Carla del Ponte is strangling Kostunica and toppling Djindjic
Political repercussions of the new indictments will show that Milosevic still affects Yugoslav politics and that Carla del Ponte is an important factor at the Yugoslav political scene
By Zeljko Cvijanovic
It won't be strange if Yugoslav President Vojislav Kostunica, who doesn't approve of Carla del Ponte's judicial short cuts, asks the head prosecutor of The Hague's Tribunal to stop meddling in the war going on between him and the Serb Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic. Last week, Carla del Ponte visited Belgrade and labeled President Kostunica and his team the main obstacle to the cooperation between Belgrade and The Hague.
However, it won't be strange either if Zoran Djindjic asks Carla del Ponte for a similar favor: to stop helping him in his struggle against Kostunica, because her help complicates his position.
In September, when Zoran Djindjic and Carla del Ponte tried to define a strategy for Serb cooperation with The Hague, Carla del Ponte expressed her understanding for the Serb government's work. Logically, Carla del Ponte finally recognized a "golden string" in the Serb government. She promised to Djindjic that she wouldn't exert pressure on him as far as the extradition deadlines are concerned and even accepted to postpone the extradition of Serb President Milan Milutinovic. Djindjic's explanation that Milutinovic's departure for the Hague would destabilize the Serb government and cause premature presidential elections convinced Carla del Ponte to postpone the arrests of Milosevic's close associates, whom she needed to complete the indictment against the former Yugoslav president. She made a big concession. Namely, Carla del Ponte has never had everything she needs for the indictment against Slobodan Milosevic. She is under the pressure of the international legal and political circles, which remind her that the scandal concerning Milosevic case might have drastic consequences. It means that she and Zoran Djindjic had a conflict of interests last month, which she solved in his favor. How did it look like?
The list of priorities for extradition to The Hague contains the names of soldiers, who cannot leave the state without permission of general Nebojsa Pavkovic and President Kostunica. Namely, the list contains the names of so-called "Three soldiers of Vukovar" (colonel Veselin Sljivancanin, general Mile Mrksic and captain Miroslav Radic) and "Four soldiers of Dubrovnik" (general Pavle Strugar, captain Vladimir Kovacevic Rambo, admiral Milan Zec and admiral Miodrag Jokic).
In the meantime, general Pavle Strugar voluntarily went to The Hague and admiral Miodrag Jokic announced a similar move. The Hague claims and the Serb authorities admit that four other officers of the former Yugoslav National Army are at the territory of Serbia. Pressure is exerted on Kostunica to cooperate with The Hague. In a word, he cannot oppose Carla del Ponte's demands. Last week, Veselin Sljivancanin was unexpectedly retired, which couldn't be performed without Kostunica's consent. It means that Sljivancanin has been prepared for a meeting with Carla del Ponte.
In September, Carla del Ponte left seven secret indictments in Belgrade, which means that The Hague nowadays demands 21 persons from Belgrade. Although a few people know the names of the indicted persons, our source claims that they are seven more soldiers. Are these new commands for Kostunica?
The Serb Police Minister Dusan Mihajlovic explained that the newly indicted persons aren't citizens of Serbia. Our source from the Serb government denies Minister Mihajlovic's statement adding that it's true that these persons aren't indicted for the crimes committed at the territory of Yugoslavia. "Seven persons are indicted for the crimes committed in east Bosnia, mostly in Srebrenica," the same source says adding that five of them are at the territory of Serbia and two in Montenegro and that most of them are Yugoslav citizens.
Another source from the Yugoslav Army claims that names of the indicted persons aren't known and that the indictments were raised on the basis of the testimony given by the general of the Serb Republic's army Radoslav Krstic. In February 2000, Krstic gave a statement to The Hague's investigators trying to get rid of the responsibility for the crimes committed in Srebrenica in 1995 and shift it to general Ratko Mladic's group called "The clan of Knin".
All in all, Serb and Yugoslav authorities will have to extradite seven newly indicted persons. Although extraditions of soldiers imply new pressure on Kostunica, Djindjic has more reasons to be disappointed. Namely, seven new indictments destroyed the strategy of Serb cooperation with The Hague. The Serb Prime Minister advocated the cooperation plan reading that Belgrade would extradite 14 indicted persons, while persons indicted later would be tried in Serbia. Honestly speaking, Carla del Ponte generally agreed that trials should start in Serbia but she didn't promise that she wouldn't widen the list of indictees. Zoran Djindjic was the only one who expected that.
Belgrade wrongly interpreted that The Hague's indictments were divided in three groups. The first group contains indictments against national leaders such as Milosevic, Radovan Karadzic or Alija Izetbegovic. The third group refers to the least influential persons, who will be tried in the national courts. According to Florence Artman, this group contains the names of 15-20.000 people of ex Yugoslavia who committed crimes. It is impossible that so many people be tried but some of them will reach the courts. The second group of indictments represents the moot point and causes the conflict between The Hague and Yugoslav authorities. This group contains the indictments against people who are to provide evidence against persons from the first group. That's why seven new indictments can be interpreted in connection with another indictment against Milosevic for crimes committed in Bosnia. Carla del Ponte cannot charge him for minor violations of war rules. Since general Krstic was indicted for genocide, Milosevic cannot be indicted for some minor deeds because it would mean that some generals were carrying out their own policy without control. It would be harder to defend such an indictment against Milosevic than two "ordinary" indictments for Kosovo and Croatia. In a word, Del Ponte got a problem and had to stop showing understanding for Djindjic's government.
It became obvious on 8th October, when Milosevic's indictment was widened to the crimes in Croatia. On that occasion, Carla del Ponte announced 15 names suspected of participation in criminal activities with Milosevic. The list contains the names that will reach the second group if they are indicted. The list includes some politicians (Vojislav Seselj, Branko Kostic, Momir Bulatovic and Milan Babic), pensioned soldiers (Veljko Kadijevic, Blagoje Adzic, Tomislav Simovic and Aleksandar Vasiljevic), dead persons (Radovan Stojicic Badza, Zeljko Raznjatovic Arkan) and two persons, whose indictments would bring embarrassment to Mr. Djindjic: the former chief of the state security police Jovica Stanisic and founder of "red berets" Franko Simatovic Frenki. Carla del Ponte opened a competition in Croatia for witnesses against Milosevic.
Political repercussions of the new indictments will show that Milosevic still affects domestic politics. Moreover it will become clear that Carla del Ponte is an important factor at the domestic political scene although Kostunica and Djindjic don't want to admit that. Finally, it won't be clear what is worse: when Carla del Ponte shows or doesn't show understanding for domestic politicians.
