Presidents Day: Plavsic pleads guilty while Mesic testifies against Milosevic

Biljana Plavsic, former wartime leader of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pled guilty to persecution on political, racial, or religious grounds, a crime against humanity. She was the first wartime leader from the former Yugoslavia to do so. In a statement presented on her behalf, her counsel said, 'By accepting responsibility and expressing her remorse fully and unconditionally, Mrs. Plavsic hopes to offer some consolation to the innocent victims – Muslim, Croat and Serb – of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Mrs. Plavsic invites others, especially leaders, on any side of the conflict, to examine themselves and their own conduct.'

One of those leaders examining himself is likely to be Slobodan Milosevic. While Mrs. Plavsic has made no agreement to testify in other cases, the possibility remains open. Moreover, even without her testimony, her admission to certain 'facts' is potential evidence against other indictees. One fact under count three of the indictment to which Mrs. Plavsic pled guilty is that the persecutions against Bosnian Muslims were undertaken by the Bosnian Serbs with the involvement of Yugoslav Army and Serbian paramilitary forces.

In the first few days of the Croatia/ Bosnia phase of his trial, Milosevic has disclosed through his questioning that he will deny any power or influence over the Yugoslav Army. Since Milosevic, as president of Serbia did not have de jure (by law) control of the Yugoslav Army, it will be key for the prosecution to prove he had actual (de facto) control. Only five days into the Croatia phase of his trial, he opened the door for proof of his de facto power in cross examining Stjepan Mesic, President of Croatia and a key player during the break up of Yugoslavia. Milosevic's cross examination would have ended twenty minutes earlier, but Milosevic prevailed upon Presiding Judge Richard May to extend it.

President Mesic had testified earlier that in 1991, Milosevic's machinations prevented him from taking office as president of the Presidency of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, thereby resulting in a 'putsch' which gave Milosevic, then president of Serbia, control over the SFRY. Minutes before the day's adjournment, Milosevic asked if Mesic wasn't the one who had obstructed the functioning of the presidency. That gave President Mesic his opening. By way of explaining that Milosevic, as a result of the putsch, was the only one with influence over the Presidency, Mesic offered that, though he was prevented from coming to Belgrade to participate in the presidency, his advisor remained in his office – which had a connecting door to the room where the rump presidency met. The advisor (a Serb) reported to Mesic that he overheard a conversation where Slobodan Milosevic asked the head of the army to leave the city of Vukovar alone and target Zagreb instead. The general explained that was impossible because Croatian military forces had grown strong enough to protect Zagreb. Milosevic then agreed to the destruction of Vukovar.

Only a minute remained for Milosevic to argue that he never met with the Presidency unless the presidents of the other republics were there. President Mesic responded that it was not an official session, he didn't know who had invited Milosevic, but it was what his advisor related. Though the evidence is hearsay, it is admissible. The weight to give it is up to the Court. It supports the prosecution's allegation that Milosevic was involved in a joint criminal enterprise against non-Serb civilian targets in Croatia.

Perhaps more remarkable is the demonstration of Milosevic's hubris, which leads him to 'make his case,' disregarding rules of law and abjuring any need for legal counsel. Qualified counsel would have ended cross examination long before, rather than allowing President Mesic more time to present his view of the facts. Nor would counsel have asked an open-ended question that gave the witness an opportunity to testify to new – and potentially damaging -- facts on cross examination. In the end, Milosevic's choice to argue a political case in the context of a legal trial may be his downfall.

While Milosevic is unlikely to engage in the self-examination urged on former leaders by Mrs. Plavsic, he would be advised to rethink his increasingly isolated position. At the end of the day, a sitting president of Croatia and a former president of Bosnia gave the ex-president of Serbia and the FRY cause for worry.