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| Lightmaw is actually slobodan milosevic because he is serb cetnik | |||
| {{use dmy dates|date=January 2013}} | |||
| {{Infobox President | |||
| | image = Slobodan Milosevic Dayton Agreement.jpg | |||
| | caption = Milošević at the signing of the ] in 1995 | |||
| | order = 3rd ] | |||
| | primeminister = ]<br />] | |||
| | term_start = 23 July 1997 | |||
| | term_end = 7 October 2000 | |||
| | predecessor = ] | |||
| | successor = ] | |||
| | order2 = ] | |||
| |office2 = President of Serbia | |||
| | primeminister2 = ]<br />]<br />]<br />] | |||
| | term_start2 = 11 January 1991{{Ref label |term|a|}} | |||
| | term_end2 = 23 July 1997 | |||
| | predecessor2 = Office created | |||
| | successor2 = ] <small>(Acting)</small><br />] | |||
| | order3 = 14th ] of the ] | |||
| | primeminister3 = Desimir Jevtić<br>Stanko Radmilović | |||
| | term_start3 = 8 May 1989 | |||
| | term_end3 = 11 January 1991{{Ref label |term|a|}} | |||
| | predecessor3 = ] <br> Ljubiša Igić <small>(Acting)</small> | |||
| | successor3 = Office abolished | |||
| | birth_date = {{Birth date|1941|8|20|df=y}} | |||
| | birth_place = ], ] | |||
| | death_date = {{death date and age|2006|3|11|1941|8|20|df=y}} | |||
| | death_place = ], Netherlands | |||
| | alma_mater = ] | |||
| | party = ] {{small|(1959–1990)}}<br>] {{small|(1990–2006)}} | |||
| | spouse = ] {{small|(1971–2006)}} | |||
| | children = ] and Marija | |||
| | nationality = ]n | |||
| | signature = Slobodan Milosevic Signature.png | |||
| | footnotes = | |||
| a. {{note|term}} Became "President of the Presidency" of the ] (a ] of ]) on 8 May 1989. After ], he continued as the first President of the ] (a constituent of the newly formed ]) from 11 January 1991. | |||
| }} | |||
| '''Slobodan Milošević''' ({{IPA-sr|slobǒdan milǒːʃeʋitɕ|pron|sr-SlobodanMilosevic.ogg}}; {{lang-sr-Cyrl|Слободан Милошевић}}; 20 August 1941 – 11 March 2006) was a ] and Serbian politician who was the ] of ] (originally the ], a ] within the ]) from 1989 to 1997 and President of the ] from 1997 to 2000. He also led the ] from its foundation in 1990. He rose to power as Serbian President after he and his supporters claimed the need to reform the ] due to both the alleged marginalization of Serbia and its political incapacity to deter ] separatist unrest in the province of ]. | |||
| His presidency of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia was marked by several major reforms to Serbia's constitution in the 1980s to the 1990s that reduced the powers of the autonomous provinces in Serbia and in 1990 transitioned Serbia from a ] ] to a ], attempted reforms to the 1974 Constitution of Yugoslavia, the ] and the outbreak of the subsequent wars, the founding of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia by the former SFRY republics of Serbia and Montenegro, negotiating the ] on behalf of the Bosnian Serbs that ended the ] in 1995, and his overthrow in 2000. | |||
| In the midst of the ] in 1999, Milošević was charged by the ] (ICTY)<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1672414.stm|title=Milosevic charged with Bosnia genocide|publisher=BBC|date=23 November 2001|accessdate=20 June 2011}}</ref> with ] including ] and ] in connection to the wars in ], ], and ]. | |||
| Milošević ] the Yugoslav presidency amid demonstrations, following the disputed presidential election of 24 September 2000. He was arrested by Yugoslav federal authorities on 31 March 2001 on suspicion of corruption, abuse of power, and ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/0103/31/bn.03.html |title=Slobodan Milosevic to Stand Trial in Serbia|publisher=CNN|format=transcript|date=31 March 2001|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1254263.stm|publisher=BBC|title=Milosevic arrested|date=1 April 2001|accessdate=23 May 2010}}</ref> The initial investigation into Milošević faltered for lack of evidence, prompting the Serbian Prime Minister ] to extradite him to the ] (ICTY) to stand trial for charges of ]s instead.<ref>{{Cite news|work=The New York Times|title=Serbian Tells of Spiriting Milošević Away|date=1 July 2001|url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C06EFDF1339F932A35754C0A9679C8B63&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all|accessdate=24 July 2008|first=Carlotta|last=Gall}}</ref> At the outset of the trial Milošević denounced the Tribunal as illegal because it had not been established with the consent of the ]; therefore he refused to appoint counsel for his defence.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1419971.stm|title=BBC News - EUROPE - Milosevic hearing transcript|work=bbc.co.uk}}</ref> Milošević conducted his own defence in the five-year-long trial, which ended without a verdict when he ] in his prison cell in The Hague on 11 March 2006.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/060314IT.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> Milošević, who suffered from heart ailments and ], died of a ].<ref name="autogenerated1">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/milosevic/parkerreport.pdf|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref><ref name="autogenerated2">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/milosevic/trialc/decision-e/060224.htm |title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> The Tribunal denied any responsibility for Milošević's death, and stated that he had refused to take prescribed medicines and medicated himself instead.<ref>. United Nations, May 2006. 40 points 3 and 7;</ref> | |||
| In February 2007, the ] (ICJ) ruled separately in the '']'' that there was no evidence linking Serbia and Milošević to genocide committed by Bosnian Serbs in the Bosnian war. However, the Court did find | |||
| that Milošević and others in Serbia had committed a breach of the ] by failing to prevent the genocide from occurring and for not cooperating with the ICTY in punishing the perpetrators of the genocide, in particular General ], and for violating its obligation to comply with the provisional measures ordered by the Court.<ref>{{cite web| publisher= World Socialist Web| url= http://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2007/03/icj-m16.html| author= Paul Mitchell| title= The significance of the World Court ruling on genocide in Bosnia| date= 16 March 2007| accessdate= 9 February 2013}}</ref><ref> The New York Times, 26 February 2007. A copy of the ICJ judgement can be found here </ref> | |||
| ==Early life== | |||
| {{double image|left|Father of Slobodan Milošević.jpg|119|Mother of Slobodan Milošević.jpg|199|Milošević's father Svetozar and mother Stanislava with brother ] and Slobodan as children.}} | |||
| Milošević had roots from the Lijeva Rijeka village in ] and was of the ] ] from Montenegro. He was born in ], four months after the ] ] of the ], and raised during the Axis ] of World War II. He had an older brother ] who would later become a diplomat.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/borislav-milosevic-diplomat-who-defended-his-brother-slobodan-8477878.html|title=Borislav Milosevic: Diplomat who defended his brother Slobodan|publisher=The Independent|date=2013-02-01|accessdate=2013-02-02}}</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.b92.net/eng/news/region-article.php?yyyy=2013&mm=02&dd=01&nav_id=84473|title=Borislav Milošević laid to rest in Montenegro|publisher=B92 News|date=2013-02-01|accessdate=2013-02-02}}</ref> His parents separated in the ]. His father, the ] ]<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.findagrave.com/cgi-bin/fg.cgi?page=gr&GRid=13615104|title=Find-a-Grave website|publisher=Findagrave|date=14 March 2006|accessdate=30 May 2011}}</ref> Svetozar Milošević, ] in 1962.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fu1QiZ1n5AgC&pg=PA16&dq=Slobodan+Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87+father|title=Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia – Louis Sell |publisher=Google Books|date=22 February 2002|accessdate=21 January 2012|isbn=9780822332237 }}</ref> Svetozar's father Simeun was an officer in the Montenegrin Army. Milošević's mother Stanislava (née Koljenšić), a school teacher and also an active member of the Communist Party, committed suicide in 1972.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=fu1QiZ1n5AgC&pg=PA16&dq=Slobodan+Milo%C5%A1evi%C4%87+father|title=Slobodan Milosevic|publisher=Google Books|accessdate=30 May 2011|isbn=9780822332237|date=2002-02-22}}</ref> Her brother (Milošević's uncle) Milisav Koljenšić was a ] in the ] who committed suicide in 1963. | |||
| Milošević went on to study law at the ]'s ], where he became the head of the ideology committee of the ]'s (SKJ) ] (SSOJ). While at the university, he befriended ], whose uncle ] had been a president of Serbian Executive Council (the Communist equivalent of a prime minister). This was to prove a crucial connection for Milošević's career prospects, as Stambolić sponsored his rise through the SKJ hierarchy. | |||
| After his graduation in 1966, Milošević became an economic advisor to Mayor of ] ]. Five years later, he married his childhood friend, ], with whom he had two children: ] and Marija. Marković would have some influence on Milošević's political career both before and after his rise to power; she was also leader of her husband's junior coalition partner, ] (JUL) in the 1990s. In 1968, Milošević got a job at the Tehnogas company, where Stambolić was working, and became its chairman in 1973. By 1978, Stambolić's sponsorship had enabled Milošević to become the head of Beobanka, one of Yugoslavia's largest banks; his frequent trips to Paris and New York gave him the opportunity to learn English. He was 6 feet 1¼ inches (186 cm) tall.<ref></ref> | |||
| ==Rise to power== | |||
| ] | |||
| On 16 April 1984, Milošević was elected president of the Belgrade League of Communists City Committee.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 18 April 1984, Wednesday; Belgrade LC City Committee officials elected; Source: Yugoslav News Agency 1229 gmt 16 April 1984</ref> On 21 February 1986 the Socialist Alliance of Working People unanimously supported him as presidential candidate for the SKJ's ] Central Committee.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 27 February 1986, Thursday; Presidential candidate for Serbian LC named; Source: Belgrade home service 1800 gmt 21 February 1986</ref> Milošević was elected by a majority vote at the 10th Congress of the Serbian League of Communists on 28 May 1986.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 30 May 1986, Friday; Serbian LC Congress ends</ref> | |||
| Milošević ] in 1987 as a force in Serbian politics after he declared support for Serbs in Kosovo, who claimed they were being oppressed by the government of the Serbian autonomous province of Kosovo, which was dominated by Kosovo's majority nationality, ]. Milošević claimed that Albanian authorities had abused their powers, that the autonomy of Kosovo was allowing the entrenchment of separatism in Kosovo, and that the rights of the minority Serbs in Kosovo were being regularly violated. As a solution, he called for political change to reduce the autonomy of Kosovo, protect minority Serb rights, and initiate a strong crackdown on separatism in Kosovo. | |||
