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Partito Radicale Michele - 28 maggio 1999
NYT/The Case Against Mr. Milosevic

The New York Times

Friday, May 28, 1999

The Case Against Mr. Milosevic

Though it may complicate peace negotiations, the indictment of Slobodan Milosevic and four other Serbian leaders for crimes against humanity is just and consonant with the bedrock principles of a civilized international order. Serbia's systematic killing, deportation and persecution of Kosovo's ethnic Albanians are surely such crimes, and those responsible should be held accountable.

Doing so will not be easy, but the difficulty is no reason to oppose the charges or their timing. The investigation and prosecution of crimes against humanity rarely mesh smoothly with political realities, in this instance the need for NATO to talk at least indirectly with Serbian leaders about terms for ending the war in Yugoslavia. However, if the world is committed to the humane principles the United Nations endorsed in establishing the war crimes tribunal six years ago, a way must be found to deal with the Kosovo conflict without disabling the prosecution of Mr. Milosevic.

In practical terms, that may mean negotiating with Mr. Milosevic's Government even while he is under indictment. The Clinton Administration has said it will do so, and that is the right decision.

Mr. Milosevic is the first sitting head of state in modern times to be indicted by an international criminal tribunal. Unlike the Allied prosecution of German and Japanese leaders after World War II, this is not so far a case in which victorious powers can dictate the terms of justice and compel defeated defendants to stand trial. The international tribunal in The Hague, created by the Security Council to deal with war crimes in the Balkans, is dependent on the member states of the U.N. to arrest indicted suspects and deliver them to the court. The tribunal has issued dozens of indictments, sparing no ethnic group in the Balkans, but only a handful of cases have come to trial.

Among those who have not been captured are Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader, and his senior military officer, Gen. Ratko Mladic, who were indicted in 1995.

With Mr. Milosevic the immediate issue is not arrest, but whether to deal with him now that he has been indicted. Louise Arbour, the chief prosecutor for the tribunal, warned yesterday that extensive evidence of crimes by Mr. Milosevic makes him an unsuitable guarantor of any peace agreement.

Over the long term, Ms. Arbour is right. But unless NATO is determined to conquer Yugoslavia and remove Mr. Milosevic, which the alliance has shown no inclination to do, he will remain in place until his countrymen tire of his dictatorship.

That does not mean the indictment should, in effect, be waived as part of a peace deal, or that Mr. Milosevic should feel secure from arrest in the future. The principles involved are too vital to sacrifice for political convenience. The indictment is not an American action, or a NATO decision, and it ought not to be seen as just another element in the propaganda claims and counterclaims flying between Belgrade and Brussels. The tribunal represents a noble effort to see that crimes against humanity do not go unpunished. If the court is to be more than an empty exercise, Mr. Milosevic and his colleagues must eventually be brought to justice.

 
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