Experts Predict Acquittal of Milosevic

[Seraphim]

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH, Associated Press Writer

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - When U.N. prosecutors opened their case against Slobodan Milosevic (news - web sites) two years ago, they set out to get him convicted of genocide. The consensus today is, they failed.


Legal experts say prosecutors at the U.N. war crimes tribunal have assembled solid evidence on lesser charges against the former Yugoslav president. But acquittal on the genocide charge — the crime of all crimes, experts say — would have far-reaching implications.


Many Serbs would cheer it as vindicating their view that Serbia stands wrongly accused. Others likely will see it as a distortion of Europe's darkest chapter since World War II. And it may provide important lessons for those planning a trial for Saddam Hussein (news - web sites).


On Wednesday, after calling 296 witnesses, prosecutors abruptly rested their case earlier than planned, seeking to avoid further delays caused by Milosevic's illness, which has interrupted the trial nearly 20 times and cost it 65 days.


The trial, troubled from the start, suffered a further setback with the unexpected announcement Feb. 22 that presiding British judge Richard May, 65, is ill and will resign.


Whoever succeeds him will have to catch up on about 60,000 pages of documentary evidence and courtroom transcripts.


Milosevic's defense will open June 8. With or without a conviction in the 1995 genocide of Bosnian Muslims, he faces possible life imprisonment.


Milosevic, 62, has high blood pressure and has suffered repeated bouts of exhaustion from the strain of conducting his own defense and preparing cross-examinations.


"His health has deteriorated since the beginning of the trial and it is much worse than he would like to admit," one of his legal associates, Zdenko Tomanovic, told The Associated Press.


"The defense case is very important, not only for Milosevic, but for entire Serbia because of the potentially large psychological, historical, economical and legal consequences."


Milosevic faces 66 counts including war crimes, genocide and complicity in genocide in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. The most serious relate to the July 1995 killing of at least 7,500 Muslims in the eastern Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica.


"The prosecution was underwhelming," said Michael Scharf, international law professor and author of books on Balkan war crimes.


"But bit by bit, piece by piece, they proved their case, at least for many of the charges. It will at least be enough to put him in jail for the rest of his life," Scharf said in a telephone interview from Cleveland.


"The genocide was the key charge. If Milosevic was acquitted of genocide it would send a misleading signal about the nonexistence of genocide. I believe it did occur."


From the outset, prosecutors faced challenges in proving Milosevic guilty, not least because as president of Serbia he had no formal ties to murderous Bosnian Serb forces.


The prosecutors fought Serbian officials endlessly to call insiders to testify and obtain important documents, and were frequently rebuffed.


Trial-watchers believe the prosecutors built an impregnable case that Milosevic was involved in war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo during the wars of the 1990s that tore apart the Yugoslav federation.





But they failed to show an intent to commit genocide, experts said.

Judith Armatta of the Washington-based Coalition for International Justice, who closely follows Milosevic's trial, said a genocide conviction seemed unlikely, but "we might get complicity in genocide."

To convict a suspect of genocide, there must be proof of a plan to wipe out "in whole or in part" an ethnic or religious group.

The court already has ruled in another case, against Gen. Radislav Krstic, that what happened in Srebrenica was genocide. Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison. He is appealing the conviction.

But prosecutors have found no smoking gun linking Milosevic to the Srebrenica massacres. The closest evidence was an order, not issued by Milosevic, to deploy Serbian troops in the area.

Yet Serbian political insiders, in their testimony, described Milosevic as a leader who wielded unrivaled influence over the Serbian army, police and special forces responsible for a campaign of murder and persecution to create a larger, united Serb state.

"They were damning. They showed Milosevic was there dictating what happened. They showed he had direct-control lines of authority through the Serbian police and security service and the army," Armatta said.

Balkan peace envoys testified that Milosevic knew Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and his top general, Ratko Mladic, intended to slaughter Srebrenica's Muslims and did not stop them. Both men top the tribunal's list of most-wanted fugitives.

If the judges accept the view of Milosevic as omnipotent, it could produce a conviction for complicity in genocide, Armatta said.

[SeanAshi]

Now thats bull****, how many died because of that man?

[Sixgun Symphony]

Now thats bull****, how many died because of that man?