| Milošević was criticized by opponents, who claimed he and his allies were attempting to strengthen the position of Serbs in Yugoslavia at the expense of Kosovo Albanians and other nationalities, a policy they accused of being nationalist, which was a ] in the Yugoslav Communist system and effectively a political crime, as nationalism was identified as a violation of the Yugoslav Communists' commitment to ]. Milošević always denied allegations that he was a nationalist or that he exploited Serbian nationalism in his rise to power. In a 1995 interview with '']'', he defended himself from these accusations by claiming he stood for every nationality in Yugoslavia, (though he notably made no direct or indirect mention of ] or ] who are often seen by nationalist Serbs as being Serbs by ethnic heritage): "All my speeches up to '89 were published in my book. You can see that there was no nationalism in those speeches. We were explaining why we think it is good to preserve Yugoslavia for all ], all ], all ] and all ] as our joint country. Nothing else."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983190-2,00.html|title=Milosevic: I Am Just An Ordinary Man |work=TIME|date=17 July 1995|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| As animosity between Serbs and ] in Kosovo deepened during the 1980s, Milošević was sent to address a crowd of Serbs in ] on 24 April 1987. While Milošević was talking to the leadership inside the local cultural hall, demonstrators outside clashed with the local Kosovo-Albanian police force. | |||
| '']'' reported that "a crowd of 15,000 Serbs and Montenegrins hurled stones at the police after they used truncheons to push people away from the entrance to the cultural center of Kosovo Polje."<ref>The New York Times; Protest Staged by Serbs In an Albanian Region; 26 April 1987, Sunday, Late City Final Edition</ref> | |||
| Milošević heard the commotion and was sent outside to calm the situation. A videotape of the event shows Milošević responding to complaints from the crowd that the police were beating people by saying "You will not be beaten".<ref>{{cite web|author=ICTY |title=trial transcript, p. 35947 |year=2005 |url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050209IT.htm |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623152824/http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050209IT.htm |archivedate=23 June 2006 }}</ref> Later that evening, Serbian television aired the video of Milošević's encounter. | |||
| In ]'s biography of Milošević, he says that the crowd attacked the police and Milošević's response was "No one should dare to beat you again!"{{sfn|LeBor|2004|pp=79–84}} | |||
| The Federal Secretariat of the SFRY Interior Ministry however, condemned the police's use of rubber truncheons as not in keeping within the provisions of Articles 100 and 101 of the rules of procedure for "conducting the work of law enforcement", they had found that "the total conduct of the citizenry in the mass rally before the cultural hall in Kosovo Polje cannot be assessed as negative or ]. There was no significant violation of law and order."<ref>{{cite web|author=ICTY |title=trial transcript, p. 35686-87 |year=2005 |url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050125IT.htm |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623160558/http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050125IT.htm |archivedate=23 June 2006 }}</ref> | |||
| Although Milošević was only addressing a small group of people around him – not the public,<ref>{{cite web|author=ICTY |title=trial transcript, p. 35654 |year=2005 |url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050125IT.htm |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20060623160558/http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050125IT.htm |archivedate=23 June 2006 }}</ref> a great deal of significance has been attached to that remark. Stambolić, after his reign as President, said that he had seen that day as "the end of Yugoslavia". | |||
| Dragiša Pavlović, a Stambolić ally and Milošević's successor at the head of the Belgrade Committee of the party, was expelled from the party during the 8th Session of the League of Communists of Serbia after he publicly criticized the party's Kosovo policy. The central committee voted overwhelmingly for his dismissal: 106 members voted for his expulsion, eight voted against, and 18 abstained.<ref>Xinhua; 25 SEPTEMBER 1987, FRIDAY; Senior Yugoslav Party Official Sacked Over Kosovo Issue; Belgrade, 25 September; ITEM NO: 0925148</ref> | |||
| Stambolić was fired after Communist officials in Belgrade accused him of abusing his office during the Pavlović affair. Stambolić was accused of sending a secret letter to the party Presidium, in what was seen as an attempt to misuse the weight of his position as Serbian President, to prevent the central committee's vote on Pavlović's expulsion from the party.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; BELGRADE COMMUNISTS GIVE VIEWS ON STAMBOLIC'S RELATIONS WITH DRAGISA PAVLOVIC; 27 November 1987; SOURCE: Belgrade home service 2100 gmt 24 November 1987</ref><ref>Xinhua; 14 December 1987; Leader of Yugoslavia's Serbia Republic Sacked; ITEM NO: 1214003</ref> | |||
| In 2002 Adam LeBor and Louis Sell would write that Pavlović was really dismissed because he opposed Milošević's policies towards Kosovo-Serbs. They contend that, contrary to advice from Stambolić, Milošević had denounced Pavlović as being soft on ] radicals. LeBor and Sell assert that Milošević prepared the ground for his ascent to power by quietly replacing Stambolić's supporters with his own people, thereby forcing Pavlović and Stambolić from power.{{sfn|Sell|2002|pp=47–49}}{{sfn|LeBor|2004|pp=92–94}} | |||
| In February 1988, Stambolić's resignation was formalized, allowing Milošević to take his place as Serbia's President. Milošević then initiated a program of ]-supported ] reforms, setting up in May 1988 the "Milošević Commission" comprising Belgrade's leading ] economists.<ref>{{Cite book|title=Bosnia, Kosova & the West|last=Karadjis| first=Mike|year=2000|pages=39–40|publisher=Resistance Books|location=Australia}}</ref> | |||
| ===Anti-bureaucratic revolution=== | |||
| {{Main article|Anti-bureaucratic revolution|Gazimestan speech}} | |||
| Starting in 1988, the ] led to the resignation of the governments of ] and ] and to the election of officials allied with Milošević. | |||
| According to the Hague indictment against Milošević: "From July 1988 to March 1989, a series of demonstrations and rallies supportive of Slobodan Milošević's policies – the 'Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution' – took place in Vojvodina and Montenegro. These protests led to the ousting of the respective provincial and republican governments; the new governments were then supportive of, and indebted to, Slobodan Milošević."<ref name="autogeneratedmil">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/mil-2ai011029e.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Milošević's supporters say the anti-bureaucratic revolution was an authentic grass-roots political movement. Reacting to the indictment, Dr. ], Montenegro's then-representative on the Yugoslav state presidency said, "Well, it sounds like nonsense to me. If a government or a leadership were supportive of Milošević, then it would be normal for him to feel indebted to them, not the other way around." He said Milošević enjoyed genuine grassroots support because "his name at that time shone brightly on the political arena of the entire federal Yugoslavia ... and many people saw him as a person who would be finally able to make things move, to get things going."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/060125ED.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007 |accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> Kosta Bulatović, an organizer of the anti-bureaucratic rallies, said "All of this was spontaneous" the motivation to protest was "coming from the grassroots."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/050414IT.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Milošević's critics claim that he cynically planned and organized the anti-bureaucratic revolution to strengthen his political power. ] who served as the last president of a united Yugoslavia during the period of time leading up to the events being described here said of Milošević , "Milošević, with the policy he waged, broke down the autonomous Vojvodina, which was legally elected, in Montenegro he implemented an anti-bureaucratic revolution, as it's called, by which he destroyed Yugoslavia."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/021002ED.htm |title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007 |accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> Commenting on Milošević's role in the anti-bureaucratic revolution, Slovene president ] said, "none of us believed in Slovenia that these were spontaneous meetings and rallies."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/030521ED.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> He accused the Serbian government of deliberately fanning nationalist passions and Slovene newspapers published articles comparing Milošević to Italian Fascist dictator ], a one-time Marxist who turned to nationalism. Milošević contended that such criticism was unfounded and amounted to "spreading ]".<ref>, '']'', 24 October 1988</ref> | |||
| In ], where 54 percent of the population was Serbian, an estimated 100,000 demonstrators rallied outside the Communist Party headquarters in ] on 6 October 1988 to demand the resignation of the provincial leadership. The majority of protesters were workers from the Vojvodina town of Bačka Palanka, 40 kilometres west of Novi Sad. They were supportive of Milošević and opposed the provincial government's moves to block forthcoming amendments to the ].<ref>Xinhua; 6 October 1988; Yugoslav Protesters Demand Provincial Leaders' Resignation; ITEM NO: 1006181</ref><ref>The Times (London); 7 October 1988, Friday; Angry Serbs topple the leadership of Vojvodina province; Demonstrations against the Communist Party; Yugoslavia</ref><ref>The Globe and Mail (Canada); 6 October 1988 Thursday; Yugoslavs demand new leader</ref> | |||
| ''The New York Times'' reported that the demonstrations were held "with the support of Slobodan Milošević" and that "Diplomats and Yugoslavs speculated about whether Mr. Milošević, whose hold over crowds great, had had a hand in organizing the Novi Sad demonstrations."<ref>{{Cite news| url=http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=940DEFD8133DF934A35753C1A96E948260&scp=71&sq=Vojvodina&st=nyt|work=The New York Times|title=Growing Yugoslav Ethnic Protests Lead Province Officials to Resign|first=Henry|last=Kamm|date=7 October 1988|accessdate=23 May 2010}}</ref> | |||
| The demonstrations were successful. The provincial leadership resigned, and Vojvodina League of Communists elected a new leadership.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 25 January 1989; SECOND DAY OF VOJVODINA LC CONFERENCE NEW LEADERSHIP ELECTED</ref> | |||
| In the elections that followed Dr. ], a Milošević ally, was elected member of the SFRY Presidency from Vojvodina<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 9 May 1989, Tuesday; Election of SFRY Presidency member from Vojvodina confirmed; SOURCE: Yugoslav News Agency in Serbo-Croat 1534 gmt 4 May 1989</ref> | |||
| On 10 January 1989 the anti-] revolution continued in ], which had the lowest average monthly wage in Yugoslavia, an unemployment rate of nearly 25 percent, and where one-fifth of the population lived below the poverty line. 50,000 demonstrators gathered in the Montenegrin capital of ] (now Podgorica) to protest the republic's economic situation and to demand the resignation of its leadership.<ref>''The Guardian'' (London); 11 January 1989; 50,000 in Titograd protest</ref> | |||
| The next day Montenegro's state presidency tendered its collective resignation along with the Montenegrin delegates in the Yugoslav ]. Montenegro's representative on the federal presidency, ], said the decision to step down "was motivated by a sense of responsibility for the economic situation."<ref>The Guardian (London); 12 January 1989; Montenegro leaders quit en masse</ref><ref>The Associated Press; 13 January 1989, Friday, AM cycle; Government Leadership Resigns En Masse</ref> | |||
