NETHERLANDS: War crimes trial of former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic resumes

The trial of former Serbian President Milan Milutinovic, a close ally of late Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, continued in The Hague on Monday (August 7, 2006). Milutinovic, and his co-accused are charged with the persecution of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo, the forcible deportation of about 800,000 civilians and the murder of hundreds of civilians by Serb forces. Milutinovic succeeded Milosevic as president of Serbia in 1997. Milosevic died of a heart attack in a U.N. cell in The Hague on March 11, just months before a verdict was expected in his marathon war crimes trial. Ethnic Albanians were dismayed that Milosevic's death robbed them of a verdict on the crimes he was accused of in Kosovo. They hope that the trial of Milutinovic and his co-accused will help provide justice for victims of war crimes in the province. His co-accused are former Yugoslav Deputy Prime Minister Nikola Sainovic, former army chief and defence minister Dragoljub Ojdanic, security chief Sreten Lukic and army commanders Vladimir Lazarevic and Nebojsa Pavkovic. Former chief of public security Vlastimir Dordevic, who is still at large, is also included in the joint indictment. Milutinovic has pleaded not guilty to crimes against humanity including murder, deportation and persecution, and one charge of war crimes, arguing he had little real power as Serbian president. Spokesman for the prosecutor, Anton Nikiforov, said the trial is likely to last at least two years. "The whole idea of this international tribunal was to go after the leaders, after the main people who are in charge of their countries. In the statute it is clearly said that position of power, in power, being a president or a prime minister is not giving you any impunity. It's not a privilege, it's a responsibility," he said. The prosecution asserts that throughout Kosovo, forces of Serbia and the FRY systematically shelled towns and villages, burned homes and farms, damaged and destroyed Kosovo Albanian cultural and religious institutions, murdered Kosovo Albanian civilians and raped Kosovo Albanian women. The prosecution's indictment alleges that the accused participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was to modify the ethnic balance in Kosovo to ensure continued Serb control over the province. The accused used the powers available to them as political and military leaders to achieve this purpose by criminal means consisting of a widespread or systematic campaign of terror and violence that included deportations, murders, forcible transfers and persecutions directed at the Kosovo Albanian population. According to the indictment approximately 800.000 Kosovo Albanian civilians were deported.

ITN Source | August 8, 2006

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