Milosevic handover just the beginning

By CATHERINE FIELD

PARIS - Jubilation at the transfer of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague, where he will be formally arraigned today on war crimes charges, is giving way to some searching questions.

The handover is being hailed as a breakthrough towards cleaning up the Balkans and a triumph for global justice. Within Nato it is being quietly lauded as reward at last for the Kosovo war.

French President Jacques Chirac, reflecting the views of many leaders, said the handover marked a "major contribution to the affirmation of law and justice in the world." United Nations Secretary General Kofi Annan described it as "a victory for accountability over impunity."

Milosevic will be the first former head of state to be tried before any international criminal court, with the technical exception of Admiral Karl Doenitz, who took over from Adolf Hitler in the last days of the Third Reich.

Some commentators say Milosevic's handover will speed up the establishment of an international criminal court, a plan floated three years ago but which only 35 of the 60 minimum countries needed have ratified.

Others say such optimism is premature.

"I think the trial is going to be more the trial of the idea of international justice than, perhaps, the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, because international justice has never been tested," British human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson said.

"It will be a real test to see if the judges that have been appointed to this international criminal body can rise above the politics of their own countries and deliver justice."

Diane Orentlicher, an American legal academic, said another problem was presenting a watertight case. The present indictment, she said, "is based on the chain of command" - the premise that Milosevic either knew of and approved the killings and ethnic cleansing, or that he knew about them but did not take steps to stop them.

The evidence for this will have to be garnered from memos, presidential orders and other documents; testimony from witnesses themselves; and presumably Nato interceptions of conversations. There may be a problem accessing documents, because of continuing opposition to the tribunal in top Government circles in Belgrade. Also, some witnesses may still be intimidated by Milosevic's thugs, and Nato may be reluctant to give details of its secret operations.

In addition to the four counts against Milosevic arising from atrocities in Kosovo in 1999, prosecutors are expected to file additional indictments for crimes in Croatia and Bosnia. But this could present further legal complications as well as political problems, which would show the limits of international justice when the interests of powerful states are threatened.

Milosevic was undoubtedly Yugoslavia's puppet master at the time, but was not federal President when the events in Serbia and Croatia took place - he thus had no formal legal responsibility for the activities of either the Yugoslav Army or Serb paramilitaries in those two republics.

There is also a potential source of unease in the West if these additional charges are pressed. Before 1999, the West thought it could do business with Milosevic and many analysts believe this attitude simply encouraged his henchmen to carry out more butchery in Bosnia while Nato forces looked on.

"We should feel ashamed that we haven't been able to arrest those who passed under Nato's nose," commented Orentlicher.

Feature: Yugoslavia

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