Ecco il testo della dichiarazione con la quale il procuratore del Tribunale
internazionale, Louise Arbour, per i crimini di guerra ha annunciato oggi
l'incriminazione del presidente jugoslavo Slobodan Milosevic e di altri
quattro leader serbi.
On May 22, I presented an indictment for confirmation against
Slobodan Milosevic and four others, charging them with crimes
against humanity -- specifically murder, deportation and
persecutions, and with violations of the laws and customs of
war. The indictment was confirmed by a Judge of this Tribunal
on May 24. The indictment was the subject of a non-disclosure
order which expired at noon today. I sought this order on the
basis of security considerations, in particular for the U.N.
humanitarian mission which left the former Yugoslavia this
morning. The following accused are jointly indicted:
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC, President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, MILAN MILUTINOVIC, President of the Republic of
Serbia, NIKOLA SAINOVIC, Deputy Prime Minister of the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia, DRAGOLJUB OJDANIC, Chief of the General
Staff of the Armed Forces of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, and VLAJKO STOJILJKOVIC, Minister of Internal
Affairs of the Republic of Serbia.
Arrests warrants have been issued against all five accused and
are being served on all Member States of the United Nations and
Switzerland. The warrants are accompanied by a court order
requesting all States to search for and freeze any and all
assets of the accused under their jurisdiction. This order was
sought to prevent foreign assets being used for the purpose of
evading justice, and to permit effective restitution to be made
upon conviction. These provisional measures are granted without
prejudice to the rights of third parties.
This indictment is the product of intense efforts by a large
number of people in my Office. It does not represent the
totality of the charges that may result from our continuing
investigations of these accused, nor does it represent our
final determination of the responsibility of others in relation
to the same events. The present indictment is based exclusively
on crimes committed since the beginning of 1999 in Kosovo. We
are continuing to develop an evidentiary base upon which I
believe we will be able to expand upon the present charges. We
are still actively investigating other incidents in Kosovo, as
well as the role of the accused, or of some of them, in Croatia
and Bosnia in earlier years. We are also still investigating
the role and responsibility of others into the crimes contained
in this indictment.
Although this broad investigation is on-going, we had reached a
point, at the end of last week where, in my view, we had
sufficient evidence of these very serious offences committed by
these accused to require us to bring these charges at this
stage. As usual, this indictment was the subject of thorough
scrutiny within the Office of the Prosecutor before being
submitted to a Judge for confirmation. In order to have the
indictment confirmed, the Prosecutor must present a primafacie
case. In his decision confirming the indictment, Judge David
Hunt said: "A primafacie case on any particular charge exists
in this situation where the material facts pleaded in the
indictment constitute a credible case which would (if not
contradicted by the accused) be a sufficient basis to convict
him of that charge."
We have received, and we are continuing to receive valuable
information from governments, as well as from groups and
individuals. We are still awaiting further evidence that I
believe many States will be able to contribute to our larger
investigation. I repeat my pressing call to them to come
forward and be responsive to our outstanding and future
Requests for Assistance in relation to evidence in their
possession.
I also call upon all states to comply with the execution of
these, and all outstanding arrests warrants issued by the
Tribunal. These warrants are issued under the authority of a
Security Council resolution, which requires all States to
comply with the orders of the Tribunal. I call in particular on
the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, and
especially on the Minister of Justice, to stand up for the Rule
of Law, and to request that all the accused voluntarily submit
to the jurisdiction of the Tribunal, or, should they fail to do
so, to provide for their arrest and transfer to The Hague.
I have been stressing for several months now our commitment to
functioning as a real time law enforcement operation. I believe
that it is an extraordinary achievement, by any law enforcement
standard, for us to have brought to successful confirmation, an
indictment against the five accused, for crimes of this
magnitude committed since the beginning of this year. This has
been achieved in less than five months, under the demanding
requirements of the Tribunal's Rules of Procedure and Evidence,
which compel the production to a Judge of detailed supporting
materials to substantiate the charges. The supporting
materials, which contain witness statements and relevant
documents, which were filed with the Registry, will not be
disclosed until the accused appear to answer the charges.
Finally, I am mindful of the impact that this indictment may
have on the peace process in the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia. I am confident, as was obviously the Security
Council in creating this Tribunal and in calling upon it
several times in the last year to address this issue, that the
product of our work will make a major contribution to a lasting
peace, not only in Kosovo, but in the whole region in which we
have jurisdiction. No credible, lasting peace can be built upon
impunity and injustice. The refusal to bring war criminals to
account would be an affront to those who obey the law, and a
betrayal of those who rely on it for their life and security.
Although the accused are entitled to the benefit of the
presumption of innocence until they are convicted, the evidence
upon which this indictment was confirmed raises serious
questions about their suitability to be the guarantors of any
deal, let alone a peace agreement. They have not been rendered
less suitable by the indictment. The indictment has simply
exposed their unsuitability.
An independent review by a Judge of this Tribunal has confirmed
that there is a credible basis to believe that these accused
are criminally responsible for the deportation of 740,000
Kosovo Albanians from Kosovo, and for the murder of over 340
identified Kosovo Albanians. The victims were entitled to
expect protection from each one of these accused.
This indictment is directed against the five named accused. It
is not directed against the State of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia, nor against its people. Whatever the differences
amongst the citizens of the FRY, and the differences they may
have with other nations, I believe that they will expect their
leaders who have abused their trust, to come to The Hague to
respond to these accusations.
(27 maggio 1999)