This is a dutch, 2-part documentary (2003) on the case of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, against Slobodan Milosevic. Former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic died March 11, 2006, while on trial before the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague.
View The Milosevic Case - Glosses at a Trial. Video hosted on Google. Two episodes VPRO documentary premiere in Sofia and a discussion with the authors: Germinal Civicov (idea&research) and Olaf Oudheusden (research, VPRO).Moderator: Georgi Koritarov (journalist with bTV and Radio Free Europe-Sofia). In the aftermath of the war stricken the Balkan area, world opinion seems to be unanimous about the guilt of former president Slobodan Milosevic. He is responsible for the massacres, genocide and crimes against humanity and has to stand trial in the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Jos de Putter produced for the Dutch VPROs documentary series Backlight two episodes based upon one question: were the images that we received during the war also reality, and how is this effecting the Milosevic case?
We all remember the images of the camps, the massacres in Kosovo and executions of the muslim population. These images became an icon of the Serbian evil who weren trying to establish their rule on the Balkan. But this icon resulted also in the establishment of the criminal tribunal. The Milosevic Case gives the audience a clear picture that the accused is not only defending against the formal accusation, but also against an existing general image that could be false. Jos de Putter tries with his side-notes at the trial to reconstruct the manipulated images behind the stories. All parties involved at the Milosevic Case seem to have advantage by the existing dictatorial image of the former Yugoslavian leader
Slobodan Miloević (1941-2006) was president of the republic of Serbia from 1989 to 1997 and president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY, see Serbia and Montenegro) from 1997 to 2000. In 2001 he was extradited to the United Nations (UN) war crimes tribunal at The Hague to face trial on charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo during the wars of Yugoslav succession in the 1990s. He died in prison before the trial could be completed.
Former Yugoslavian president Slobodan Milosevic died March 11, 2006, while on trial before the United Nations' International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Milosevic faced 66 charges, including crimes against humanity and genocide. He was accused of murder and planning a systematic campaign of ethnic cleansing. Among Milosevic's alleged crimes was the forced expulsion of 800,000 Albanians from Kosovo in 1999, which led to the NATO bombing campaign. He was accused of planning and ordering his army and police to commit mass murder in Racak, Kosovo.
He was also accused of ordering Europe's worst atrocity since the Second World War, the mass murder of 7,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995. The trial had lasted four years at the time of his death. The tribunal formally closed proceedings against Milosevic on March 14, 2006.
Miloević miscalculated the reaction of the opposition and Serbias voters. A total of 18 opposition parties, whose fragmentation and quarrels had previously helped Miloević hold on to power, united to form the Democratic Opposition of Serbia (DOS) and to back a joint candidate for president of the FRY, Vojislav Kotunica. On election day, September 24, Kotunica won 53 percent of the vote, to Miloevićs 35 percent, despite blatant vote-rigging on the part of Miloevićs supporters. This absolute majority made a runoff election unnecessary. The DOS won 59 of 138 seats in the federal parliaments more powerful Chamber of Citizens (compared to 44 seats for a united slate of Miloevićs SPS and his wifes openly Communist United Left party) and also won control of about 100 municipal governments.
After several days of silence, the official Federal Election Commission announced a different and clearly not credible result, giving Kotunica 49 percent of the vote and therefore requiring a runoff election. Shortly afterward, the FRYs highest court annulled the elections of September 24. The DOS called for a general strike and mass demonstrations in Belgrade on October 5. On that day the demonstrators, an estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people from all over Serbia, stormed and occupied the FRY parliament building and the government radio-television station while police retreated or joined them.
In the face of this mass opposition, Miloević met with Kotunica on October 6, congratulated him on his victory, and announced his own defeat on national television. The Yugoslav armys high command pledged its loyalty to its new commander in chief, Kotunica. Other bastions of the old regime were still to be won, including the presidency and parliament of Serbia, but the Miloević era was over.
 |
Subscribe to this comment's feed
