The New York Times

Tuesday, January 16, 2001

The Prosecution of Mr. Milosevic

After a decade of invincibility, Slobodan Milosevic may soon face justice. The newly elected authorities in Yugoslavia and Serbia have said they will try Mr. Milosevic. While there is great public pressure to charge him with corruption, election theft and other domestic crimes, officials also talk about war-crimes charges. This is a heartening development that could help Serbs come to terms with their past.

Serbs are understandably eager to see Mr. Milosevic pay for his criminal misrule. The overwhelming feeling among ordinary citizens is anger at Mr. Milosevic for bringing poverty and ruin to his own people. But it is disturbing that journalists and human rights lawyers in Belgrade report that the vast majority of Serbs do not care about Mr. Milosevic's mistreatment of other ethnic groups. Many Serbs also feel that the tribunal in The Hague, which has indicted him for crimes against humanity, was established solely to persecute them.

Yugoslavia's new president, Vojislav Kostunica, himself a nationalist, has spoken of the need for a truth commission to examine crimes committed by Serbs. But he has also said he would never send Mr. Milosevic to The Hague. Other government officials, however, have proposed a useful compromise. Goran Svilanovic, Yugoslavia's foreign minister, has suggested that Mr. Milosevic could be tried in Belgrade for war crimes, with the participation of the Hague tribunal. Serbia's justice minister-designate, Vladan Batic, has endorsed the idea.

A Belgrade trial on war crimes charges poses several challenges, such as encouraging witnesses to come forward, protecting them and finding an open-minded judge in a court system not noted for independence. But these obstacles can be overcome with the help of the Hague tribunal.

The trial could help calm the desire for revenge on the part of Mr. Milosevic's victims, which would further the cause of Balkan reconciliation. If done fairly, a trial in Belgrade has several advantages. The court would have credibility among Serbs, and they would watch more closely than if Mr. Milosevic were tried in The Hague. They would learn more about the crimes committed in their name, which might help to dispel the myth of victimization that has been so corrosive in Serbia. Serbs suffered terribly under the rule of Mr. Milosevic. But they ought to recognize that the people of Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo suffered far more.