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| |  | | Slobodan Milosevic | | | context : | Former Yugoslavia  | | judgement place : | ICTY (Yugoslavia) | | status : | Died before end of trial | | particulars : | On trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia since 12 February 2002; found dead in his cell on March 11, 2006 | | position : | President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) |
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| | | | Slobodan Milosevic was born on 29 august 1941 in Pozarevac, Serbia. His difficult childhood was marked by the suicide of both of his parents. He joined the Serbian Communist Party in 1959, as soon as he'd become eighteen. In 1964, he obtained his diploma of law at Belgrade university. Between 1978 and 1983 he directed several important banks in Belgrade. In 1984, he became president of the Communist Party of Belgrade, and later, in 1987, president of the Communist Party of Serbia. In 1989, he was elected the president of his native country. At the first presidential elections in the history of Serbia, Milosevic and his new party, the Socialist Party of Serbia, won with astonishing ease, and carried off 194 of the 240 seats in parliament. In 1997 Milosevic became president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro).
In 1991, all the member states of Yugoslavia, except Serbia and Montenegro, aspired to obtain independence, which resulted in a bloody war, particularly on the territory of Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
In 1995 the Dayton agreements were signed, putting an end to the terrible conflicts which ravaged the civilian population: Already the war in Bosnia caused, according to sources, between 100'000 and 200'000 deaths, and in the whole region, millions of persons were displaced.
In Kosovo, between the beginning of 1999 and 20 June 1999, the forces of the FRY and of Serbia led a campaign of terror and systematic and widespread violence against the Albanian civilian population. A military campaign by NATO between March and June 1999 eventually forced the Serb forces to withdraw from the province.
The conduct for which Slobodan Milosevic is indicted was the object of three distinct acts of indictment, which in total represent 66 counts.
According to the indictment concerning "Croatia", Slobodan Milosevic participated in a “joint criminal enterprise” between at least 1 August 1991 and June 1992. The purpose of this enterprise was the forcible removal of the majority of the Croat and other non-Serb population from approximately one-third of the territory of the Republic of Croatia, an area he planned to become part of a new Serb-dominated state. This area included those regions that were referred to by Serb authorities as the “Serbian Autonomous District (“SAO”) Krajina”, the “SAO Western Slavonia”, and the “SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem” (collectively referred to by Serb Authorities after 19 December 1991 as the “Republic of Serbian Krajina (“RSK”)) and “Dubrovnik Republic”.
It is alleged that, during the above period, Serb forces, comprised of the Yugoslav People's Army ("JNA") units, local Territorial Defence ("TO") units and TO units from Serbia and Montenegro, local and Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs ("MUP") police units and paramilitary units, attacked and took control of towns, villages and settlements in the territories listed above. After the take-over, the Serb forces, in cooperation with the local Serb authorities, established a regime of persecutions designed to drive the Croat and other non-Serb civilian population from these territories.
This regime included the extermination or murder of hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians, including women and elderly persons, the deportation or forcible transfer of at least 170,000 Croat and other non-Serb civilians and the confinement or imprisonment under inhumane conditions of thousands of Croat and other non-Serb civilians. As a result, virtually the whole of the Croat and other non-Serb civilian population were forcibly removed, deported or killed in the "Serbian Autonomous District ("SAO") Krajina", the "SAO Western Slavonia", and the "SAO Slavonia, Baranja and Western Srem" regions.
Further, public and private property in all the relevant areas was intentionally and wantonly destroyed and plundered, including homes, religious, historical and cultural buildings.
According to the Indictment, during the relevant period, Slobodan Milosevic was President of the Republic of Serbia and as such exercised effective control or substantial influence over the participants of the joint criminal enterprise and, either alone or acting in concert with others, effectively controlled or substantially influenced the actions of the Federal Presidency of the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia ("SFRY") and later the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia ("FRY"), the Serbian MUP, the JNA, the Serb-run TO staff in the relevant territories, and the Serb volunteer groups.