| Demonstrators were seen carrying portraits of Milošević and shouting his name, but the ''New York Times'' reported "there is no evidence that the Serbian leader played an organizing role" in the demonstrations.<ref>The New York Times; 22 January 1989, Late City Final Edition; The Yugoslav Republic That Roared; By HENRY KAMM</ref> | |||
| Multiparty elections were held in Montenegro for the first time after the anti-bureaucratic revolution. Nenad Bućin, an opponent of Milošević's policies, was elected Montenegro's representative on Yugoslavia's collective presidency<ref>The Associated Press; 10 April 1989, Monday, AM cycle; Reformer Elected in Montenegro Presidential Election</ref> and ], a Milošević ally, was elected Montenegrin President.<ref>Xinhua General News Service; 24 December 1990; Bulatovic Elected Montenegro President</ref><ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 28 December 1990; Momcir(sic) Bulatovic elected President of Montenegro</ref> | |||
| ===Constitutional amendments=== | |||
| Beginning in 1982 and 1983, in response to nationalist Albanian riots in Kosovo, the Central Committee of the SFRY League of Communists adopted a set of conclusions aimed at centralizing Serbia's control over law enforcement and the judiciary in its Kosovo and Vojvodina provinces.<ref name="Icty – Tpiy">{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/041201IT.htm|title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| In the early to mid-1980s, claims were made of a mass exodus of Serbs and Montenegrins from Kosovo as a result of Albanian riots.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=343}} Serbian nationalists denounced the 1974 Yugoslav constitution and demands for change were strong amongst Kosovo Serbs.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=343}} In 1986 Serbian President ] responded by accepting this position, declaring that the 1974 constitution was contrary to the interests of Serbs, though he warned that "certain individuals" were "coquetting" with Serbian nationalism.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=343}} Stambolić established a commission to amend the Serbian Constitution in keeping with conclusions adopted by the federal Communist Party.<ref name="Icty – Tpiy"/> | |||
| The constitutional commission worked for three years to harmonize its positions and in 1989 an amended Serbian constitution was submitted to the governments of Kosovo, Vojvodina and Serbia for approval. | |||
| On 10 March 1989 the Vojvodina Assembly approved the amendments, followed by the Kosovo Assembly on 23 March, and the Serbian Assembly on 28 March.<ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 16 March 1989, Thursday; PARTY AND GOVERNMENT Vojvodina agrees to Serbian constitutional changes; SOURCE: Excerpts Yugoslav News Agency in English 1815 gmt 10 March 1989</ref><ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 24 March 1989, Friday; Kosovo Assembly adopts changes to Serbian Constitution</ref><ref>The Washington Post; 29 March 1989, Final Edition; 21 Dead in Two Days Of Yugoslav Rioting; Federal Assembly Ratifies Changes at Issue</ref> | |||
| In the Kosovo Assembly 187 of the 190 assembly members were present when the vote was taken: 10 voted against the amendments, two abstained, and the remaining 175 voted in favor of the amendments.<ref name="Icty – Tpiy"/><ref>Xinhua; 23 MARCH 1989; Kosovo adopts constitutional changes</ref> | |||
| Although the ethnic composition of the Kosovo Assembly was over 70 percent Albanian,<ref name="Icty – Tpiy"/> they were forced to vote in favor of the amendments while under the careful watch of the newly arrived Serbian police forces. Unrest began when amendments were approved returning to Serbia control over the province's police, courts, national defence and foreign affairs. According to a United Press report, the rioting killed 29 people and injured 30 policemen and 97 civilians.<ref>United Press International; 29 March 1989, BC cycle; Tense calm maintained in restive province</ref> | |||
| In the wake of the unrest following the 1989 constitutional amendments, ethnic Albanians in Kosovo largely boycotted the provincial government and refused to vote in the elections.<ref>United Press International; 14 December 1990; Ethnic Albanians reject Serbia's first multi-party polls</ref><ref>BBC Summary of World Broadcasts; 23 December 1993, Thursday; ATA: a million Kosovo Albanians boycott Serbian elections; SOURCE: Albanian Telegraph Agency news agency, Tirana, in English 0911 gmt 21 December 1993</ref> ], leader of the League of Communists of Kosovo, was arrested for inciting rioting amid the ].<ref>The Associated Press; 24 November 1989; Prosecutors Try 15 Ethnic Albanians; Former Vice President Charged</ref> In the wake of the Albanian boycott, supporters of Slobodan Milošević were elected to positions of authority by the remaining Serbian voters in Kosovo. | |||
| The anti-bureaucratic revolutions in Montenegro and Vojvodina coupled with the Albanian boycott in Kosovo effectively meant that Slobodan Milošević and his supporters held power in four out of the eight republics and autonomous provinces that made-up the Yugoslav federation. Whether this was cynically engineered by Milošević is a matter of controversy between his critics and his supporters. | |||
| Because Milošević's supporters controlled half of the votes in the SFRY presidency, his critics charge that he undermined the Yugoslav federation. This, his detractors argue, upset the balance of power in Yugoslavia and provoked separatism elsewhere in the federation. | |||
| Milošević's supporters contend that the representatives of the SFRY presidency were elected according to the law. They say that Milošević enjoyed genuine popular support so it was perfectly logical for his allies to be elected to the presidency. His supporters dismiss allegations that he upset the balance of power in Yugoslavia as a propaganda ploy designed to justify separatism. | |||
| In 1990, after other republics abandoned the League of Communists of Yugoslavia and adopted democratic multiparty systems, Milošević's government quickly followed suit and the 1990 Serbian Constitution was created. The 1990 Constitution officially renamed the Socialist Republic of Serbia to the Republic of Serbia and abandoned the one-party communist system and created a democratic multiparty system. | |||
| After the creation of a multiparty system in Serbia, Milošević and his political allies in Serbia elsewhere in Yugoslavia pushed for the creation of a democratic multiparty system of government at the federal level, such as Serbian state media appealing to the citizens of ] in early 1992 with the promise that Bosnia and Herzegovina could peacefully coexist in a democratic Yugoslav federation alongside the republics of Serbia and Montenegro.{{sfn|Burg|Shoup|1999|p=102}} Outside of the Serb population,{{Citation needed|date=August 2013}} the remainder of Bosnian and Herzegovinian population voted in favour of secession. In the aftermath, Serbia and Montenegro agreed to create the new Yugoslav federation called the ] in 1992, which dismantled the remaining communist infrastructure and created a federal democratic multiparty system of government. | |||
| ===Civil and political rights under Milošević=== | |||
| {{Main article|March 1991 protests in Belgrade|1996–97 protests in Serbia}} | |||
| Milošević's government policies on ] when serving as Serbian President and later Yugoslav president were controversial. | |||
| Milošević's government exercised influence and censorship in the media. An example was in March 1991, when Serbia's Public Prosecutor ordered a 36-hour blackout of two independent media stations, B92 Radio and Studio B television to prevent the broadcast of a demonstration against the Serbian government taking place in Belgrade.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=59}} The two media stations appealed to the Public Prosecutor against the ban but the Public Prosecutor failed to respond.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=59}} | |||
| Upon the creation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Milošević's government engaged in reforms to the Serbian Penal Code regarding restrictions on free speech, which were seen by critics as highly authoritarian. In particular Article 98 of the Serbian Penal Code during the 1990s punished imprisonment of up to three years for the following: | |||
| <blockquote> | |||
| "...public ridicule <nowiki></nowiki> the Republic of Serbia or another Republic within the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, their flag, coat of arms or anthem, their presidencies, assemblies or executive councils, the president of the executive council in connection with the performance of their office..."{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=59}} | |||
| </blockquote> | |||
| The federal criminal code for Yugoslavia also protected the presidents of federal institutions, the Yugoslav Army and federal emblems.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=59}} Both the Serbian and federal Yugoslav laws granted limited exemptions to journalists.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=59}} The result was multiple charges against a variety of people opposed to the policies of the Serbian and Yugoslav governments even including a Serbian cartoonist who designed political satire.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=60}} | |||
| ==Milošević's role in the Yugoslav Wars== | |||
| {{Main article|Serbia in the Yugoslav Wars|Role of the media in the Yugoslav wars|Serbian historiography#Post communist Serbian historiography (1980s-present)|Joint criminal enterprise}} | |||
| The Hague indictment alleges that, starting in 1987, Milošević "endorsed a ] agenda" and "exploited a growing wave of Serbian nationalism in order to strengthen ] in the ]".<ref name="autogeneratedmil"/> Prosecutors at the Hague argued that "the indictments were all part of a ] on the part of the accused to create a 'Greater Serbia', a centralized Serbian state encompassing the Serb-populated areas of Croatia and Bosnia and all of Kosovo, and that this plan was to be achieved by ] non-Serbs from large geographical areas through the commission of the crimes charged in the indictments. Although the events in Kosovo were separated from those in Croatia and Bosnia by more than three years, they were no more than a continuation of that plan, and they could only be understood completely by reference to what had happened in Croatia and Bosnia."<ref>Decision of the ICTY Appeals Chamber; 18 April 2002; Reasons for the Decision on Prosecution Interlocutory Appeal from Refusal to Order Joinder; Paragraph 8</ref> Milošević's defenders claim that the Hague Prosecutors could not produce a single order issued by his government to Serbian fighters in Croatia or Bosnia. Near the end of the Prosecution's case, a Prosecution analyst admitted under cross-examination that the Prosecution didn't have any orders issued by Milošević's government to any of fighters in Croatia or Bosnia. However, Theunens was quick to point out, "the fact that we don't have orders doesn't mean that they don't exist" to which Milošević replied "There are none, that's why you haven't got one."<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/040127IT.htm |title=Icty – Tpiy|publisher=United Nations|date=5 March 2007|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Since the wars, Milošević's political behaviour has been analyzed as politically ] in nature.{{sfn|Henriksen|2007|p=181}} Claims that Milošević was principally motivated by a desire for power have been supported by many people who had known or had worked for him.{{sfn|Sell|2002|p=170}} Some believe Milošević's original goal until the breaking apart of Yugoslavia was to take control of Yugoslavia, with the ambition of becoming its next great leader, a "second ]".{{sfn|Henriksen|2007|p=181}}{{sfn|Hagan|2003|p=11}} According to this, Milošević exploited nationalism as a tool to seize power in Serbia, while not holding any particular commitment to it.{{sfn|Sell|2002|p=170}} During the first twenty-five years of his political career in the communist government of Yugoslavia, Milošević was a typical civil servant who did not appear to have nationalist aims.{{sfn|Sell|2002|p=170}} Later, he attempted to present himself as a peacemaker in the Yugoslav Wars and abandoned support of nationalism.{{sfn|Sell|2002|p=170}} He returned to support nationalism during the ] and appealed to ] sentiments.{{sfn|Sell|2002|p=170}} The spread of violent nationalism has also been imputed to ] to it by Milošević.{{sfn|Post|George|2004|p=184}} | |||
