement of Jadranko Prlic followed (he did not appear on television any more that night). And while he was uttering the last word, almost in the same part of the second, leader of the greatest opposition party SDP Zlatko Lagumdzija (the only one not wearing a suit but a T-shirt and a jacket) reminded, let us paraphrase, that turn of many more would come, even to those who we were now watching on television holding all kinds of posts, that is, that the list of names on the Hague indictments would be broadened! And the continuation of the contribution - a (static) picture and reading of the statement given by Ejup Ganic, vice-president of of B&H Federation. Federal officials, either from the parties in power or the opposition parties agree on one thing - it was high time to accuse Milosevic and his associates for war crimes.

More precisely, Izetbegovic said: "I think that the indictment partly corroborates our appeal against Yugoslavia because we have indirectly raised charges against him for genocide in B&H. Although this indictment refers only to crimes in Kosovo, this is something that confirms continuity of crime of Serbia and Slobodan Milosevic".

Secretary general of the Party for B&H, Safet Halilovic, declared that the indictment did not surprise him at all. "It has, in fact, come seven years too late", said Halilovic and added: "This vicious circle of violence, crime and regional destablization was produced by Milosevic and his political concept". The delay of the indictment, according to Halilovic's words, "has resulted" in a few hundred thousand dead, several million displaced and deported persons, economic devastation amounting to billions of dollars.

"Milosevic's policy of division and genocide due to which other peoples suffered returned to Serbia and the Serbs as a boomerang", is the opinion of Miro Lazovic, one of the Dayton negotiators, and member of the Main Board of B&H SDP. The indictment, says Lazovic, is at the same time a message to all the little Milosevics and Seseljs who with Milosevic and around him created and inspired many Serbs, that his atavistic and mythic policy was definitely defeated. "These are clear signals for various Poplasens as well and similar that there will be no division of B&H, that working in favour of that cause is a waste of time, that the Dayton agreement must be implemented to the end", says Lazovic.

Muhamed Filipovic, president of LBO, wondered whether it had been really necessary to wait until Milosevic did in Kosovo everything he had already done in B&H to raise charges against him. The professor, who is often controversial, has an interesting stand about the Dayton agreement, because he explains: "Obviously this document cannot survive the moral and political criteria necessary for an international agreement if its sponsor was a war criminal".

"With this decision, the international community has finally started from the cause and not the results as it had done before", says Stjepan Kljujic, leader of B&H Republicans. Smail Cekic, director of the Institute for Investigation of Crimes against Humanity and International Law in Sarajevo and professor at the faculty of Political Sciences reminded that in numerous published papers and in his book published both in Bosnian and in English titled Aggression against B&H and Genocide over the Bosniacs between 1991 and 1993, he had stated data and evidence based on which Milosevic could have been indicted much earlier.

"The victims had expected such a decision. The Institute, together with professor Zvonimir Separovic, Petar Jozelic and Jerko Dok, on 10 November 1995 filed a people's appeal (Actio popularis) aginst Milosevic for genocide and other forms of crime, demanding from the Hague Tribunal to launch an investigation and raise charges with a warrant for his arrest", says Cekic.

Mayor of the city of Sarajevo Rasim Gacanovic, among other, stated the opinion on the burden shouldered by the Serb people which it could get rid of only in this way. "Apart from the fact that raising charges against Milosevic is a key precondition for establishment of confidence among people for a better future, this will enable implementation of Annex 7, return of all displaced persons to their homes, ensure inclusion of countries of the Balkan into Europe, and what is the most important, take off the responsibility from the Serb people in general for crimes committed in this space".

Federal minister Nedjeljko Despotovic is a big optimist. He says that this is a step towards final peace. His colleague, federal minister of social policy concerning displaced persons and refugees Sulejman Garib agrees with him; for him raising charges against Milosevic and his cronies is the beginning of stabilization in the Balkan.

The celebrated war commander Dragan Vikic thinks that it is needless to comment raising charges against Milosevic.

"This is a historical chance for Yugoslavia and the Serb people to begin building their identity on real values and with leaders of the future, and not on dark past of chauvinist and Bolshevik totalitarian policies", says Sejfudin Tokic, vice-president of the Alternative Council of Ministers of B&H and vice-president of the Main Board of SDP of B&H, and adds: "Stable peace and democratization in countries of the region can be built only on the principle of taking to court all individuals responsible for war crimes on the territory of B&H, Croatia and Yugoslavia. The indictment of the International Tribunal in the Hague should mark the definite commitment of the international community that peace, transition and security in countries of south-eastern Europe cannot be constructed on nationalistic oligarchies, leaders with blood on their hands and supporters of belligerent options".

Jovo Janic, president of the Democratic Initiative of Sarajevan Serbs did not enthusiastically share the opinion of the others. He hardly agreed to issue a statement in the first place, and when he did, he said the following: "There are war criminals on all sides. War crimes have been committed against all the peoples. Milosevic is not the only one. There are perpetrators among all the peoples and they all deserve a seat in the Hague. It is unfair to raise charges only against Milosevic. What should then one say about those (NATO) who are killing from the air?! Generally speaking, we are in favour of sentencing all crimes, but it just is not proper to accuse Milosevic of everything".

At the same time, Haris Silajdzic expressed hope that the indictment against Milosevic would be broadened: "It is unnatural to limit the indictment only to the crimes in Kosovo. He is responsible for the death, persecution and war crimes in B&H and in Croatia. "Serbian media, contrary to the federal ones, have withheld information from the Hague as much as they could. The authorities restrain from reactions. Only Yugoslav representative in the UN Vladislav Jovanovic reacted to the indictment against Milosevic by saying for BBC that the Hague Tribunal, was in fact an accomplice of NATO in the aggression against FRY. In its morning program on Friday, so far only the Radio of the Serb Radio-Television (SRT) carried the statement of Zivko Radisic, chairman of B&H Presidency, in which along the same lines with Jovanovic, he put the question whether all the patriots who had defended their own piece of land would be proclaimed war criminals?

Ivica Dacic, spokesman of the Socialist Party of Slobodan Milosevic, called the indictment of his president and his associates monstrous and added that the name of chief prosecutor Luise Arbour should be added to the list of criminals. "SPS is proud of having such a president. If charges were raised against all those who are defending their country, the prosecuror of this court would have been overwhelmed by work, because there are more than ten million persons who should be put on this list".

Luise Arbour declared that her office was ivestigating the possibility that Milosevic might be responsible for the wars in B&H and Croatia.

Adriana KUCI

(AIM Sarajevo)