ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has been charged on both commanding and individual responsibility for crimes committed through the forcible removal of the Croat and other non-Serb population from
approximately one third of Croatian territory over 1991-2, with the aim of annexing said territory to a new, Serb-dominated state. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indictment against Milosevic was issued at The Hague on Tuesday, charging him with crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions, and violations of the laws and customs of war. In the 20-page document, the prosecutor charges Milosevic with the persecution of Croatia's population between Aug. 1, 1991 and June 1992, including the "extermination or murder of hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians," the imprisonment of thousands of Croat and other non-Serb civi
ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
has been charged on both commanding and individual responsibility
for crimes committed through the forcible removal of the Croat and
other non-Serb population from approximately one third of Croatian
territory over 1991-2, with the aim of annexing said territory to a
new, Serb-dominated state.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) indictment against Milosevic was issued at The Hague on
Tuesday, charging him with crimes against humanity, grave breaches
of the Geneva conventions, and violations of the laws and customs of
war.
In the 20-page document, the prosecutor charges Milosevic with the
persecution of Croatia's population between Aug. 1, 1991 and June
1992, including the "extermination or murder of hundreds of Croat
and other non-Serb civilians," the imprisonment of thousands of
Croat and other non-Serb civilians within Croatia and in prison
camps in Montenegro, Serbia, and Bosnia, and the establishment of
inhumane living conditions for the population in Serb-controlled
areas.
These are areas local Serb authorities had called SAO Krajina, SAO
Western Slavonia, SAO Slavonija, Baranja and Western Srem, and the
Dubrovnik area.
The prosecutor holds Milosevic responsible also for the harassment
of Croats and others, forced labour in detention camps, and sexual
assault. He is also charged with attacks on Vukovar, Dubrovnik, and
other undefended Croat villages and their destruction and plunder,
as well as the destruction of cultural and historical monuments.
The indictment specifies the place and time of each slaughter,
killing or persecution Milosevic is charged with.
Milosevic's commanding responsibility lies in the actual control
he had over four members of ex-Yugoslavia's federal presidency, and
thereby over the armed forces under their control, including the
former federal army JNA, the Territorial Defence, and voluntary
Serb units, according to the indictment.
The ICTY prosecutor concludes that Slobodan Milosevic "knowingly
and wilfully participated in the joint criminal enterprise,
sharing the intent of other participants in the joint criminal
enterprise or aware of the foreseeable consequences of their
actions," whereby he is personally responsible for crimes in
addition to his responsibility for the planning, instigation,
ordering or aiding and abetting of the planning, preparations and
execution of said crimes.
According to his attorneys, Milosevic will stick to his previous
defence, namely the non-recognition of the ICTY and its
indictments, the Belgrade media reported today.
(hina) ha sb