April 25, 2001
Almost 200 Yugoslav army officers have been charged with committing war crimes during the Kosovo conflict, military officials said. The soldiers are accused of a variety of offences, including murder, harassment and assault, and that trials of some have already started.
A United Nations spokesman welcomed the arrests, saying they were an encouraging sign that Belgrade is committed to bringing to justice those guilty of crimes in Kosovo.
An army statement said the military prosecutor had ordered investigations against "soldiers, non-commissioned officers and officers ... for crimes resulting in deaths and injuries of civilians as well as deprivation of their basic human rights during combat activities in the province of Kosovo in 1998 and 1999. "We want to expose individuals for their crimes and avoid collective guilt for the entire nation," an army legal officer said. He refused to say how many trials had resulted in convictions or what penalties were handed down.
Thousands of ethnic Albanians are thought to have been killed during the Serb crackdown on the province, while hundreds of thousands of civilians were driven from their homes. The military has previously said that 24 soldiers are facing -- or have faced -- legal action on similar charges.
Tuesday's announcement said 183 army members were at some stage in the legal process, and a ranking officer from the army's legal branch said more charges were likely. The increased numbers reflected growing acceptance on the part of the army that its members committed atrocities against Kosovo Albanians during their crackdown in the southern Serbian province.
The 78-day NATO bombing in 1999 eventually forced the Yugoslav army and Serb police to withdraw from the province, now under international control.
Ousted president Slobodan Milosevic has been indicted by the international war crimes tribunal for alleged Kosovo atrocities. The charges include murder, harassment and maltreatment, illegal arrests, beatings and stealing, said the army legal officer, who spoke on condition of anonymity. He said more cases were pending, but gave no details,
While denying allegations of a systematic campaign of war crimes in Kosovo, the Yugoslav army has said before that if any of its troops had committed atrocities, they would be brought to justice. Beyond the increased figure, the statement provided no details.
Last week, army spokesman Colonel Svetozar Radisic said military courts have tried or were trying 24 soldiers suspected of war crimes in Kosovo. British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook, now on a whistle stop tour of the Balkans, plans to defend controversial interventions such as the NATO campaign in Kosovo.
At a banquet in London following a two day trip to Kosovo and Montenegro, he is due to say: "Nothing has given me greater satisfaction in my time in office than the removal of Milosevic from office and the removal of his poisonous policies of ethnic hatred from Europe. "There were some who said at the time that by attacking Milosevic we would strengthen Milosevic. The contrary proved true. "Milosevic's downfall began with the defeat of his ethnic cleansing in Kosovo. The lesson from the Balkans is that we must reject the argument that it is impossible to make a difference. "I can point to the Balkans and say - we reject the cynical consensus which says that nothing can be done. "The lesson of the last four years is that we can build a more stable world if we approach its challenges with the right mixture of realism and hope."