If it were a fair trial, then alot of the Muslim and Croat leaders would be up on trial beside him.

He will get convicted because it is a show trial. This is not about justice, it is about the UN and NATO wanting to prop up their new Islamic republic in the Balkans.

[hank]

While hexnut hohophobe might actually be right on this one, remember this. "Knowing" and "proving" are not even closely related. It is HARD to convict anybody of anything - even when you "know" you have an airtight case. BRD is just tough. Plus there are so many interests at play in a trial like this - it does end up being for show.

As for justice - getting convicted has nothing to do with justice in the vast majority of cases.

hank

[Kriz]

Now thats bull****, how many died because of that man?

If it were a fair trial, then alot of the Muslim and Croat leaders would be up on trial beside him.

He will get convicted because it is a show trial. This is not about justice, it is about the UN and NATO wanting to prop up their new Islamic republic in the Balkans.

What new Islamic republic, did uou somehow forget that muslims and christiands lived together in the Balkan's for hundred's off years ? Hello those muslims have been there since the ottomanian empire.

[Yard Ape]

http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=147725#147725
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=157748#157748
http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=165503#165503

As you can see from the links above, Sixgun belives that all Muslims should be relocated to Africa or designated Middle East nations.

add one more example: http://www.militaryphotos.net/forums/viewtopic.php?p=144879#144879

[usa320]

I say let em get equitted, then let US Forces in the fomer yugoslav replublics capture him as an enemy combatant and try him in a military tribunal...

[Argyll]

There have been plenty of Bosnian War criminals caught by UK/US SOF,and if Milosevich's trial collapses then so will the rest.
Define Enemy combatant?

[Yard Ape]

sounds like someone who would be entitled to POW status.

[AK-Lover]

Milosevic wasn't even directly linked to the bosnian war. He was in control of the JNA not the bosnian serb army. The JNA only participated in the croatia from 1991-1992 when they pulled out. Though we did continue to offer materiale support to our serb brothers. You people need to study the bosnian conflict more before making conclusions such as "many people died because of him" or "the poor muslims or croats" The muslims and right wing fanatics were at fault not the serbs.

[Yard Ape]

Do not forget about his involvment Kosovo.

[AK-Lover]

Involvement in Kosovo? rofl
NATO probably killed more shiptars than we ever did! rofl
There's nothing to prove there! Except muslim extremeists! rofl

[Elmo]

yeah, I'll rather trust international community on this trial than a guy with a machine gun logo and a blood-thirsty quote from Chechen conflict.

[SeanAshi]

Milosevic has blood all over his hands.

[martinexsquaddie]

croat and bosnians have been arrested for war crimes
serebencia I suppose all those mass graves were due to the muslims catching a particulary nasty sniffle wanker!
can't say I a big fan of muslims but I'm even less of a fan of wannabe nazi ethnic cleansers oops thats trade mark of the glorious serb armed forces isn't it. whose perferred target is old men children and young women even an old anrgy peasant women makes them think twice unless they have a tank.

[Flagg]

I consider myself to be a "middle of the road" even handed forum member...but with Milosevic...

I say if he is acquitted....repatriate him back to Serbia from the tailgate of a C130...without the courtesy of a parachute...

[AK-Lover]

