Prosecution Concludes Opening Statement: Milosevic pursued war for political power

The Prosecution concluded its opening statement, providing an overview of the evidence and outlining its theory of Slobodan Milosevic's liability for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The prosecution contends that the accused masterminded and oversaw the execution of a campaign of ethnic cleansing, i.e the forcible removal of non-Serbs from parts of Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo, and a campaign of genocide against Muslims in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Genocide occurs where any of a number of acts, including murder and sexual assault, is committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group.

The prosecution claims that Mr. Milosevic pursued policies of ethnic cleansing and genocide in the former Yugoslavia, pandering to Serb nationalism as a way to gain and maintain political power. In pursuit of his goal, he authorized killing, forcible transfers of civilian populations, rape, destruction of civilian property and of cultural and religious sites. The prosecution must prove that Mr. Milosevic had effective control over the forces that led the conflicts in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina or aided and abetted their crimes. He maintains that Serbia was not involved in those wars, and as President of Serbia he had no de jure (legal) power over those who committed them.

The prosecution will begin presenting evidence on Mr. Milosevic's alleged ethnic cleansing of Kosovo in 1999. In its opening statement, the prosecution said its case on Kosovo is a 'deportation case,' meaning murders, assaults, rapes, forcible removal, property destruction and identity cleansing were all part of an intentional strategy to terrorize the Kosovo Albanian population into leaving Kosovo.

The court asked that this part of the prosecution's case be concluded by the end of June or beginning of July, so that all parties and the court will have two months to prepare the Croatia and Bosnia parts of the case to begin in September. The court stated that the prosecution's case should be completed within a year.

Opening statements continue tomorrow with the statement of the accused, Slobodan Milosevic.