| The source of Milošević's nationalistic agenda is believed to have been influenced by the policies of the popular prominent Serbian Communist official and former ] ] who was known to promote Serbian national interests in Yugoslavia and hardline police actions against ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.<ref name="Lenard J. Cohen 2002. Pp. 98">Lenard J. Cohen. ''Serpent in the bosom: the rise and fall of Slobodan Milošević''. Boulder, Colorado, USA: Westview Press, 2002. p. 98.</ref> He supported a centralized Yugoslavia and opposed efforts that promoted decentralization that he deemed to be against the interests of Serb unity.{{sfn|Bokovoy|1997|p=295}} Ranković imposed harsh repressive measures on Kosovo Albanians based on accusations that they there were sympathizers of the ] rule of ] in Albania.<ref name="Kosovo. 2000. Pp. 35">Independent International Commission on Kosovo. ''The Kosovo report: conflict, international response, lessons learned''. New York, New York, USA: Oxford University Press, 2000. p. 35.</ref> In 1956, a show trial in Pristina was held in which multiple Albanian Communists of Kosovo were convicted of being infiltrators from Albania and were given long prison sentences.<ref name="Kosovo. 2000. Pp. 35"/> Ranković sought to secure the position of the Serbs in Kosovo and gave them dominance in Kosovo's ].{{sfn|Hagan|2003|p=11}} Under Ranković's influence, Islam in Kosovo at this time was repressed and both Albanians and Muslim Slavs were encouraged to declare themselves to be Turkish and emigrate to Turkey.<ref name="Kosovo. 2000. Pp. 35"/> At the same time, Serbs and ] dominated the government, security forces, and industrial employment in Kosovo.<ref name="Kosovo. 2000. Pp. 35"/> The popularity of Ranković's nationalistic policies in Serbia became apparent during his funeral in Serbia in 1983 where large numbers of people attended while considering Ranković a Serbian "national" leader.<ref name="Lenard J. Cohen 2002. Pp. 98"/> This event is believed to have possibly influenced Milošević, who attended Ranković's funeral, to recognize the popularity of Ranković's agenda.<ref name="Lenard J. Cohen 2002. Pp. 98"/> This connection to the legacy of Ranković was recognized by a number of Yugoslavs who regarded Milošević's policies upon his to power in Serbia as effectively "bringing Ranković back in".{{sfn|Jović|2009|p=299}} | |||
| During the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution, Milošević urged Serbians and Montenegrins to "take to the streets" and utilized the slogan "Strong Serbia, Strong Yugoslavia" that drew support from Serbs and Montenegrins but alienated the other Yugoslav nations.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=119}} To these groups, Milošević's agenda reminded them of the Serb hegemonic political affairs of the ] and Ranković's policies.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=119}} Milošević appealed to nationalist and populist passion by speaking of Serbia's importance to the world and in a Belgrade speech on 19 November 1988, he spoke of Serbia as facing battles against both internal and external enemies.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=119}} In Vojvodina, a mob of pro-Milošević demonstrators that included 500 Kosovo Serbs and local Serbs demonstrated at the provincial capital, accusing the leadership in Vojvodina of supporting separatism and for being "traitors".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=350}} In August 1988, meetings by supporters of the Anti-Bureaucratic Revolution were held in many locations in Serbia and Montenegro, with increasingly violent nature, with calls being heard such as "Give us arms!", "We want weapons!", "Long live Serbia—death to Albanians!", and "Montenegro is Serbia!".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=351}} In the same month, Milošević began efforts designed to destabilize the governments in Montenegro and Bosnia and Herzegovina to allow him to install his followers in those republics.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=351}} By 1989, Milošević and his supporters controlled Central Serbia along with the autonomous provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina, supporters in the leadership of Montenegro, and agents of the Serbian security service were pursuing efforts to destabilize the government in Bosnia & Herzegovina.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=354}} The new government of Montenegro led by ] was seen by some as a ] of Serbia.<ref>Sabrina P. Ramet. Serbia Since 1989: Politics and Society Under Milos̆ević and After. University of Washington Press, 2005. p. 64.</ref><ref>Adam LeBor. ''Milosevic: A Biography''. Bloomsbury. Yale University Press, 2002. p. 195.</ref><ref>Janine Di Giovanni. ''Madness Visible: A Memoir Of War''. First Vintage Books Edition. Vintage Books, 2005. p. 95.</ref> In 1989, the Serbian media began to speak of "the alleged imperilment of the Serbs of Bosnia and Herzegovina", as tensions between Serbs and Bosnian Muslims and Croats increased over Serb support for Milošević.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=355}} Efforts to spread the cult of personality of Milošević into the republic of Macedonia began in 1989 with the introduction of slogans, graffiti, and songs glorifying Milošević.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=355}} Furthermore, Milošević proposed a law to restore land titles held by Serbs in the interwar period that effectively provided a legal basis for large numbers of Serbs to move to Kosovo and Macedonia to regain those lands.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=355}} Beginning in 1989, Milošević gave support to Croatian Serbs who were vouching for the creation of an autonomous province for Croatian Serbs which was opposed by Croatian communist authorities.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=361}} In the late 1980s, Milošević allowed the mobilization of Serb nationalist organizations to go unhindered by actions from the Serbian government, with Chetniks holding demonstrations, and the Serbian government embracing the ] and restored its legitimacy in Serbia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=349}} | |||
| Croatia and Slovenia denounced Milošević's actions and began to demand that Yugoslavia be made a full multi-party confederal state.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=355}} Milošević claimed that he opposed a confederal system but also declared that a confederal system be created, with the external borders of Serbia being an "open question".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=359}} Tensions between the republics escalated to crisis beginning in 1988, with Slovenia accusing Serbia of pursuing ] while Serbia accused Slovenia of betrayal.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=364}} Serbs boycotted Slovenian products and Belgraders began removing their savings from the Slovenian Bank of Ljubljana.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=364}} Slovenia accused Serbia of persecuting Kosovo Albanians and declared its solidarity with the Kosovo Albanian people while Milošević in turn, accused Slovenia of being a "lackey" of Western Europe.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=364}} In response to the escalating tensions, Croatia expressed support for Slovenia, Bosnia and Herzegovina declared its neutrality, while Montenegro supported Serbia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} Slovenia reformed its constitution in 1989 that declared Slovenia's right to secession. These changes provoked accusations by the Serbian media that the changes were "destabilizing".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} Serbia's response was a plan to hold demonstrations in Ljubljana with 30,000 to 40,000 Serbs to supposedly inform Slovenes about the situation in Kosovo, while this was suspected to be an action aimed at destabilizing the Slovenian government.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} Croatia and Slovenia prevented the Serb protestors from crossing by train into Slovenia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} Serbia responded by breaking political links between the two republics and 329 Serbian businesses broke ties with Slovenia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} With these events in 1989, nationalism soared in response along with acts of intolerance, discrimination, and ethnic violence increasing.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=366}} In that year, officials from Bosnia and Herzegovina noted rising tensions between Bosnian Muslims, Croats, and Serbs; active rumours spread of incidents between Croats and Serbs; and arguments by Croats and Serbs that Bosnian Muslims were not a real nation escalated.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=367}} | |||
| With the collapse of the Yugoslav Communist Party, multiparty elections were held in Serbia in 1990, with a number of nationalist parties running on the agenda of creating a ] as Yugoslavia fell apart.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|pp=358–359}} From 1990 onward, as Serbs in Croatia pushed for autonomy and began to arm themselves, the Serbian state-run newspaper ''Politika'' denounced the Croatian government of Franjo Tuđman for allegedly "trying to restore the World War II-era Ustaše regime" and for "copying Tito", and pledged that Belgrade would support the Serbs of Croatia.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=359}} The ] (JNA) began providing weapons to the Serbs in Croatia while the situation in Belgrade grew more intense as Serbs demonstrated outside of the parliament, shouting "We want arms" and "Let's go to Croatia!".{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=361}} | |||
| Milošević and other members of the Serbian leadership in the 1980s attempted to gain support amongst Serb nationalists by appealing to ] of the history of Yugoslavia in World War II. To do this, the Tito-era tradition of focusing on rallying the population of Yugoslavia in remembering the total casualties of Yugoslavs in World War II at the hands of Axis forces was replaced with the Milošević government's focus on remembering the Serb casualties of World War II as victims of the Croatian ].{{sfn|Wydra|2007|p=232}} This attempt to gain nationalist support also had the effect of increasing the radicalization of Serbian nationalism.{{sfn|Wydra|2007|p=232}} In the late 1980s, conspiracy theories that vilified the Roman Catholic Church began to become widespread and were supported by Serbian publishers. This was of particular significance since these were attacks on the national religion of the Croats.{{sfn|Ramet|2006|p=349}} The political climate in Serbia and Serb territories fostered the rise of ultranationalism and created tense and, at times, violent confrontations between Serbs themselves, particularly between nationalist Serbs and non-nationalist Serbs. Serbs who publicly opposed the nationalist agenda were reported to have been harassed, threatened, or killed.{{sfn|Gagnon|2004|p=5}} | |||
