“An excellent tactician, a mediocre strategist, Milošević did nothing but pursue his ambition at the price of unspeakable suffering inflicted on those who opposed him or who represented a threat for his personal strategy of power. Everything, Your Honours, everything with the accused Milošević was an instrument in the service of his quest for power.”
Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte in her opening remarks in the trial of Slobodan Milošević.
Hundreds of thousands of Croats, Bosnian Muslims, Kosovo Albanians and other non-Serbs were forced from their homes between 1991 and 1995 in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina and from 1998 to 1999 in Kosovo. Thousands more were killed, tortured, sexually assaulted, imprisoned in brutal and inhumane camps, harassed, persecuted and psychologically abused.
Among these crimes are some that held the international media spotlight: the indiscriminate shelling of Vukovar, the destruction of the historic walled city of Dubrovnik, the sniping of the civilian population of Sarajevo, images of emaciated Bosnian Muslim prisoners in the notorious Omarska detention camp, ‘rape camps’ in the southeastern Bosnian municipality of Foča, the genocide of over seven and a half thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, and Kosovo Albanians shoved into cattle trucks before being deported across state borders. Towns and villages dotting the Croatian, Bosnian and Kosovo countryside were the scenes of crimes no less harrowing.
The Prosecution alleged that former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milošević was criminally liable for these crimes, the worst seen in Europe since World War II. “Some of the incidents,” Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said in her opening remarks at Milošević's trial , “reveal an almost medieval savagery and [a] calculated cruelty that went far beyond the bounds of legitimate warfare.”
A new term “ethnic cleansing” came to define the brutalities that forces under Slobodan Milošević’s command committed in order to clear territories that he wanted of non-Serbs. In the indictments against him, Milošević is charged with leading a joint criminal enterprise to permanently remove the majority of non-Serbs from large swaths of territory in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo by violent means. His goal was to establish and control a centralized and ethnically homogenous Serbian state.
To do this, the Prosecution argued, he enlisted a number of co-perpetrators at the highest levels of the Yugoslav, Bosnian Serb and Croatian Serb governments: army chiefs of staff, interior ministers, heads of security services, presidents, prime ministers and others all did Slobodan Milošević’s bidding in pursuit of his criminal plan. The Tribunal indicted a number of his co-perpetrators (see Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo sections of the Prosecution Case). Showing his determination of purpose, his power and control, Milošević replaced those of his co-perpetrators who raised objections.
The Prosecution argued that in collaboration with his co-perpetrators, Slobodan Milošević ensured that his proxies and subordinates in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo, had the money, personnel, and logistical and operational support they needed in order to take and control territory that he wanted. In order to stir and guide the conflicts, Milošević used the media to sow fear amongst Serbs of living in a state that is demographically dominated by non-Serbs.
The Prosecution alleged that the soldiers, police officers, paramilitaries, camp guards and others who committed the crimes on the ground received their orders, money, materiel, and, just as importantly, political backing from Slobodan Milošević and his co-perpetrators. Under international law, political, police and military leaders are obligated to do everything they can to prevent civilians from coming to harm, and to punish those among their members who commit crimes. The Prosecution argued that far from living up to his legal duty to protect civilians, Milošević, through his actions and inactions, created a climate that encouraged his proxies and subordinates to victimise them.
The Prosecution called 293 witnesses to testify in its case. Victims came to speak about the crimes that they had suffered. Legal, military and police experts testified about how various armed forces were legally subordinated to Slobodan Milošević, and commented on evidence that showed how he subverted legal chains of command. Forensic experts presented evidence showing that bodies exhumed in mass graves were in fact executed by forces under Milošević’s de jure or de facto command. Demographic experts showed how the population of non-Serbs dramatically decreased in areas where forces under Milošević’s command or effective control conducted ethnic cleansing operations. International representatives testified about the meetings they had had with Milošević in which they told him about the crimes his forces were committing. And several high-level leaders who were close to Milošević gave an insider’s perspective on how he operated.
The Prosecution also submitted to the court audio, video and documentary evidence, much of it never seen before, to prove Slobodan Milošević’s involvement in the crimes he was charged with. For example, the Prosecution submitted intercepted conversations and minutes of meetings between Milošević and his co-perpetrators, videos showing him reviewing units under his command that were responsible for crimes, orders issued by his co-perpetrators and subordinates that demonstrated an intent to commit crimes, and much, much more. In sum, the Prosecution submitted 672 exhibits, numbering some 29,000 pages.
Although throughout its case, the Prosecution made frequent reference to the state structures in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Kosovo that Slobodan Milošević controlled and manipulated to serve his ends, Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte made clear that Milošević, like all accused before the Tribunal, is charged as an individual. “No state or organisation is on trial here today,” she said in her opening remarks, “The indictments [against Slobodan Milošević] do not accuse an entire people of being collectively guilty.”
Witness after witness, and document and after document, over the 90 days that it used to present its case, the Prosecution submitted a preponderance of evidence that lay the primary responsibility for the suffering of countless victims at the feet of one man: Slobodan Milošević.
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