Global Policy Forum

By Marlise Simons

Four years behind bars have inevitably changed Slobodan Milosevic. His white hair has receded, his stomach is bulkier, his English has improved. Since he arrived, handcuffed, at the United Nations prison in The Hague on June 28, 2001, he also has become less blustery, perhaps the result of blood-pressure medication or the sheer drudgery of his long trial on an array of war-crimes charges. Once given to bursting into furious tirades and dismissing his indictment as a fake and his trial as a farce, the former Serbian president has now become steeped in the case's 200,000 pages. These days, he sits in the dock flanked by carts full of binders that he frequently consults. He addresses his three judges sitting high on the dais, rather than turning to the public gallery, for it has been usually empty.

But Milosevic's old mind-set remains intact. Day after day, he has tenaciously stuck to his vision of history, the evolving version he delivered during his 13 years in power that triggered three wars and led to more than 250,000 dead. Serbs were not responsible for the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo, he contends, but were forced to defend themselves from aggression. Contrary to his indictment, he says there was no plan to create a larger country for all Serbs and no large-scale atrocities were committed to achieve this. Yes, people died, but they were fighting, or were bombed by NATO. He, as Serbia's leader, led Serbs in self-defense. This vision has been much on display in the months since Milosevic began calling his own witnesses to defend him and the Serbian national cause. The prosecution rested its case last year, after bringing 114 witnesses to the court and presenting written testimony from another 240, to buttress its lengthy charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.

The trial, which began in February 2002, has set a record for longevity in international law and the end is not in sight. So far, Milosevic, who acts as his own lawyer, has presented nearly 30 witnesses, among them former aides, old Communist Party friends, historians and a forensics expert as well as also other nationals, including a French Army colonel and several senior Russian politicians. He has used almost 40 percent of the time allotted to him, but his lawyers say he plans to call dozens more witness. "You can expect I will be asking for a prolongation," Milosevic told the judges recently. "My aim is to present the truth and that takes time." The judges have repeatedly instructed Milosevic to stop asking leading questions, and not to waste time with repetitive and irrelevant evidence. His role, they said, was to address specific charges against him. "This is not a general situation," presiding Judge Patrick Robinson said at one point. "You are not at large." Judges fearing that it will take months before the crucial war in Bosnia is addressed, have also suggested longer hours or sitting four times, rather than the current three times per week. But that drew quick objections from Milosevic, who argued that his chronic heart disease would not allow it. If his condition improved, he mocked, "then this place should be advertised as a kind of spa for treating health problems."

The trial's current focus is the 1999 war in Kosovo, a Serbian province, and Milosevic has devoted much time and effort to Kosovo because as president of Serbia, he can be held directly accountable for any proven atrocities by its army and police force. "We want to show that yes, there were crimes, but it was not our policy and the authorities reacted and punished them," said Branko Rakic, a legal adviser to Milosevic.

The most senior Serb official to appear on behalf of Milosevic is General Obrad Stevanovic. He has already testified for 13 days and will return to the stand on Wednesday. As deputy minister of interior, he headed the regular police force in Kosovo as well as units of special police, and had undoubted deep knowledge of the forces' role. Unwaveringly loyal to Milosevic, he gave lengthy accounts of police rules, weaponry and ammunition and said repeatedly that the police could not have committed any crimes because their role was to uphold the law. Any reports of police abuse were investigated, he said. Were any police punished? a judge asked. The general did not know. His repeated denials of killing of civilians in Kosovo infuriated the lead prosecutor, Geoffrey Nice, who said he was lying and called his versions ridiculous. The routine of examination and cross-examination was suddenly upset on June 1, after Stevanovic had conceded that the Serbian police had acted in Bosnia and Croatia, but only to perform common tasks, such as "traffic control and crime prevention."

Nice then showed a videotape in which a Serbian paramilitary unit known as the Scorpions, which he said were part of the Serbian police, could be seen executing six unarmed Bosnian Muslim prisoners in l995. Four of the young men were shot at close range, two more were executed shortly afterwards. He asked Stevanovic if he recognized anyone in the unit. No, the general said, they were not part of the Serbian police, but he promised to make inquiries. Since that day, the Serbian authorities say five men shown on the videotape have been arrested, including the unit's commander, and the police are searching for more. The shocking images have dominated the news in Serbia and they have been replayed on television in many countries. But no link to Milosevic has yet been established. The videotape has not been entered as evidence in court because to do so, the prosecution must seek permission to reopen its case and it must show the provenance and authenticity of the edited tape in which dates are missing and voices are scrambled. After the executions were shown in court, Milosevic returned to the prison, looking dejected. Rather than socializing with fellow inmates, as he usually does, lawyers visiting the prison said Milosevic withdrew into his cell and did not reappear that night. Asked why Milosevic was disturbed, Rakic, his lawyer, offered this explanation: "This is clearly part of a media campaign. We think this film was designed to shock the public, not to prove something."