The Indictment charges Slobodan Milosevic on the basis of individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) thereof) with:
a) nine counts of grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions (Article 2 thereof - wilful killing; unlawful confinement; torture; wilfully causing great suffering; unlawful deportation or transfer; extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly),
b) 13 counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 thereof - murder; torture; cruel treatment; wanton destruction of villages, or devastation not justified by military necessity; destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated to education or religion; plunder of public or private property; attacks on civilians; destruction or wilful damage done to historic monuments and institutions dedicated to education or religion; unlawful attacks on civilian objects), and
c) 10 counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 thereof - persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; extermination; murder; imprisonment; torture; inhumane acts; deportation; inhumane acts (forcible transfers)).
According to the indictment concerning "Bosnia and Herzegovina", Milosevic between 1987 and the end of 2000 played an important political role in Serbia and the Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and later the FRY. Milosevic is thus accused of having acted, individually or as part of a joint criminal enterprise, in the following manner:
a) He allegedly exerted effective control over the elements of the Yugoslav People's Army ("JNA") and the Yugoslav Army ("VJ") which participated in the planning, preparation, facilitation and execution of the forcible removal of the majority of non-Serbs, principally Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, from large areas of Bosnia and Herzegovina;
(b) It is alleged that he provided financial, logistical and political support to the Bosnian Serb Army ("VRS"), and that these forces subsequently participated in the execution of the joint criminal enterprise, committing crimes under articles 2, 3, 4 et 5 of the ICTY Statute;
(c) He allegedly exercised substantial influence over and assisted the political leadership of the "Republika Srpska" in the planning, preparation, facilitation and execution of the take-over of municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the subsequent forcible removal of the majority of non-Serbs, mainly Muslims and Bosnian Croats;
(d) He is said to have participated in the planning and preparation of the take-over of municipalities in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the subsequent forcible removal of the majority of non-Serbs, mainly Muslims and Bosnian Croats. He allegedly provided the financial, material and logistical support for such a take-over;
(e) He allegedly participated in the formation, financing, supply, support and direction of special forces of the Republic of Serbia Ministry of Internal Affairs ("MUP"). These special forces are said to have participated in the execution of the joint criminal enterprise, committing crimes under articles 2, 3, 4 et 5 of the ICTY Statute;
(f) He is alleged to have participated in providing financial, logistical and political support and direction to Serbian irregular forces or paramilitaries. These forces allegedly participated in the execution of the joint criminal enterprise, committing crimes under articles 2, 3, 4 et 5 of the ICTY Statute;
(g) He allegedly controlled, manipulated or otherwise utilised Serbian state-run media to spread exaggerated and false messages of ethnically based attacks by Bosnian Muslims and Croats against Serbs intended to create an atmosphere of fear and hatred among Serbs living in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina which contributed to the forcible removal of the majority of non-Serbs, mainly Muslims and Bosnian Croats.
Finally, in the indictment concerning "Kosovo", it is alleged that between 1 January 1999 and 20 June 1999, the military forces of the FRY and the Serbian police forces, acting at the direction, with the encouragement, or with the support of the Accused, executed a campaign of terror and violence directed at Kosovo Albanian civilians.
It is alleged that the operations targeting the Kosovo Albanians were undertaken with the objective of expelling a substantial portion of the Kosovo Albanian population from Kosovo in an effort to ensure continued Serbian control over the province. The Indictment goes on to describe a series of well-planned and coordinated operations undertaken by the forces of the FRY and Serbia.
According to the indictment, approximately 800,000 Kosovo Albanian civilians were expelled from the province by their forced removal and subsequent looting and destruction of their homes, or by the shelling of villages. Surviving residents were sent to the borders of neighboring countries. En route, many were killed, abused and had their possessions and identification papers stolen. Furthermore, several massacres are alleged to have been committed in different places.
Based on the entirety of these facts, Slobodan Milosevic has to answer for 66 counts of indictment (genocide, crimes against humanity, Grave Breaches of the Geneva Conventions, violations of the laws of customs of war).
Slobodan Milosevic was arrested on 1 April 2001 in Belgrade and transferred to the ICTY on 29 June 2001. He was found dead in his cell on 11 March 2006. | |     click for more... | | Trial Watch would like to remind its users that any person charged by national or international authorities is presumed innocent until proven guilty. | |  |  | | nationality : | | | Serbia and montenegro | | | date of birth : | | | 20.08.1941 | | | judgement period : | | | 12.02.2002 | | | charges : | | | Crimes against humanity
Genocide
War crimes | | | profile last modified : | | | 26.11.2007 |
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