POLITICS: Rights Advocates Hail Milosevic Extradition

By Marwaan Macan-Markar Reprint | | Print |

Marwaan Macan-Markar

MEXICO CITY, Jun 29 2001 (IPS) - With accolades like “crowning glory” and “a real milestone”, human rights advocates hailed Serbian authorities’ decision to hand over former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic so he can stand trial before a United Nations war crimes tribunal for alleged crimes against humanity.

“Milosevic is the man most responsible for atrocities committed in former Yugoslavia, and finally getting him is a crowning moment for the tribunal,” said Reed Brody, advocacy director for New York- based Human Rights Watch.

UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan described the long-awaited extradition as “another brick in the development of international law,” adding, “What has happened should go to show all those leaders who are about to abuse their power that people and the international community will hold them to accountability and ensure that impunity cannot stand.”

Steven Gerber, of Amnesty International’s US section, said Thursday’s turn of events illustrated that “justice can be achieved even when the wanted man is someone as powerful as a former head of state.”

With Milosevic in its custody, the tribunal gets an important opportunity to demonstrate to the world that “an effective and impartial trial can be conducted to try perpetrators of war crimes,” Gerber said. “It will be very significant for the victims of such crimes, consequently helping the process of reconciliation to go forward.”

Milosevic, 59, had been held in a Belgrade prison since April, when he was arrested on charges of domestic corruption. He now faces three charges at tribunal headquarters in The Hague, Netherlands: murder, deportation, and persecution based on political, racial and religious grounds, all stemming from a crackdown he ordered in 1999 against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.

According to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Milosevic’s alleged actions amount to “crimes against humanity.”

The tribunal indicted Milosevic and issued a warrant for his arrest on May 27, 1999. Four other senior officials from the former Yugoslavia were also placed on the list of wanted war criminals on that day. They included Milan Milutinovic, the president of Serbia, Nikola Sainovic, the deputy prime minister, Dragoljub Ojdanic, chief of staff of the Yugoslav army, and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Serbia’s minister of internal affairs.

On that occasion, a judge on the bench of the tribunal drew particular attention to Milosevic, saying that the indictment was “the first in the history of this tribunal to charge a head of state during an on-going armed conflict with the commission of serious violations of international humanitarian law.”

The indictments against Milosevic and the four senior officials alleged that between January and May 1999, “forces under the control of the five accused persecuted the Kosovo Albanian civilian population on political, racial or religious grounds.”

Their actions resulted in the expulsion from Kosovo of an estimated 740,000 Albanians, about one-third of the entire Kosovo Albanian population, according to the tribunal, which added: “En route many were killed, abused and had their possessions and identification papers stolen.”

In addition, the five men were charged with murdering more than 340 people; the tribunal identified each victim by name, adding that most were killed during “massacres” in seven villages.

“There is very solid evidence about his direct involvement in such war crimes and for his indirect complicity,” said Brody. “He did nothing to stop these crimes.”

Gerber concurred. “The tribunal would not have gone after Milosevic if it did not have a strong case. And it is possible that at The Hague, more charges can be brought against him.”

The tribunal, according to available records, has served 67 public indictments since April 1995. It has 38 people in its custody, including those awaiting trial, sentencing, and the outcome of appeals.

William Pace, of the non-governmental Coalition for an International Criminal Court, of Milosevic’s transfer to The Hague helps in the on-going effort to establish an International Criminal Court (ICC), which will serve as a permanent global tribunal to deal with serious violations of international humanitarian law.

“The evidence is all around us that the international community is no longer willing to accept impunity, masquerading as sovereignty, as a means of impeding justice when serious international crimes occur,” Pace said.

The United States made the case against Milosevic a “top priority,” added Brody. “US pressure has been a key to achieving this turning point. Washington did not waver since it made public its position.”

Pace credited the UN Security Council for flexing its muscle, too. Milosevic’s transfer to a tribunal detention centre in The Hague “underscores the importance the Security Council can have,” he said, explaining that the council had acted on special authority under the UN Charter to ensure international justice prevails.

Without that authority, he added, “the international arrest and transfer of Milosevic may not have occurred, as endless appeals in the Yugoslav domestic courts could have taken precedence over the demands of international justice.”