It's so sad too see people who don't know nothing about the conflict talk about it, or for that matter don't know the history of the country talk about it. To understand the conflict you have to go back hundreds of years and we could talk about it for days but it's a lot more complex than "yes there were many muslims and croats commiting crimes, but it was the serbs fault". Since the beggining of the Ottoman rule in the balkans any and I say ANY christians didn't matter if they were dalmatian catholics or serb orthodox they were killed tortured and forced to convert to islam, during that time many catholics wimped out and spied on other christians and reported them to the muslims. After the serb people had had enough they rise up against muslims several times and were brutally crushed sevral times until the Ottoman empire fell apart and they were forced from the balkans. This was mainly from the efforts of the serb people. The "new" Croatian people as they were known now attempted to claim that they deserved land because they helped fight the muslims! This was untrue and and the new serb government wouldn't accept this. Later when the Austro-Hungarian empire came in they took land away from serb orthodox and gave it to Croatians and muslims! WW1 comes along and the Austro-Hungarian empire is defeated by the smaller but braver serb army and the union of Slovenes,Serbs and Croats is formed. In this time period the slovenes,muslims and croats were offered to live in peace with the serbs and they grudgingly accepted. This union later came to be known as Jugoslavia, or translated it means "southern slavic land" . After this comes WW2, hitler invades Jugoslavia and declares an independent Croatian state. This is probably one of the darkest moments in Serb history. Hitler viewed the Serbs as much as he viewed the jews if not worse. Almost 1 million serbs were killed in Croatian ustashi death camps and tortured forced to flee or made to convert to islam. The crimes the croatians commited were so horrible that an SS soldier said he couldn't watch what the croatians were doing. After WW2 jugoslavia was kept together by a fairly strong economy and a strong leader(Tito) After he died all the indecencies that were commited against the Serb people in the past hundred years slowly began to boil up, Milosevic took advantage of this in the late 80's and promised the Serb people that never again would they be prosecuted and forced off their land. The croatian leader Franco Tudjman was a psycopath who openly and proudly admitted that he had ties to WW2 ustashi and that he would form a state similair to the one in WW2 and the muslim leader made public claims that he would want a muslim union in jugoslavia that woulkd remark on the greatness of the Ottoman empire! What greatness, torture and killing of christians and more likely serbs! There were two options in that conflict since the serb leadership was smart and took control of most of the then large JNA's assets, 1) You cease stirring up hatred of serbs or muslims or croats and if you do we go in to keep this country together or 2) All hell breaks lose and we put all support behind serbs that might be prosecuted in croatia and bosnia. Obviuosly they choose option 2 so thats what they got. The serbs had been screwed over for a hundred years and they had enough, they wouldn't let nazis in croatia and muslims in bosnia do to them what they had done before. And obviuosly the new german government put all it's support behind there old ustashi buddies and immediatly labeled the serbs as killers or at fault, which was untrue since there were also greeks,hungarians,gypsies,macedonians,russians and even some catholic croatians who didn't want to see a repeat of WW2 happen again who fought for JNA and then the serbs armies. The germans caused this immedieate media on focus on the "serbs". And thats just how most of the western media rode for the rest of the conflict. Now I hope some of you who are less ignorant and read this whole thing have a better grasp on the conflict, and not just what you saw on western tv. :D

[Argyll]

And this would be a non biased view?
What was your involvement during the Balkans war?
Were you on the front line or still at school?
Many who post here have been in Bosnia and Kosovo,I'd take their word over someone who's as biased as they come!

[AK-Lover]

Biased!? I was looking for a unit that would take a volunteer in the summer of 1999 to fight in kosovo but sadly i never got around to it. And who the hell was my post biased, I just explained to you almost a hundred years of balkan history, dude maybe you're a racist, who do you think were the victims under nazi and muslim rule? "the nazis and muslims!" of course not it was the serbs! Do you know how many serbs, gypsies,hungarain orthodox and other non-catholic christians were killed by the nazis and muslims in ww2!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/olmedia/1430000/images/_1433713_150_flags_ap.jpg
Same flag that flew under Ustashi WW2 death camps id now croatian flag!
http://www.reformation.org/stepinac.jpg
Zagreb Archbishop Aloysious Stapanic at a Nazi-Croatian meeting in 1941!
http://www.balaams-ass.com/pius1219.jpg
Croatian Ustashi preparing to stab serb to death.
http://motlc.wiesenthal.com/resources/courage/images/p20p02.gif
Croatian soldiers search serbs,jews and gypsies who have arrived at Jasenovac concentration camp.
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/forbidden_pictures/present/pictures/people1.jpeg The body's of dead serbs and jews executed by croats at sisak.
http://www.balkan-archive.org.yu/politics/forbidden_pictures/present/pictures/gospic.jpeg
Gospic, October 1991.

In five months, October 1991 till February 1992, about 510 Serbs from Gospic and surrounding communities disappeared without any trace. According to survivors, there are no longer any living Serbs in that part of Croatia. In the two nights between October 16th and 18th, 1991, the Croats killed 24 Serb residents of Gospic, in Perusic, near Gospic. They killed them using fire arms, knives and sledge hammers, after which they splashed their bodies with petrol and set them to fire.