| The Serbian media during Milošević's era was known to espouse Serb nationalism{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} and patriotism while promoting ] toward the other ethnicities in Yugoslavia.{{citation needed|date=April 2013}} Ethnic Albanians were commonly characterised in the media as anti-Yugoslav counter-revolutionaries, rapists, and a threat to the Serb nation.{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=55}} The Serbian state-run newspaper '']'' had a number of xenophobic headlines such as in 1991, saying "The ] <nowiki></nowiki> are watching and waiting".{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=74}} The newspaper also attacked Croats for the election of Franjo Tuđman as president, saying that the "Croatian leadership again shames the Croatian people".{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=72}} It attempted to assert that Croats and ethnic Albanians were cooperating in a campaign against the Serbian government during the 1991 protests in Belgrade against Milošević's government, denying that Serbs took part in the protest while claiming "it was the Šiptars and Croats who demonstrated".{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=72}} When war erupted in Croatia, ''Politika'' promoted Serb nationalism, hostility towards Croatia, and violence, and on 2 April 1991, the newspaper's headline read "Krajina decides to join Serbia". One of the newspaper's stories was "Serbian unity—saving Krajina".{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=76}} On 5 June 1991, ''Politika ekpres'' ran a piece titled "Serbs must get weapons". On 25 June 1991 and 3 July 1991, Politika began to openly promote partitioning Croatia, saying "We can't accept Croatia keeping these borders", "Krajina in the same state with Serbia, Montenegro, and Bosnia-Herzegovina", and prominently quoted Jovan Marjanović of the ], who said "The <nowiki></nowiki> Army must come into Croatia and occupy the line ]-]-]-]" which would essentially have occupied almost all of Croatia and all the territories in Croatia that were claimed by nationalist promoters of a ].{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=79}} To promote fear and anger amongst Serbs towards Croatia, on 25 June 1991, ''Politika'' reminded Serbs about the ] by the Croatian fascist ] against Serbs during World War II by saying "] <nowiki></nowiki> mustn't be forgotten".{{sfn|Thompson|1994|p=78}} According to ], who was formerly a close Milošević ally, Milošević exercised media censorship and maintained strong personal influence over Serbia's state media outlets, having "personally appointed editors-in-chief of newspapers and news programs ...".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://hague.bard.edu/reports/de_la_brosse_pt1.pdf|title=Slobodan Milošević Trial Public Archive|work=Human Rights Project}}</ref> Serbian state media during the wars featured controversial reportage which villainized the other ethnic factions. In one such program, a Croatian Serb woman denounced the old "communist policy" in Croatia, claiming that under it "he majority of Serbs would be assimilated in ten years",<ref name="hague.bard.edu">{{cite web|url=http://hague.bard.edu/reports/de_la_brosse_pt3.pdf|title=Slobodan Milošević Trial Public Archive|work=Human Rights Project}}</ref> while another interviewee stated "Where Serbian blood was shed by Ustaša knives, there will be our boundaries."<ref name="hague.bard.edu"/> Various Serbian state television reports featured a guest speaker, ], who claimed that the Croat people had a "genocidal nature".<ref name="hague.bard.edu"/> These repeatedly negative media depictions of the opposing ethnic factions have been said to have been examples of Milošević's state media promoting fear-mongering and utilizing xenophobic nationalist sentiments to draw Serbs to support the wars.<ref name="hague.bard.edu"/> The director of ] during Milošević's era, ], has since admitted on a PBS documentary "the things that happened at state TV, warmongering, things we can admit to now: false information, biased reporting. That went directly from Milošević to the head of TV.<ref>{{cite web|author=rafael mejias says: |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/media-by-milosevic/video-full-episode/852/|title=Media by Milosevic|publisher=PBS|date=12 September 2002|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> | |||
| Milošević was uninterested in maintaining Slovenia within the Yugoslav federation, as Slovenia had very few Serbs living within it and Milošević suggested a political deal with Slovenian president Kučan, Serbia would recognize the right of the self-determination of the Slovene nation to independence if Slovenia in turn recognized the right of self-determination of the Serb nation to remain united with Serbia.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|pp=135–137}} Such a deal would have set a precedent for Serbs in Bosnia and Croatia to remain in one state with Serbia.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|pp=135–137}} Milošević's ally in the Yugoslav federal government, Borisav Jović stated "I put it bluntly. We didn't want a war with Slovenia. Serbia had no territorial claims there. It was an ethnically-pure republic – no Serbs. We couldn't care less if they left Yugoslavia ... We would have been overstretched. With Slovenia out of the way, we could dictate terms to the Croats."{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=138}} | |||
| Milošević rejected the independence of Croatia in 1991, and even after the formation of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY), it too did not initially recognize Croatia's independence.{{sfn|Sriram|Martin-Ortega|Herman|2010|p=70}} Plans by Milošević to carve out territory from Croatia to the local Serbs had begun by June 1990, according to the diary of Borisav Jović.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=140}} The Serbian government along with a clique of pro-Milošević members of the Yugoslav army and its general staff, secretly adopted the ] that involved the partition of Croatia and Bosnia to give large amounts of territory to the local Serbs that would remain united with Serbia, effectively a Greater Serbia.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|pp=140–143}} Armaments and military equipment were placed in strategic positions throughout Croatia and Bosnia for use by the Serbs and local Serbs were trained as police and paramilitary soldiers in preparation for war.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=140}} Milošević was less interested in annexing the Serb breakaway republic of ].{{sfn|Armatta|2010|pp=161–162}} According to testimony by Krajina's former President ], Milošević had abandoned plans of having "all Serbs in one state" by March 1991 in the secret ] with Croatian President Franjo Tudjman that discussed the ].{{sfn|Armatta|2010|pp=161–162}} Babić attended the meeting and noted that Milošević stated that "Tudjman needs ]" – a city in Bosnia that was separated by Serbian Krajina from Croatian government-controlled territory in Croatia; and then added "He needs a road between ] and ] as well" that would involve the road going through territory claimed by Krajina.{{sfn|Armatta|2010|pp=161–162}} | |||
| Upon the ] seceding in 1991, the FRY government declared Macedonia an "artificial nation" and it allied with Greece against the country, even suggesting a partition of the Republic of Macedonia between the FRY and Greece.{{sfn|Ackermann|2000|p=72}} Subsequent interviews with government officials involved in these affairs have revealed that Milošević planned to arrest the Republic of Macedonia's political leadership and replace it with politicians loyal to him.{{sfn|Ackermann|2000|p=72}} Milošević demanded the self-determination of Serbs in the Republic of Macedonia and did not recognize the independence of the Republic of Macedonia until 1996.{{sfn|Ackermann|2000|p=72}} Despite the bitterness towards the Macedonian nation whose locals rejected Serbian ethnicity, the FR Yugoslavia would recognise Republic of Macedonia in 1996. Four years before this milestone however, JNA troops and remnants of Belgrade's central government had peacefully and voluntarily left Macedonia.<ref>http://www.ethnopolitics.org/ethnopolitics/archive/volume_I/issue_3/issue_3.pdf</ref> | |||
| Milošević denounced the declaration of independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina from Yugoslavia in 1992, and said that "Bosnia and Herzegovina was illegally proclaimed as an independent state and recognized. That recognition was like when the ] ] appointed ] as a ]: they recognized a state that never existed before. The Serbs there said, 'We want to stay within Yugoslavia. We don't want to be second-class citizens.' And then the conflicts were started by Muslims, no doubt. And the Serbs, in defending themselves, were always better fighters, no doubt. And they achieved results, no doubt. But please, we were insisting on peace. The international community gave premature recognition first of Slovenia and then of Croatia and supported the independence of Bosnia and Herzegovina on a totally irregular basis."<ref>{{cite news|url=http://www.time.com/time/magazine/article/0,9171,983190-2,00.html|title=on 28 May 2011|work=Time|date=17 July 1995|accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> A telephone conversation between Milošević and Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzić in September 1991 talking about the prospects of war in Bosnia and Herzegovina was tapped by Yugoslav intelligence which reported the transcript to Yugoslav prime minister ], who released the transcript to the public to discredit Milošević. The transcript involved Milošević ordering Karadzic to "Go to Uzelac , he'll tell you everything. If you have any problems, telephone me", and said "As long as there is the army no one can touch us ... Don't worry about Herzegovina. Momir said to his men: 'Whoever is not ready to die in Bosnia, step forward five paces.' No one did so."{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=175}} The conversation revealed that Milošević controlled the military strategy for the war in Bosnia and that Montenegro was under his control.{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=175}} | |||
| ] on behalf of the Bosnian Serb leadership, formally ending the Bosnian War.]] | |||
| ], leader of the ] and a Serbian paramilitary leader during the Yugoslav wars, claimed that Milošević was directly involved in supporting his paramilitaries and controlled Serb forces during the wars: | |||
| "Milošević organized everything. We gathered the volunteers and he gaves us a special barracks, Bubanj Potok, all our uniforms, arms, military technology and buses. All our units were always under the command of the Krajina or Republika Srpska Army or the JNA. Of course I don't believe he signed anything, these were verbal orders. None of our talks was taped and I never took a paper and pencil when I talked with him. His key people were the commanders. Nothing could happen on the Serbian side without Milošević's order or his knowledge."{{sfn|LeBor|2004|p=191}} | |||
