Milosevic, who turned from orthodox communism to Serbian nationalism as the six republics of the former Yugoslavia came apart at the seams, is charged in two earlier indictments with crimes against humanity in Croatia in 1991-2 and Kosovo in 1999.
The Bosnia indictment — which rounds off charges covering all three conflicts during Milosevic’s 13-year rule — contains 29 counts, including genocide and complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions.
“Slobodan Milosevic participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the forcible and permanent removal of the majority of non-Serbs...from large areas of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,” the indictment said.
TRIAL IN 2002: Milosevic, ousted in an October 2000 popular revolt and handed over to the international court in June, is set to go on trial in 2002.
The 60-year-old, who has condemned the tribunal as biased at pre-trial appearances, is charged with responsibility for the death or imprisonment of thousands of Bosnian Croats and Muslims in cities and towns whose names have become synonymous with murder and mayhem.
The charges range from extermination and murder to persecution, torture and the expulsion or imprisonment of more than a quarter of a million people.
Milosevic — who was Serbia’s president during the conflict in Bosnia and became president of Yugoslavia in 1997 — is charged with responsibility for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys.
The tribunal indicted fugitive wartime Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic six years ago for the 1995 massacre. In August the court convicted ex-Bosnian Serb general Radislav Krstic of genocide for the massacre.
The Bosnia indictment, drawn up by U.N. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, was formally approved by the court after a tribunal judge said it contained sufficient evidence to lead to a trial, the court said in a statement.
Thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Croats were killed and thousands more imprisoned in more than 50 detention facilities under inhumane conditions, the indictment said.—Reuters