If you want more evidence I will be happy to search it for you! I just hope you will get a new insight about what serbs and other's have had to live through under muslims and croats. :(

[Argyll]

The fact that you posted a hundred years of history in last than 1000 words says enough,I'm no racist either,I have stated that all sides share the blame for the Bosnian and Kosovan Conflicts,there are NO innocents here when it came to ethnic cleansing.

I also think you should do some researchingas well,as head of State for FYR he is above all acountable for the actions of his armed forces.

You claimed to have been looking for a unit to join,yet you never got round to it...............what tosh mate,if you were a Patriot then you would've went to hell and back to fight for your country and beliefs.

You have came to this site knowing full well it is an American based site with the sole purpose to sling mud and make accusations,and to noise up other forum members here,
Your attitude and abusive posts have been well out of order,the use of such profanities and also the racist comments you make are in breach of forum rules,if you continue this I will take action ,if you want to be respected by the community here ,then start acting mature,stop the insults and begin posting informative posts,take a leaf out of 16 OBr SpN book,his manner and attitude and proffesionalism has earned him a great deal of respect from the BTDT's and general forum members.

I respect that may Serbs have been murdered,by other ethnic groups,as long as you keep it civil and informative then there will not be a problem,continue the way you have been and you'll not win the forum popularity contest!!

[ßå$tĮТHÏ¿ð]

The fact that you posted a hundred years of history in last than 1000 words says enough,I'm no racist either,I have stated that all sides share the blame for the Bosnian and Kosovan Conflicts,there are NO innocents here when it came to ethnic cleansing.

I also think you should do some researchingas well,as head of State for FYR he is above all acountable for the actions of his armed forces.

You claimed to have been looking for a unit to join,yet you never got round to it...............what tosh mate,if you were a Patriot then you would've went to hell and back to fight for your country and beliefs.

You have came to this site knowing full well it is an American based site with the sole purpose to sling mud and make accusations,and to noise up other forum members here,
Your attitude and abusive posts have been well out of order,the use of such profanities and also the racist comments you make are in breach of forum rules,if you continue this I will take action ,if you want to be respected by the community here ,then start acting mature,stop the insults and begin posting informative posts,take a leaf out of 16 OBr SpN book,his manner and attitude and proffesionalism has earned him a great deal of respect from the BTDT's and general forum members.

I respect that may Serbs have been murdered,by other ethnic groups,as long as you keep it civil and informative then there will not be a problem,continue the way you have been and you'll not win the forum popularity contest!!

Argyll's right, sure Serbian Boy ...uhh I mean Ak-Lover (its a tip off when you pretty much have the same avatar) atrocities are commited, but dont start attacking others....this isnt some highschool popularity contest.

[AK-Lover]

Yeah too bad I lived 3500km in Canada, tickets were kind of expensive!

[Skaman]

edit

[AK-Lover]

Also I needed someplace to get setup, my uncle in Kursumlija wouldn't let me in his house after I told him what I wanted to do. And they were looking for volunteers with combat experience, well I guess I could've guarded or helped interrogate Albanian terrorists!That Would've been fun! :P

[RATKO]

Milosevic will never be free again Even if comes home he will face trial in Serbia for crimes he commited during his presidency

[RATKO]

BTW unlike AK lover i have first hand experience with war in Kosovo and Metohija province since i served 5 years there (94-99)

[Argyll]

Milosevic will never be free again Even if comes home he will face trial in Serbia for crimes he commited during his presidency

Yes did he not also steal Millions of dollars from the State as well?

[RATKO]

Milosevic is charged with two counts of murder and many other crimes here in Serbia

[AK-Lover]

Alright RATKO, show us proof of this service in kosovo?

[Argyll]

Shut up AK Lover!!

[martinexsquaddie]

Argyll we used to have a bloke who talked so much crap his name got changed to "shut up freeman"
can you change ak lovers name to shut up ak lover
maybe he's called ak lover because his "weapon" is only 7.62mm :backhand:

[Haiw]

rofl
7.62x39 without the steel penetrator :lol:

[obd]

AK lover and Serbian boy are morons. Im no fan of Muslums in general but to say that they wre to blame and not the Serbs or Milosevich is the biggest load of crap I have heard since Burger King tried to tell me that thier burgers were low carb without the buns. Like it was the buns and not the meat, cheese, mayo, and salt that were the problem the whole time!!!