| No direct orders to commit atrocities by Milošević have ever been discovered, though little or no effort was made by Milošević to punish people deemed responsible for such atrocities, including ] who, after being accused of allowing atrocities to occur against Croats in ], was sent to lead the ], in which capacity Mladić was accused of ordering atrocities, including the murder of thousands of Bosniak men and boys in ]. Even after the reports of Srebrenica were released, Milošević refused to accept that Mladić was responsible for the crimes he was accused of. ], who was a member of the US team that helped negotiate the 1995 peace agreement ending the Bosnian War, claimed in his testimony during the trial of Milošević that Milošević had prior knowledge of the Srebrenica massacre and knew of Mladić's plans.<ref name="autogenerated6">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3331047.stm |title=BBC: Milosevic 'knew Srebrenica plan' |publisher=BBC News |date=18 December 2003 |accessdate=9 October 2011}}</ref> During the negotiations, Clark had asked Milošević: 'Mr. President, you say you have so much influence over the Bosnian Serbs, but how is it then, if you have such influence, that you allowed General Mladić to kill all those people in Srebrenica?' with Milošević answering: 'Well, General Clark ... I warned Mladić not to do this, but he didn't listen to me.'"<ref name="autogenerated6"/><ref>{{cite web|last=Sullivan|first=Stacy|url=http://iwpr.net/report-news/milosevic-quotknew-srebrenica-plansquot |title=Milosevic "Knew of Srebrenica Plans"|publisher=IWPR |accessdate=9 October 2011}}</ref> | |||
| ==Milošević's views== | |||
| A large number of Slobodan Milošević's interviews have been collected online by his supporters.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/speech-interview.htm|title=MILOSEVIC: Speeches & Interviews|publisher=Slobodan-milosevic.org|accessdate=30 May 2011}}</ref> Milošević argued that the Yugoslav Constitution gave self-determination to ''constitutive nations'', not to ''republics'' and Serbs were ''constitutive nation'' in both the Socialistic Republic of Croatia and the Socialistic Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. On this basis, he stated that the Croatian Serbs and later the Bosnian Serbs should not have been subject to the declarations of independence by the Yugoslav republics of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina. | |||
| Milošević denied that Serbia was at war, even though Serbia's military involvement was evident during the wars in Slovenia, Croatia and Bosnia in particular.{{Citation needed|date=June 2013}} Milošević was ], not of Yugoslavia, and claims that his government was only indirectly involved through support for Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia at some points. Others including former members of his cabinet such as ] have admitted that Milošević, while not head of state of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s, in fact played a key role in the military affairs taken in Slovenia, Croatia, and Bosnia. This included a scheme discussed and designed by both Jović and Milošević that transferred every Bosnian Serb unit from the Yugoslav Army (JNA) to the newly formed Bosnian Serb army upon Bosnia's separation from Yugoslavia, which meant that Yugoslavia could not be criticized for occupying parts of Bosnia as it was officially a civil war, although Jović admitted that the Bosnian Serb Army was fully funded by Belgrade because the Bosnian Serb military budget was too small to support such an army.<ref name="BBC-1">''Death of Yugoslavia.'' British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC). 1995.</ref> | |||
| Milošević spent most of 1988–89 focusing his politics on the "Kosovo problem". In Kosovo, to seem non-contradictory, Milošević alleged that he supported the right of the Albanians to "]", but not to independence, as he claimed that Kosovo was an essential part of Serbia due to its history and its numerous churches and cultural relics. He also claimed that the KLA were a ] organisation that sought an ethnically pure Kosovo, and he argued that independence would deliver Kosovo to their hands.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/int-WP98.htm|title=Washington Post Interview|publisher=Slobodan-milosevic.org|date=16 December 1998|accessdate=30 May 2011}}</ref> | |||
| <!--please be more specific here; as seen in a Hague trial, "massacres in Kosovo" is the term used by both sides (the Serbian and the Albanian) whenever there were victims involved; it was also showed that some of the alleged massacres were (legal?) police actions against KLA guerilla (sometimes with the help os Yugoslav army because KLA – financed from abroad became too powerful for ordinary police to fight against, that an army hel was needed; because of international law, army was not to be used officially, so army members wore police uniforms; one of main examples was when a whole Albanian family was killed in some village in Kosovo: CNN reported about "family that was killed by Serbian police", while Serbian national television company broadcast a documentary about 30+ armed members of the Albanian family killing several Serbian and Albanian civilians, several police officers that were patrolling (remember it was 1998, a year before NATO intervention), and finally opened fire on a police backup; the inevitable – police/army action with 20+ dead was filmed both by Serbian and by American TV stations, but American stations showed only dead Albanians; that was one of key stones in Milošević's defence in Hague; please be more specific on this)-->Milošević denies that he gave orders to massacre Albanians in 1998. He claims that the deaths were sporadic events confined to rural areas of West Kosovo committed by ] and by rebels in the armed forces. Those from the Serbian army or police who were involved were all, he claims, arrested and many were sentenced to long prison sentences.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/int-upi99.htm|title=UPI 1999 Interview|publisher=Slobodan-milosevic.org|date=30 April 1999|accessdate=30 May 2011}}</ref> | |||
| Former United States ambassador to Yugoslavia, ], during his conversations with Milošević claimed that he was not a genuine nationalist, but rather a political opportunist.{{sfn|Zimmermann|1996|p=25}} Zimmerman has claimed that unlike other politicians with whom he had discussions during the collapse of Yugoslavia, such as Franjo Tuđman and Radovan Karadžić, Milošević in public did not emphasize any hatred of ethnic groups and instead emphasized that Serbia would continue to be a multi-ethnic republic in Yugoslavia. Zimmerman has claimed that Milošević opportunistically used nationalism to allow him to rise to power in the Communist establishment in Serbia as Communism in eastern Europe became increasingly unpopular, and continued to advocate a nationalist agenda to draw in support for his government.{{sfn|Zimmermann|1996|p=25}} However, on another occasion, Milošević revealed to Zimmerman his negative attitude towards ethnic Albanians who had demanded autonomy and in the 1990s, independence from Serbia and Yugoslavia. Milošević told Zimmerman jokingly that the Albanians of Kosovo were the most pampered minority in Europe.{{sfn|Zimmermann|1996|p=25}} Milošević also was known to talk disparagingly about ], when he in conversation with an interviewer of what he thought of the Slovene delegations decision depart the ], Milošević made a derogatory joke calling the Slovene League of Communists delegation, "those stingy Slovenes".<ref name="BBC-1"/> Zimmerman later reported that Milošević's unusual and conflicting positions and mannerisms were almost schizophrenic in nature, as at times Milošević would behave in an arrogant, stubborn, authoritarian and aggressive manner towards others, which staunchly supported Serbian nationalism against all opponents, while at other times he would be polite, conciliatory, and be eager and willing to find moderate and peaceful solutions to the crisis in Yugoslavia.{{sfn|Zimmermann|1996|p=26}} Zimmerman has concluded however that Milošević constantly demonstrated that he primarily saw Yugoslavia as a state for ensuring the unity of Serbs, and did not have much interest in preserving the unity of Yugoslavia outside areas of Serb national interests.{{sfn|Zimmermann|1996|p=27}} | |||
| Milošević's personality according to others has indicated a similar double-sided nature as U.S. ambassador Zimmerman has claimed. In public appearances, he would appear strong, confident, bold and serious while in private, it is said that Milošević was very laid back, and according to the former director of ], Hadži Dragan Antić, Milošević was often interested in non-political things such as comic strips and ] cartoons and admired the music of ].<ref name="pbs.org">{{cite web|author=rafael mejias says: |url=http://www.pbs.org/wnet/wideangle/episodes/media-by-milosevic/video-full-episode/852/ |title=Media by Milosevic ~ Video: Full Episode, Wide Angle |publisher=PBS |date=12 September 2002 |accessdate=30 May 2011}}</ref> Milošević only allowed a close inner circle of personal friends to visit him while others including the former Information Minister of Serbia during Milošević's era, ] have said that in private Milošević demonstrated elements of ] to many people outside of his inner circle, such as demanding that Tijanić remove the battery from his mobile-phone on each occasion that Tijanić met him.<ref name="pbs.org"/> Milošević also refused to keep notes on talks on important issues and would only meet with his most trusted allies, to whom he simply gave directions and instructions without engaging in substantial discussion.<ref name="pbs.org"/> | |||
| ==Murders of political opponents== | |||
| In the summer of 2000 former Serbian President ] was kidnapped; his body was found in 2003 and Milošević was charged with ordering his murder. In 2005, several members of the Serbian secret police and criminal gangs were convicted in Belgrade for a number of murders, including Stambolić's. These were the same people who arrested Milošević in April 2001. Later, Interior Minister Dušan Mihajlović denied that Milošević had been involved in Stambolić's death at Fruška Gora.<ref name="BBCstambolic">{{Cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/go/pr/fr/-/2/hi/europe/3511823.stm|title=Analysis: Stambolic Murder Trial|accessdate=4 December 2007|publisher=BBC News |date=23 February 2004}}</ref> | |||
| In June 2006 the Supreme Court of Serbia ruled that Milošević had ordered the murder of Stambolić. The Supreme Court accepted the previous ruling of the Special Court for Organized Crime in Belgrade which targeted Milošević as the main abettor of politically motivated murders in the 1990s. | |||
| Milošević's attorneys said the Court's ruling was of little value because he was never formally charged or given an opportunity to defend himself against the accusations. | |||
| Moreover, most of these murders were of Serbian and Yugoslavian government officials, such as high police official Radovan Stojičić, Defence Minister ], and the director of JAT Yugoslav Airlines ]. | |||
| ==Downfall== | |||
| {{Main article|Overthrow of Slobodan Milošević}} | |||
| ] in ], 14 December 1995.]] | |||
| On 4 February 1997, Milošević recognized the opposition victories in some local elections, after ] lasting 96 days. | |||
| Constitutionally limited to two terms as ], on 23 July 1997, Milošević assumed the ] of the ], though it had been understood he had held the real power for some time before then. | |||
| Armed actions by ] separatist groups and Serbian police and military counter-action in Serbia's previously autonomous (and 90 percent Albanian) province of Kosovo culminated in escalating warfare in 1998, ] against the ] between March and June 1999, and finally a full withdrawal of all Yugoslav security forces from the province. | |||
