ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - The date of Slobodan Milosevic's arraignment in connection with crimes committed in Croatia has not been set yet, the spokesman for the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Jim Landale, told Hina over the phone
on Tuesday. Earlier today, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said it had confirmed an indictment against the former Yugoslav president which in 32 counts charges him with crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions, and violations of the laws and customs of war. The indictment was signed by Portuguese Judge Almiro Rodriges. The ICTY now has to set the date when Milosevic will plead guilty or nor guilty. Milosevic is charged on both commanding and individual responsibility for crimes committed through the persecution of the Croat and other non-Serb population from one third of Croatian territory during
ZAGREB, Oct 9 (Hina) - The date of Slobodan Milosevic's arraignment
in connection with crimes committed in Croatia has not been set yet,
the spokesman for the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague, Jim
Landale, told Hina over the phone on Tuesday.
Earlier today, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) said it had confirmed an indictment against the
former Yugoslav president which in 32 counts charges him with
crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions,
and violations of the laws and customs of war.
The indictment was signed by Portuguese Judge Almiro Rodriges. The
ICTY now has to set the date when Milosevic will plead guilty or nor
guilty.
Milosevic is charged on both commanding and individual
responsibility for crimes committed through the persecution of the
Croat and other non-Serb population from one third of Croatian
territory during 1991-2. The goal was the annexation of occupied
territories to a new, Serb-dominated state. At the time, Milosevic
was the president of Serbia.
In the 20-page indictment, the ICTY prosecutor says Milosevic
realised his criminal goal through a firm control of the Serb
members of ex-Yugoslavia's federal presidency, and thereby of the
former federal army JNA and its counter-intelligence service.
Besides the JNA, members of Serbia's Interior Ministry, state
security service and voluntary units also took part in the crimes in
Croatia, the indictment says.
The prosecutor holds Milosevic responsible for the persecution of
170,000 Croats and members of other minorities from Serb-occupied
areas, the extermination or killing of hundreds of Croats and other
non-Serbs, the imprisonment of thousands of civilians, and the
establishment of inhumane living conditions in occupied areas.
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 lists many individual crimes, including the
deportation of thousands of residents of Ilok, Vukovar, and Erdut,
and executions like the ones in Vukovar, Vocin, Saborsko, Skabrnja,
Nadin, Dalj, Lovas, Erdut, and Celije.
(hina) ha sb