A long, unpredictable legal battle ahead

By Batuk Gathani

BRUSSELS, JULY 3. The appearance of the former Serb nationalist, Mr. Slobodan Milosevic, before the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal at The Hague was a marathon media event in all European capitals.

The trial has also triggered a major debate about the merits and credibility of selective international justice system. The U.S.- based `Human Rights Watch' has also called for the Israeli Prime Minister, Mr. Ariel Sharon, to be investigated for ``war crimes'' and ``crimes against humanity'' for his overt and covert participation in the massacre of Palestinian civilians in Lebanon 19 years ago.

Apart from the controversy surrounding the politics and circumstances of Mr. Milosevic's arrest, what is certain is that the trial promises to be a long and unpredictable legal battle. The prosecutors in the `war crime' trial have said that they do not have ``firm, direct evidence'' to link Mr. Milosevic with alleged war crimes and killing of ethnic minorities in Kosovo. But they claim they have enough ``circumstantial evidence'' to ensure a life sentence for the former President of Yugoslavia. Hence, the perception in some legal quarters is that despite the wealth of circumstantial evidence, proving a case against him will be a major legal challenge.

The retired U.S. General, Mr. Wesley Clark, who commanded the controversial NATO forces in almost ineffective bombing raids on Yugoslavia in 1999, was today quoted as saying that proving that Mr. Milosevic was responsible for the direct killing of civilians would not be an easy task. ``You do not find any paper trail because Milosevic did not use any paper'' and his orders were transmitted via the chief of staff and a key aide during fighting in Kosovo. The 54-page indictment consists of four counts of murder, deportation and persecution on racial, political and religious grounds of Kosovo Albanians - mainly Muslims.

After four days' solitary confinement in a United Nations cell at a small Dutch town, Mr. Milosevic was brought to the courtroom at 10.00 sharp this morning. An Internet relay of the hearing is to be broadcast from the Tribunal website - www.un.org/icty. Presiding over the hearing is Mr. Richard May, a British former circuit judge who is among a 14-strong permanent judiciary at the Tribunal.

Not all citizens of what is left of the Yugoslavian federation are admirers of Mr. Milosevic, but most Serbs one talks to feel that Mr. Milosevic has been ``sold to the west'' for some U.S. $1200 millions economic aid.This was negotiated on the previous day of his dramatic handover.

The economic collapse of Yugoslavia has whetted its appetite to seek membership of the European Union. Many Serbs feel that this could have materialised without `selling' Mr. Milosevic.

The more ardent Serb nationalists also argue that Mr. Milosevic would not be facing such humiliation in The Hague if only Yugoslavia had credible military and economic clout. Many independent observers wonder if the ``international criminal justice'' is going to be applied only against weak and smaller states.

The Tribunal has a Swiss prosecutor and judges from different countries who will decide on the future of the indicted ``war criminal''. According to estimates, it may take about eight months to set the Milosevic trial and then it may last for a year or two. An American commentator in The Washington Post today wrote that ``there is something fundamentally anti-democratic about a permanent court that can initiate investigations, name suspects and arrest people outside their own countries with almost no oversight. Every constitutional democracy protects the independence of its courts and prosecutors from too much political interference, but no democracy allows those prosecutors to function without any political oversight alone.''

Mr. Milosevic fell from power after general elections on September 24. Most of the Opposition parties then endorsed the candidacy of Mr. Kostounica - leader of the single largest Serbian Opposition party. The present day Yugoslavia, with a population of just over a crore, consists of two republics - Serbia and Montenegro. But tension has been rising between Belgrade and the pro-western Montenegro government of the President, Mr. Djukanovic.

Kosovo, which is a `province' of Serbia, is currently ruled by U.N. peacekeepers. Many Albanians there are now demanding full independence from Belgrade, as Serbia accuses Albania of fuelling the ethnic war in a quest to create a ``greater Islamic Albania''. The spill-over effect of ethnic crises is also echoing in Macedonia which is edging closer to civil war and where ethnic Albanians are on an offensive again. It is this prospect which horrifies the U.S. and the E.U. The American and European diplomatic envoys are trying to structure a parley and there is some talk of another NATO military intervention if secessionist challenge is not contained.

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Section  : International
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