| During the ] he was indicted on 24 May 1999, for ]s and ] committed in Kosovo, and he was standing trial, up until his death, at the ]. He attempted to assert that the trial was illegal, having been established in contravention of the ].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tuesday, 3 July 2001 |date=2001-07-03 |publisher=International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090617063238/http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/010703IA.htm |archivedate=2009-06-17 |accessdate=2012-07-13|url=http://www.un.org/icty/transe54/010703IA.htm }}</ref> | |||
| Ironically, Milošević lost his grip on power by losing in elections which he scheduled prematurely (before the end of his mandate) and which he did not even need to win in order to retain power which was centered in the parliaments which his party and its associates controlled. | |||
| In the five-man presidential race held on 24 September 2000, Milošević was defeated in the first round. The election was won by the opposition leader ], who won slightly more than 50% of the vote. Milošević initially refused to acquiesce, claiming that no one had won a majority. The Yugoslav constitution called for a runoff between the top two candidates in the event that no candidate won more than 50% of the vote. Official results put Koštunica ahead of Milošević but at under 50 percent. The internationally financed CeSID claimed otherwise, though its story changed throughout the two weeks between 24 September and 5 October. This led to mass demonstrations in Belgrade on 5 October, known as the ]. | |||
| Milošević was forced to accept this when commanders of the army who he had expected to support him had indicated that in this instance they would not, and would permit the violent overthrow of the Serbian government.{{Citation needed|date=March 2014}} On 6 October, Milošević met with Koštunica and publicly accepted defeat. Koštunica finally took office as Yugoslav president on 7 October following Milošević's announcement. | |||
| Milošević was arrested by Yugoslav authorities on April 1, 2001 following a 36 hour armed standoff between police and Milošević's bodyguards at his ] villa. Although no official charges were made, Milošević was suspected of ] and ].<ref name="arrested">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1254263.stm|title=Milosevic arrested|publisher=]|date=1 April 2001|accessdate=3 March 2014}}</ref> | |||
| Following his arrest, the ] pressured the Yugoslav government to extradite Milošević to the ] or lose financial aid from the ] and ].<ref name="arrested"/> President Koštunica opposed extradition of Milošević, arguing that it would violate the ]. Prime Minister ] called an extraordinary meeting of the government to issue a decree for extradition.<ref name="extradited">{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1412828.stm|title=Milosevic extradited|publisher=BBC News|date=28 June 2001|accessdate=3 March 2014}}</ref> Milošević's lawyers appealed the extradition process to the Yugoslav Constitutional Court. The court requested 2 weeks to deliberate the appeal. Ignoring objections from the president and the constitutional court, Đinđić ordered the extradition of Milošević to the ICTY. On 28 June, Milošević was flown by helicopter from Belgrade to the U.S. air base in ], Bosnia and Herzegovina from where he was then flown to ], Netherlands.<ref name="extradited"/> | |||
| The extradition caused political turmoil in Yugoslavia. President Koštunica denounced the extradition as illegal and unconstitutional, while a junior party in the Đinđić ] left in protest. Milošević's lawyer, Toma Fila said the extradition violated the Yugoslav constitutional ban on extradition. Đinđić stated there would be negative consequences if the government did not cooperate. Additionally, the government argued that sending Milošević to the ICTY was not extradition as it is a ] institution and not a foreign country.<ref name="extradited"/> Following the extradition, Yugoslavia received approximately $1 billion ] in financial aid.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1413144.stm|title=Milosevic extradition unlocks aid coffers|publisher=BBC News|date=29 June 2001|accessdate=3 March 2014}}</ref> | |||
| ==Relations with other countries== | |||
| ===Russia=== | |||
| Historically, ] and Serbia have had very ], sharing a common ] ancestry and ] faith. Russia is remembered by most Serbs for its assistance to Serbia during its ] from the ] in the 19th century. During Milošević's rule, Russia pursued policies that generally supported his policies. During the ] in 1999, some observers suggested the possibility of Russia deploying troops in support of Serbia.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.antiwar.com/deliso/?articleid=6338|title=Antiwar.com|publisher=Antiwar.com|date=17 June 2005|accessdate=9 October 2011}}</ref> Russia has provided ] to Milošević's wife and children. | |||
| ===China=== | |||
| Milošević first visited China in the early 1980s while head of Beobank. Milošević visited China again in 1997, after an invitation by ] ]. Milošević was often popularly known in China by the nickname "''Lao Mi''" (老米), a shortened form of the informal Chinese-style nickname "Old Milošević" (老米洛舍维奇); among the state-operated media in China, Milošević was often referred to as "Comrade Milošević" (米洛舍维奇同志). Many sources hold that the Chinese government asserted strong backing of Milošević throughout his presidency until his surrender, and was one of the few countries supportive of him and the Yugoslav government,<ref> Boris Babic 9 September 2006</ref> at a time when most Western countries were strongly critical of the Milošević government. The ''New York Times'' states that People's Republic of China was "one of Mr. Milošević's staunchest supporters" during the Kosovo conflict.<ref name="Eckholm-8Oct2000">]</ref> China vocally opposed NATO armed intervention in Kosovo throughout the campaign. Chinese parliamentary leader ], was presented by Milošević with Yugoslavia's highest medal (the Great Star) in Belgrade in 2000.<ref name="Eckholm-8Oct2000"/> | |||
| The ''New York Times'' observed that Milošević, and particularly his wife Marković had "long viewed Beijing and its Communist party" as allied and "the sort of ideological comrades" lacking in Eastern Europe after the fall of Communism in the 1990s.<ref name="Eckholm-8Oct2000"/> After Milošević's indictment, China's public statements shifted toward emphasizing Yugoslav-Chinese relations rather than focusing on its support for Milošević, while after the election of Vojislav Koštunica as Yugoslav president, Chinese foreign ministry officially stated that "China respects the choice of the Yugoslavian people."<ref name="Eckholm-8Oct2000"/> | |||
| ==Trial at The Hague== | |||
| {{Main article|Trial of Slobodan Milošević}} | |||
| Milošević was indicted in May 1999, during the ], by the ] ] for ] in Kosovo. Charges of violating the ], grave breaches of the ] in Croatia and Bosnia and genocide in Bosnia were added a year and a half later. | |||
| The charges on which Milošević was indicted were: genocide; complicity in genocide; deportation; murder; persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; inhumane acts/forcible transfer; extermination; imprisonment; torture; willful killing; unlawful confinement; wilfully causing great suffering; unlawful deportation or transfer; extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; cruel treatment; plunder of public or private property; attacks on civilians; destruction or wilful damage done to historic monuments and institutions dedicated to education or religion; unlawful attacks on civilian objects.<ref>http://www.icty.org/x/cases/slobodan_milosevic/cis/en/cis_milosevic_slobodan_en.pdf</ref><ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.icty.org/case/slobodan_milosevic/4#ind |title=TPIY : The Cases |publisher=ICTY |accessdate=9 October 2011}}</ref> The ICTY indictment reads that Milošević was responsible for the forced deportation of 800,000 ethnic Albanians from Kosovo, and the murder of hundreds of Kosovo Albanians and hundreds of non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia.<ref>{{cite web|author=Marija Ristic |url=http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/dacic-denies-his-party-s-role-in-war-crimes |title=Dacic Denies His Party’s Role in Balkan Conflicts |publisher=Balkan Insight |date= |accessdate=2013-12-15}}</ref> | |||
| Following Milošević's transfer, the original charges of war crimes in Kosovo were upgraded by adding charges of genocide in Bosnia and war crimes in Croatia. On 30 January 2002, Milošević accused the war crimes tribunal of an "evil and hostile attack" against him. The trial began at The Hague on 12 February 2002, with Milošević defending himself. | |||
| The prosecution took two years to present its case in the first part of the trial, where they covered the wars in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo. Throughout the two-year period, the trial was being closely followed by the public of the involved former Yugoslav republics as it covered various notable events from the war and included several high-profile witnesses. | |||
| Milošević died before the trial could be concluded; he was therefore never found guilty of the charges brought against him. | |||
| Milošević was indirectly exonerated in the 2016 ruling concerning Radovan Karadžić.<ref>, http://conservativepapers.com/news/2016/08/06/serbian-leader-slobodan-milosevic-found-not-guilty-of-war-crimes</ref> Paragraph 3275, pp 1235 of the judgment<ref>, http://www.icty.org/x/cases/karadzic/tjug/en/160324_judgement.pdf</ref> reads: " Points of discussion included (i) their opposition to the secession of BiH and the desire to remain part of Yugoslavia; (ii) opposition to the creation of an Islamic State ". Paragraph 3460, pp. 1303 reads: "With regard to the evidence presented in this case in relation to Slobodan Milošević and his membership in the JCE, the Chamber recalls that he shared and endorsed the political objective of the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership to preserve Yugoslavia and to prevent the separation or independence of BiH and co-operated closely with the Accused during this time. The Chamber also recalls that Milošević provided assistance in the form of personnel, provisions, and arms to the Bosnian Serbs during the conflict. However, based on the evidence before the Chamber regarding the diverging interests that emerged between the Bosnian Serb and Serbian leaderships during the conflict and in particular, Milošević’s repeated criticism and disapproval of the policies and decisions made by the Accused and the Bosnian Serb leadership, '''''the Chamber is not satisfied that there was sufficient evidence presented in this case to find that Slobodan Milošević agreed with the common plan'''''." The paragraph makes reference to footnote 11027, pp. 1303, which reads, "The Chamber notes that the relationship between Milošević and the Accused had deteriorated beginning in 1992; by 1994, they no longer agreed on a course of action to be taken. Furthermore, beginning as early as March 1992, there was apparent discord between the Accused and Milošević in meetings with international representatives, during which Milošević and other Serbian leaders openly criticised Bosnian Serb leaders of committing 'crimes against humanity' and 'ethnic cleansing' and the war for their own purposes." The judgment also indicated that the support the Bosnian Serbs received from Belgrade was curtailed because of the opposition of Milosevic's government to ethnic cleansing. Paragraph 3292 of the judgment pp. 1243 reads "Given the difference of opinion between the Bosnian Serb and the Serbian leaderships, in 1993 and 1994, the FRY reduced its support for the RS and '''''encouraged the Bosnian Serbs to accept peace proposals'''''. In this regard the '''''FRY leadership was on notice about some of the extreme views held by the Bosnian Serb leadership and they could not support those views, including with respect to ethnic cleansing."''''' | |||
