(September 26, 2002) - The trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague moves to its second phase this week, as the prosecution begins presentation of evidence of crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Croatia. In late August, the prosecutor rested her case regarding violations committed in Kosovo.

The Bosnian indictment of Milosevic includes one count of genocide, one count of complicity with genocide, and an additional twenty-seven counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity arising from the conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995. The charges are based on Milosevic's "command responsibility" as President of Serbia and his alleged participation in a joint criminal enterprise. The charges cover the shelling of Sarajevo; the mass murder of thousands of Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, both UN-proclaimed "safe areas;" and the Omarska detention camp.

Milosevic is charged with responsibility for "persecutions" (count 3); "extermination, murder and willful killing" (counts 4-7); "unlawful confinement, imprisonment, torture, willfully causing great suffering, and other inhumane acts" (counts 8-15); "deportation and forcible transfers" (counts 16-18); and "wanton destruction, plunder of public or private property" (counts 19-22). Human Rights Watch has published reports on the alleged violations, as they occurred in the towns of Banja Luka, Bijeljina, Bosanski Samac, Foca, Prijedor, Sarajevo, and Srebrenica. For the sniping and shelling of Sarajevo, Milosevic also faces charges of "murder, willful killing, willfully causing great suffering, cruel treatment, and attacks on civilians" (counts 23-29).

The Croatian indictment includes charges of "persecutions" (count 1); "extermination, murder and willful killing" (counts 2-5); "unlawful confinement, imprisonment, torture, and inhumane acts" (counts 6-13); "deportation, forcible transfer" (counts 14-16); "wanton destruction, plunder of public or private property" (counts 17-20); "murder, willful killing, willfully causing great suffering, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians" (counts 21-27); and "wanton destruction, plunder of public or private property" (counts 28-32).

        Milosevic is charged with a total of approximately 10,000 killings and 250,000 deportations in Bosnia. In Croatia, he is accused of "the extermination or murder of hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians" and the deportation of at least 170,000 people. These are the second and third indictments he faces before the ICTY. The first indictment covered crimes committed in Kosovo. The three indictments, which have been joined in a single trial, span the years of the Balkan Wars from 1991 to 1999.

        Among the fourteen individuals listed in the Bosnia indictment as co-perpetrators are Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. Karadzic was the political leader of Bosnian Serbs throughout the war. Mladic was the general in charge of both the Yugoslav Army in Sarajevo and the entire Bosnian Serb Army. The two have been under indictment for their roles in the Bosnian war since 1995 but have yet to be arrested.