Let me guess, you guys think Hitler invaded Europe because they asked him to and he was really only trying to protect them from those pesky communist Russians and Europeans just committed suicide because they didnt like the saurkraut right...........hahahahaha

you two are idtiots. Your worse than me when I get angry and spout off..... Your worse even than Woodland who used to be the worst ever....waite are either of you two Woodland in disguise.........I cant do question marks because this computer in converted for foreign language use...............

[RATKO]

Hoces da ti posaljem kopiju vojne knjizice?Ili mozda clanak iz novina sa mojom slikom?ajde reci momak zivi u kenjadi i odmaraj nemoj da nas blamiras A za razliku od tebe ja svaki Vidovdan slavim u Gracanici

[Argyll]

AK Lover is Serbian Boy!!

[Javehn]

AK Lover is Serbian Boy!!

It was allready obvious ...Isn't it forbidden to have multiply accounts on the forum ?

[RATKO]

I have one question for forum members from EU and USA Is Milosevic trial covered by your medias?Here in Serbia we can watch it live on TV every day

[Argyll]

Nope it seems to be low key here in the UK

[RATKO]

In a way shoving his trial on TV helped Serb right wing parties to win the last elections in Serbia

[ibstolidude]

I have one question for forum members from EU and USA Is Milosevic trial covered by your medias?Here in Serbia we can watch it live on TV every day
Although you can find the news on US news websites, typically it is not weekly coverage on the "average" US news program. Although major or significant items will break appear on occasion. If one had cable or sat TV, it is available on a regualar basis.

[XD-40]

All 3 sides commited crimes. Some commited more some less....

But there are some individuals who are just "selected" to do their "duty".

The best example is trial of General Blaskic from HVO. He was accused of destruction of a Muslim village in Bosnia. Even though, he did not issued any order, was not responsible for anything and court was presented with solid evidence for that. They knew ( prosecutor) who the real organizer is. But they choose a popular general. For what purpose.....?

Nobody ever called Muslim generals who wiped out 11 Croatian villages in Konjic area few months prior to that.

And for Serbian crimes, nobody ever called up on Serbian generals who cleaned villages around Petrinja, Benkovac and all those places where crimes against Croats were commited.

Sorry, Serbs, I never had anything against you on personal basis. However I just can't resist to notice who was aiming and firing more. It is not fair to be equal with someone who had more firepower and willingness. And it was the same as during 2nd WW , just we Croats had less lobbysts in London, UK so we all became "ustashe". All 100% of us even though barely 5 % of Croats supported ustashe.

Any individual must answer the charges but bogus and political charges must stop. Slobo is the one who definatelly started this **** and any individual who "helped" him from all 3 sides must sit in a fair trial, not a feel good show set up by those who want to wash their hands.

[Sixgun Symphony]

I have stated that all sides share the blame for the Bosnian and Kosovan Conflicts,there are NO innocents here when it came to ethnic cleansing.

Yet we saw NATO forces go in to help the muslims fight the Serbs.




You have came to this site knowing full well it is an American based site with the sole purpose to sling mud and make accusations,and to noise up other forum members here,

Alot of the Europeans have come on to this American based site to talk **** about the USA.

I get flamed for giving them what they dished out.

[ibstolidude]

I have stated that all sides share the blame for the Bosnian and Kosovan Conflicts,there are NO innocents here when it came to ethnic cleansing.

Yet we saw NATO forces go in to help the muslims fight the Serbs.




You have came to this site knowing full well it is an American based site with the sole purpose to sling mud and make accusations,and to noise up other forum members here,

Alot of the Europeans have come on to this American based site to talk **** about the USA.

I get flamed for giving them what they dished out.

First time I was shot at while w/NATO was by an old (ancient is more appropriate) Croat man. having served in Macedonia, Albania, BiH, Serbia(kosovo), Croatia - I can assure you I was not deployed with NATO to "help the muslims fight the Serbs".

[ibstolidude]

Argyll we used to have a bloke who talked so much crap his name got changed to "shut up freeman"
can you change ak lovers name to shut up ak lover
maybe he's called ak lover because his "weapon" is only 7.62mm :backhand: Forward to Hood Perhaps this can be a form of penatentiary or punishment.

lol