BALKANS: MILOSEVIC DEATH DEEPENS DIVISIONS
Vesna Peric Zimonjic
BELGRADE - A glance at the death notices page of the leading Belgrade newspaper Politika shows how far the death of former Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic has divided the nation.
As some said that Milosevic's death had denied justice, his Socialist Party published a full-page notice in a local newspaper saying that its leader "tragically died, defending Serbia", while the association for defence of Milosevic Sloboda (Freedom) bid "last farewell to the hero of the Serb nation."
At the same time, the ICTY ended proceedings against Milosevic in a two-and-a-half minute session. "Milosevic's death terminates these proceedings," presiding judge Patrick Robinson said.
"The worst has happened -- Milosevic was not pronounced guilty or not guilty for his crimes, and that will remain the main disagreement and stumbling block among Serbs and in the Balkans," analyst Dusan Janjic told IPS. "This will prevent catharsis for Serbs, reconciliation in the region and the final definition of recent Serbia's past."
Milosevic died from heart failure in the detention unit of the ICTY, as the trial against him on 66 charges of genocide and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo entered its fifth year. The wars of disintegration of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s resulted in the death of thousands, most of them non-Serbs.
Milosevic will not have a full state funeral, due to the controversy surrounding his rule at home and his role in the region, which will have to deal with this legacy for years.
"It is the stand of this government that the funeral is a private matter for the Milosevic family," deputy prime minister Miroljub Labus said.
Controversy remains about the place of burial. Milosevic's widow Mira, son Marko and brother Borislav live in Russia, and his daughter Marija lives in Montenegro.
Serbs remain divided as ever over his role, and these divisions have surfaced again.
For some Milosevic was the saviour of Serbs in former Yugoslavia, who they believe were threatened with extinction by Croats, Bosnians or ethnic Albanians. For others, he was the man who fatally influenced the lives of many, bringing them shame, disgrace and isolation.
"It's a shame to see how some (pro-nationalist) media are treating this event," foreign minister Vuk Draskovic told reporters. "There is no way the broader public can forget what marked Milosevic's rule in the past, among other things the political assassinations."
Draskovic, the opposition leader of the 90s, twice escaped assassination attempts by Milosevic's secret police. Under Milosevic's instructions, his political mentor and president of Serbia in the 1980s, Ivan Stambolic, was killed in 2000. The prominent opposition journalist Slavko Curuvija was assassinated in 1999.
In the Balkans, the feeling of justice being denied overwhelmingly prevails. The ICTY is also being criticised.
Croatian legal expert Ivan Josipovic wrote in the Zagreb newspaper Jutarnji List on Tuesday that "the fact that an indictee practically escaped the verdict will diminish the image of the tribunal."
Head of the Croatian Helsinki Committee for Human Rights Zarko Puhovski told IPS that the death of Milosevic will have a serious influence on the process of reconciliation in the Balkans.
"The process of reconciliation was going on slowly anyway," Puhovski said. "All the main participants in the war are dead now (besides Milosevic, former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and former Bosnian president Alija Izetbegovic). Besides, many will continue to think that the ICTY is involved in an anti-Serb conspiracy, as all the detainees who died there were Serbs."
Milosevic was the fourth Serb indictee to die in the ICTY detention unit. Only a week before his death, former Serb leader from Croatia Milan Babic committed suicide.
Slavko Dokmanovic, war-time Serb leader in the occupied Croatian town of Vukovar committed suicide in 1999, while Bosn (END)