| ==Death== | |||
| {{Main article|Death of Slobodan Milošević}} | |||
| ].]] | |||
| Milošević was found dead in his prison cell on 11 March 2006, in the UN war crimes tribunal's detention centre, located in the ] section of ], Netherlands.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/4796470.stm |title=Europe | Milosevic found dead in his cell |publisher=BBC News |date=11 March 2006 |accessdate=21 January 2012}}</ref> Autopsies soon established that Milošević had died of a heart attack. He had been suffering from heart problems and ]. Many suspicions were voiced to the effect that the heart attack had been caused or made possible deliberately – by the ], according to sympathizers, or by himself, according to critics.<ref>{{cite news| publisher= The New York Times| url= http://www.nytimes.com/2006/03/13/international/europe/13milosevic.html?pagewanted=all&_r=0| author= Marlise Simons| title= Milosevic Died of Heart Attack, Autopsy Shows| date= 13 March 2006| accessdate= 6 April 2013}}</ref> | |||
| Milošević's death occurred shortly after the Tribunal denied his request to seek specialised medical treatment at a cardiology clinic in Russia.<ref>"". un.org, May 2006. Pg. 4 para. 3</ref><ref>. un.org, 23 February 2006.</ref> The reactions to Milošević's death were mixed: supporters of the ICTY lamented what they saw as Milošević having remained unpunished, while opponents blamed the Tribunal for what had happened. | |||
| As he was denied a ], a private funeral for him was held by his friends and family in his hometown of ], after tens of thousands of his supporters attended a farewell ceremony in Belgrade. The return of Milošević's body and his widow's return to Serbia were very controversial. Attendees of the funeral included ] and ].<ref name=RamsayClark>{{cite news|author1=]|title=Til Arne Ruste|publisher=]|date=2014-11-10|page=20|quote=Han deltar i dennes begravels, men det gjør også Ramsay Clark, tidligere amerikansk justisminister og arkitekt bak avskaffelsen av det politiske raseskillet i USA, begge anså behandlinga av den krigsforbrytertiltalte ekspresidenten som urettferdig.}}</ref> | |||
| ==Legacy== | |||
| The last opinion poll taken in Serbia before Milošević's death listed him as the third most favourably rated politician in Serbia behind then-] chairman ] and then-Serbian President ].<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/fonet042205.htm |title=Opinion Poll Shows Milosevic More Popular In Serbia Than Premier |publisher=Slobodan-milosevic.org |date=2005-04-22 |accessdate=2013-12-15}}</ref> In February 2007, the ] cleared Serbia under Milošević's rule of direct responsibility for occurrences of crime committed during the Bosnian War. However, the president of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) did state that it was "'conclusively proved' that the Serbian leadership, and Milošević in particular, 'were fully aware ... that massacres were likely to occur'".<ref>{{Cite news | title=UN clears Serbia of genocide | url=http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/un-clears-serbia-of-genocide/2007/02/27/1172338582657.html?page=fullpage |work=The Age |location=Melbourne, Australia | date=27 February 2007}}</ref> In 2010, the '']'' website included Milošević in its list of "''The World's Worst Dictators''".<ref>{{Cite news|url=http://www.life.com/image/1611663/in-gallery/22899/the-worlds-worst-dictators |publisher=LIFE |title=Power Through Hatred: Slobodan Milosevic |date=June 2009 |accessdate=27 June 2009 |deadurl=yes |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20090627022625/http://www.life.com/image/1611663/in-gallery/22899/the-worlds-worst-dictators |archivedate=27 June 2009 }}</ref> He remains a controversial figure in Serbia and the Balkans due to the Yugoslav wars and instances of him abusing his power, especially during the elections in both 1997 and 2000. | |||
| ==Published books== | |||
| *''Godine raspleta'' (BIGZ, 1989) | |||
| ==See also== | |||
| {{portal|Biography|Serbia}} | |||
| *] | |||
| *] | |||
| ==Notes== | |||
| {{reflist|20em}} | |||
| ==References== | |||
| ;Books | |||
| {{Refbegin}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Ackermann|first=Alice|title=Making Peace Prevail: Preventing Violent Conflict in Macedonia|year=2000|publisher=Syracuse University Press|edition=1st|location=Syracuse, NY|isbn=978-0-8156-0602-4|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Armatta|first=Judith|title=Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic|year=2010|publisher=Duke University Press|edition=|location=|isbn=978-0-8223-4746-0|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Bokovoy|first=Melissa K.|title=State-Society Relations in Yugoslavia 1945–1992|year=1997|publisher=St. Martin's Press|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-312-12690-2|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last1=Burg|first1=Steven L.|last2=Shoup|first2=Paul S.|title=The War in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Ethnic Conflict and International Intervention|year=1999|publisher=M.E. Sharpe|edition=|location=Armonk, NY|isbn=978-1-56324-308-0|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Gagnon|first=V. P.|title=The Myth of Ethnic War: Serbia and Croatia in the 1990s|year=2004|publisher=Cornell University Press|location=Ithaca, NY|isbn=978-0-8014-4264-3|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Hagan|first=John|title=Justice in the Balkans: Prosecuting War Crimes in the Hague Tribunal|year=2003|publisher=University of Chicago Press|location=Chicago, IL|isbn=978-0-226-31228-6|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Henriksen|first=Dag|title=NATO's Gamble: Combining Diplomacy and Airpower in the Kosovo Crisis 1998–1999|year=2007|publisher=Naval Institute Press|location=Annapolis, MD|isbn=978-1-59114-355-0|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last= Jović|first= Dejan|title= Yugoslavia: A State That Withered Away| publisher=Purdue University Press |location=West Lafayette, IN |series= |year=2009 |edition= |isbn = 978-1-55753-495-8|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last= LeBor|first= Adam|title= Milosevic: A Biography| publisher=Yale University Press |location=New Haven, CT |series= |year=2004 |edition= |isbn = 978-0-300-10317-5|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last= Nitis|first= Takis|title= The "Trial" of Slobodan Milocevic| publisher=Ocelotos Publications |location=Athens, Greece |series= |page=236 |year=2011 |edition= |isbn = 978-960-9607-05-6|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last1= Post|first1= Jerrold M.|last2= George|first2= Alexander L.|title= Leaders and Their Followers in a Dangerous World: The Psychology of Political Behaviour| publisher=Cornell University Press |location=Ithaca, NY |series= |year=2004 |edition= |isbn = 978-0-8014-4169-1|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Ramet|first=Sabrina P.|authorlink=Sabrina P. Ramet|title=The Three Yugoslavias: State-Building and Legitimation, 1918–2005|year=2006|publisher=Indiana University Press|location=Bloomington, IN|isbn=978-0-253-34656-8|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Sell|first=Louis|title=Slobodan Milosevic and the Destruction of Yugoslavia|year=2002|publisher=Duke University Press|location=Durham, NC|isbn=978-0-8223-2870-4|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last1=Sriram|first1=Chandra Lekha|last2=Martin-Ortega|first2=Olga|last3=Herman|first3=Johanna|title=War, Conflict and Human rights: Theory and Practice|year=2010|publisher=Routledge|edition=|location=London, UK; New York, NY|isbn=978-0-415-45205-2|ref=harv}} | |||
| * {{cite book | first = Mark | last = Thompson | authorlink = Mark Thompson (historian) | title = Forging War: The Media in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina | others = International Centre Against Censorship, ] | year = 1994 | location = Avon, United Kingdom | publisher = The Bath Press | ref = harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Wydra|first=Harald|title=Communism and the Emergence of Democracy|year=2007|publisher=Cambridge University Press|location=Cambridge, UK; New York, NY|isbn=978-0-521-85169-5|ref=harv}} | |||
| *{{cite book|last=Zimmermann|first=Warren|title=Origins of a Catastrophe: Yugoslavia and its Destroyers|year=1996|publisher=Times Books|edition=1st|location=New York, NY|isbn=978-0-8129-6399-1|ref=harv}} | |||
| ;News reports | |||
| *{{cite news | ref = Eckholm08-10-2000 | newspaper = ] | url = http://www.nytimes.com/2000/10/08/world/showdown-yugoslavia-ally-china-once-supporter-milosevic-against-nato-sends-its.html | title = Showdown in Yugoslavia: An Ally | last = Eckholm | first = Erik | date = 8 October 2000 | accessdate =22 October 2011 }} | |||
| {{Refend}} | |||
| ==Further reading== | |||
| * | |||
| *{{Cite journal | |||
| | quotes = | |||
| | last = Clark | |||
| | first = Janine | |||
| |date=May 2007 | |||
| | title = National Minorities and the Milošević Regime | |||
| | journal = ] | |||
| | volume = 35 | |||
| | issue = 2 | |||
| | pages = 317–339 | |||
| | issn = | |||
| | pmid = | |||
| | doi = 10.1080/00905990701254375 | |||
| | id = | |||
| | url = | |||
| | laysummary = | |||
| | laysource = | |||
| | laydate = | |||
| | quote = | |||
| }} | |||
| *Crnobrnja, Mihailo, "The Yugoslav Drama" (McGill 1996) | |||
| *Herman, Edward S. and David Peterson, , ZNet, 2004. | |||
| *Herman, Edward S. and David Peterson, , ZNet, 14 May 2006. | |||
| *Herman, Edward S. and David Peterson, , ZNet, 2007. | |||
| *Kelly, Michael J., ''Nowhere to Hide: Defeat of the Sovereign Immunity Defense for Crimes of Genocide & the Trials of Slobodan Milosevic and Saddam Hussein'' (Peter Lang 2005). | |||
| *Laughland, John, "Travesty: the Trial of Slobodan Milosevic and the Corruption of International Justice" (London: Pluto Press, 2007) | |||
| *{{Cite journal | |||
| | quotes = | |||
| | last = Vladisavljevic | |||
| | first = Nebojsa | |||
| |date=March 2004 | |||
| | title = Institutional power and the rise of Milošević | |||
| | journal = ] | |||
| | volume = 32 | |||
| | issue = 1 | |||
| | pages = 183–205 | |||
| | issn = | |||
| | pmid = | |||
| | doi = 10.1080/0090599042000186160 | |||
| | id = | |||
| | url = | |||
| | laysummary = | |||
| | laysource = | |||
| | laydate = | |||
| | quote = | |||
| }} | |||
| *Parenti, Michael, , Verso Books, 2002 | |||
| ==External links== | |||
| * {{Find a Grave|13586219|Slobodan Milošević}} | |||
| {{wikisource author}} | |||
| *{{wikiquote-inline}} | |||
| *{{commons category inline|Slobodan Milošević}} | |||
| * (ICTY) | |||
| {{s-start}} | |||
| {{s-ppo}} | |||
| {{succession box|title=]|years=1986–1989|before=]|after=Bogdan Trifunović}} | |||
| {{succession box|title=]|years=1990–1991|before=Position established|after=]}} | |||
| {{succession box|title=]|years=1992–2006|before=]|after=]}} | |||
| {{s-off}} | |||
| {{succession box|title=]|years=1989–1997|before=] <br><small>as ]</small>|after=]<br><small>Acting</small>}} | |||
| {{succession box|title=]|years=1997–2000|before=]|after=]}} | |||
| {{s-end}} | |||
| {{Presidency of SR Serbia (1989-1990)}} | |||
| {{Serbian President}} | |||
| {{SKS Chairman}} | |||
| {{Fall of Communism}} | |||
| {{Yugoslav wars}} | |||
| {{President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia}} | |||
| {{Authority control}} | |||
| {{DEFAULTSORT:Milosevic, Slobodan}} | |||
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Revision as of 18:34, 16 January 2017
Lightmaw is actually slobodan milosevic because he is serb cetnik