ZAGREB, Feb 12 (Hina) - Croatian dailies of Tuesday did not show much interest in the beginning of a trial against the former Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, indicted for war crimes and genocide on the territory of the former
Yugoslavia before the Hague-based war crimes tribunal (ICTY). Only Glas Slavonije announced the beginning of the trial on the front page with a large photo of Milosevic with a prison warden. The daily cites an estimate by The New York Times that the trial against Milosevic is the most important process after Nuremberg, and it only ran the agency's article on page three without own comments. The Jutarnji list and Vecernji list dailies did not place too much importance to the beginning of the trial against "the butcher from the Balkans", publishing the same, but smaller in size, photo of Milosevic. On its cover page, Vjesnik announced the Croatian Radio Television would directly
ZAGREB, Feb 12 (Hina) - Croatian dailies of Tuesday did not show
much interest in the beginning of a trial against the former
Yugoslav president, Slobodan Milosevic, indicted for war crimes
and genocide on the territory of the former Yugoslavia before the
Hague-based war crimes tribunal (ICTY).
Only Glas Slavonije announced the beginning of the trial on the
front page with a large photo of Milosevic with a prison warden. The
daily cites an estimate by The New York Times that the trial against
Milosevic is the most important process after Nuremberg, and it
only ran the agency's article on page three without own comments.
The Jutarnji list and Vecernji list dailies did not place too much
importance to the beginning of the trial against "the butcher from
the Balkans", publishing the same, but smaller in size, photo of
Milosevic.
On its cover page, Vjesnik announced the Croatian Radio Television
would directly broadcast the beginning of the trial, and Slobodna
Dalmacija did not even mention the event.
Apart from Novi list, which ran a lead commentary on the second
page, and an interview with Hrvoje Sarinic, negotiator of the
former Croatian president, Franjo Tudjman, in talks with Milosevic
during the war, on page four, other newspapers published agencies'
articles or summaruised the indictments and described the security
measures in The Hague.
"Bringing Milosevic before justice does not attract great interest
in Croatia", says Jelena Lovric in a commentary entitled "The
Mother of all Trials" in Novi list.
She offered a possible explanation: "Maybe this is because crimes
in Kosovo have a priority at this moment. Croatia and Bosnia are
waiting for their turn later. But, maybe this is due to an active
process of trivialising Milosevic's evil in a peculiar way. The
Balkans' butcher has become a kitty-cat hero in a spy soap opera
since the transcripts of his private, mostly family, talks were
disclosed".
According to Lovric, this "insists on a discourse which, instead of
crimes, puts his (Milosevic's) almost warm, human dimensions in
focus".
The correspondent of Vecernji list from The Hague, Visnja
Staresina, writes "Milosevic does not interest too many people
these days, apart as 'a case' - he is the first European state
president that was put on trial by the international criminal
tribunal for war crimes. The trial against Milosevic is a crown
process of The Hague Tribunal, almost a reason for its existence".
Jutarnji list ran a statement by an unnamed official of the ruling
coalition DOS in Belgrade that "the trial against Milosevic is a
spectacle interesting to the West. We finished our story when he
(Milosevic) was extradited to The Hague like a parcel".
Vjesnik's correspondent from Brussels, Lada Stipic Niseteo,
shortly comments "the trial should answer questions on agreements
of the big in situations where Milosevic was treated as a peace-
maker, as well as "the deals" among regional players, starting with
Karadjordje and Tudjman".
The Croatian Television on Tuesday morning broadcast the trial live
like the majority of the world's TV companies.
(hina) np sb