The people of Serbia will look on with deep cynicism as former Yugoslav president and Serbian nationalist Slobodan Milosevic launches his defense against war-crimes charges at The Hague this week.
Milosevic is due to make an opening statement in his self-defense today and the proceedings, as they have been for more than two years, will be broadcast live on TV throughout the Balkan republic.
But the broadcasts long ago lost their appeal in a country that is trying to move on rather than constantly relive the past. To many the proceedings have become little more than a tiresome soap opera starring a man most would rather forget.
Analysts expect few surprises, saying Milosevic will stick to his strategy of challenging the legitimacy of the UN war-crimes court while using the trial as a political platform to speak to the Serbian people.
"He has combined ignoring of the procedural side of the trial and the evidence, addressing more the domestic audience," journalist Nenad Stefanovic said in the weekly Vreme.
"Surely he will not give up such tactics" during his defense time, said Stefanovic, who has been covering the trial for Vreme.
At the start of the trial Milosevic announced that he would summon world leaders including former US president Bill Clinton and UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan to give evidence about the Balkans wars of the 1990s.
"There is no doubt that he will try [on Monday] to change places with the prosecution as he thinks that the trial should be held against those who have brought him there," Stefanovic said.
Sociologist Dragan Popovic estimated that the resumption of the trial would hardly "glue anyone to the television screen, although his supporters have not disappeared from Serbian soil."
"But even they have now realized that this will be a long process, with almost no chances for Milosevic to return to his homeland," Popovic said.
Last week, on the third anniversary of the former strongman's extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, only several hundred supporters gathered in Belgrade to demand his release.
Public interest in the almost daily TV coverage of the trial has waned from the start of proceedings, when it nearly brought the country to a standstill.
In a bid to revive the ratings of the broadcast on B92 TV, the only station which has constantly transmitted the proceedings, editors decided to combine the trial with "current affairs" programs.
LANDMARK CASE: ‘Every night we were dragged to US soldiers and sexually abused. Every week we were forced to undergo venereal disease tests,’ a victim said More than 100 South Korean women who were forced to work as prostitutes for US soldiers stationed in the country have filed a landmark lawsuit accusing Washington of abuse, their lawyers said yesterday. Historians and activists say tens of thousands of South Korean women worked for state-sanctioned brothels from the 1950s to 1980s, serving US troops stationed in country to protect the South from North Korea. In 2022, South Korea’s top court ruled that the government had illegally “established, managed and operated” such brothels for the US military, ordering it to pay about 120 plaintiffs compensation. Last week, 117 victims
China on Monday announced its first ever sanctions against an individual Japanese lawmaker, targeting China-born Hei Seki for “spreading fallacies” on issues such as Taiwan, Hong Kong and disputed islands, prompting a protest from Tokyo. Beijing has an ongoing spat with Tokyo over islands in the East China Sea claimed by both countries, and considers foreign criticism on sensitive political topics to be acts of interference. Seki, a naturalised Japanese citizen, “spread false information, colluded with Japanese anti-China forces, and wantonly attacked and smeared China”, foreign ministry spokesman Lin Jian told reporters on Monday. “For his own selfish interests, (Seki)
Argentine President Javier Milei on Sunday vowed to “accelerate” his libertarian reforms after a crushing defeat in Buenos Aires provincial elections. The 54-year-old economist has slashed public spending, dismissed tens of thousands of public employees and led a major deregulation drive since taking office in December 2023. He acknowledged his party’s “clear defeat” by the center-left Peronist movement in the elections to the legislature of Buenos Aires province, the country’s economic powerhouse. A deflated-sounding Milei admitted to unspecified “mistakes” which he vowed to “correct,” but said he would not be swayed “one millimeter” from his reform agenda. “We will deepen and accelerate it,” he
Japan yesterday heralded the coming-of-age of Japanese Prince Hisahito with an elaborate ceremony at the Imperial Palace, where a succession crisis is brewing. The nephew of Japanese Emperor Naruhito, Hisahito received a black silk-and-lacquer crown at the ceremony, which marks the beginning of his royal adult life. “Thank you very much for bestowing the crown today at the coming-of-age ceremony,” Hisahito said. “I will fulfill my duties, being aware of my responsibilities as an adult member of the imperial family.” Although the emperor has a daughter — Princess Aiko — the 23-year-old has been sidelined by the royal family’s male-only
RSS