Holly Cartner (New York): 212-216-1277
Jean-Paul Marthoz (Brussels): 322-736-7838

(New York, May 26,1999)—Human Rights Watch today applauded the reported indictment of Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

"It’s about time Milosevic was indicted," said Holly Cartner, Executive Director of the  Europe and Central Asia division of Human Rights Watch. "His troops are committing crimes against humanity in Kosovo as we speak. But he must also be held accountable for other terrible deeds: Vukovar, Sarajevo, Srebrenica—the list goes on and on. This indictment is particularly important because it shows that no political leader—even if still in office—is immune from prosecution for atrocities," added Cartner.

Throughout the wars in the former Yugoslavia—from Slovenia and Croatia in the summer of 1991 to the end of the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina in  1995—Human Rights Watch documented the systematic slaughter, mutilation, rape and forced displacement of the civilian population by Milosevic’s troops. In the worst single atrocity during the war in Bosnia-Hercegovina, as many as 7,000 Bosniak inhabitants were slaughtered by Bosnian Serb forces following the fall of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995. Again in Kosovo, beginning in 1998 and continuing to the present, there is abundant evidence that Yugoslav Army and Serb special police units under Milosevic’s political leadership have been responsible for widespread atrocities, including the summary execution of civilians, massacres, rape, destruction of civilian property, and systematic "ethnic cleansing" of the region.

Cartner noted that even if Milosevic himself did not pull any triggers, he could still be held criminally responsible for crimes committed by people under his command. The Tribunal would have to show that he gave the orders to commit the crimes, or that he failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the perpetrators.

Cartner rejected speculation that the reported indictment would make the search for peace more difficult. She pointed out that the Dayton Peace accords were signed in 1995, effectively ending the war in Bosnia, even though the Tribunal had already indicted Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic as war criminals.