Milosevic conviction far off
The proceedings at the UN war crimes tribunal could take years,
with horrific tales from survivors, wrenching images of skeletons in mass graves
with bound wrists and shattered skulls and testimony from major political
figures.
Nevertheless, Case No. IT-99-37-I — The Prosecutor against
Slobodan Milosevic — could be difficult to prove.
In the apparent absence of signed orders or a lieutenant willing
to testify against his former chief, the Milosevic trial faces the test of the
legal responsibility of superiors set by the trials of Reich Marshal Hermann
Goering and 21 other Hitler henchmen at Nuremberg.
“We are living in a
post-Nuremberg era,'' explained Anthony D'Amato, a Northwestern University Law
School professor who has represented a Bosnian Serb defendant in The Hague.
“Milosevic wasn't stupid enough to say: 'Go out and torture those
people.”
The formal trial is months away, but it is already
becoming clear that the outcome is likely to hinge on three questions.
l Does the prosecution have a paper trail
leading up to the former Yugoslav president?
l Can defence lawyers prove Milosevic
tried to prevent atrocities or punish the guilty?
l How stringently will judges interpret
the standards that make a leader responsible for atrocities committed by
subordinates, even when there is no direct proof he ordered
them?
Guardian News Service
WHILE SLOBODAN Milosevic has finally
been brought to face justice at The Hague, his conviction is by no means assured
— despite efforts by hundreds of investigators to amass evidence on Europe's
worst slaughter since the Holocaust.
http://www.hindustantimes.com/nonfram/040701/detFOR03.asp
Miroslav Antic,
http://www.antic.org/
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