by Batic BACEVIC
Ten days after the imposition of sanctions, the disobedient World Bank, however, approved a $85 million loan, although, according to National Bank Governor Mladjan Dinkic, they originally intended to approve $15 million less, but our experts managed to change their mind. The American representative voted in favor of the loan. Several days before, special US envoy for war crimes issues, Pierre Richard Prosper arrived in Belgrade to inform the leading politicians that the last grains of sand in the hourglass were seeping out and that Washington expected serious changes regarding their cooperation with the Hague.
Bulatovic's party managed to amend article 39 of the law with the stipulation that extraditions apply only to the currently issued and confirmed indictments, while trials for all future indictments would be conducted in the country. The leader of Serb Radicals, Vojislav Seselj, accused the SNP of agreeing to support the law too easily, because only residents of Serbia are included on the list of travelers to the Hague, while some future indictees, some of whom could be from Montenegro, are guaranteed trials in Yugoslavia. However, Bulatovic could end up a winner after all of this, because he did not obey the demands from Belgrade, he showed the world that he was not emotionally connected with Slobodan Milosevic and is now waiting for his Montenegrin arch-rival by the ballot box.
However, the stipulation from article 39 prompted the spokesperson of the Hague Tribunal, Florance Hartmann, to state that proposed law was unacceptable, because it places limits on the cooperation (she added that new indictments can be expected by year 2004) but that statement was rejected by representatives of both parts of the ruling coalition. Although the representatives of the American administration were saying that the Hague should slowly wrap up its mission and that it would not issue new indictments against citizens of Serbia if all the current indictees are delivered to the Hague, in some more recent meetings Western envoys stated that the Hague Tribunal is, after all, an independent institution, and that they cannot guarantee what the prosecutor would do since it is an independent institution and cannot be controlled in any way.
According to better informed sources, the list of the indicted individuals will depend on the cooperation of the former collaborators of Slobodan Milosevic who are apparently facing an unusual choice - either reinforce a shaky indictment against their former boss of be indicted themselves. Former deputy prime minister of Serbia and professor at the Belgrade University Law School Rajko Markovic was invited to talk to the investigators of the tribunal on April 8, as a potential suspect. According to Glas Javnosti the invitation arrived from the First Municipal Court, but without the official stamp. "Earlier they were telling us that their priority was to see all the indicted individuals in the Hague, above all Karadzic and Mladic, but now they say that new indictments cannot be discounted. Supposedly, there should not be more than 12 new indictments," says our source from the DOS.
According to the statements given by the officials, first indictments can be expected in two to three weeks, and Serbian institutions will be in charge of extraditions. In a tasteless media lottery, in which journalists have for weeks already been making predictions regarding the identity of the next travelers to the Hague, the most frequently mentioned names are those of Sainovic, Stojiljkovic, and General Dragoljub Ojdanic. According to police sources, two indictees could leave for the Hague immediately after the adoption of the law, and one of them is allegedly Ojdanic. Official and federal representative of the Socialist Party of Serbia Zivorad Igic says that not a single member of the party will voluntarily be extradited to the Hague. "We do not recognize the Tribunal, because it is an instrument of the Western powers used for the continued aggression on Yugoslavia. We do not recognize any laws about cooperation with that adjunct NATO chamber and I am convinced that all of our members will accept the same attitude with respect to that fake tribunal as Slobodan Milosevic." Lawyer Branimir Gugl says for NIN that his client Vlajko Stojiljkovic will not volunteer to be extradited to the Hague after the enactment of the law, because that law violates constitutions of FR Yugoslavia and Serbia. "That law is unconstitutional, and violates the existing laws. It is a mixture of penal and judicial legislation, which makes it unclear why the law was needed, as extraditions could have been based on a decree. Both would be unconstitutional."
Falling back on the models from the ancient mythology, the DOS authorities are behaving towards the tribunal as some sort of modern Minotaur, whose maze demands intermittent human sacrifice, for appeasement. The adoption of the law has only temporarily solved the Hague issue, leading to normalization of relations with the leading world power, while the new federal constitution should regulate the cooperation with permanent and "ad hoc" international courts. In the meantime, the chief prosecutor in Prokuplje, Viseslav Bukumirovic, issued indictments against Sasa Cvetan and Dejan Demirovic, charging them with murders of 19 ethnic Albanians in Podujevo, on March 28, 1999.
Director of the Polling Agnecy Medium Srbobran Brankovic assesses that the whole "Hague crisis" is only a reflection of insincere relations within the DOS, in which one side keeps throwing hot potatoes to the other side, fearing that in the forthcoming elections voters would punish them because of extraditions. "Essentially, a third of our citizens supports extraditions even without any threats with sanctions, a third is adamantly opposed to any extraditions, while the decisive factor is the group that is pro-Western and supports integration process, but is not prepared to accept all the moves that are implied by such a policy. I am not referring only to the cooperation with the tribunal, but also economic reform that requires increase in unemployment, payment of taxes..."
When the neighboring Croatia opened the debate about wartime legacy, public opinion polls indicated that a convincing majority believed that it was time to openly face war crimes. A few weeks later, 100,000 protesters shouted in Split "we are all Mirko Norac" [indicted for war crimes]
The man charged with murders of civilians in Gospic is awaiting the start of a trial in Rijeka, and the HDZ is waiting to return to power. Torn between deep resistance to the Hague Tribunal and somewhat deeper fear of sanctions and a new clash with the western part of the hemisphere, citizens of Serbia will without too much grumbling accept transfers to Scheveningen, and analysts agree that for now there is no danger of the return of Radicals and Socialists to power.
"My impression is that both sides in the ruling coalition are underestimating the public, and are convinced that it can easily be manipulated, because citizens have short memory. Both blocks forget that voters have matured over the last few years and I am convinced that they will not form their judgment of elites based on the dilemmas served by one of the other side in the DOS, but based on the simple test - the quality of their life," claims research-sociologist Srecko Mihajlovic.
Heated discussion about the cooperation with the Hague, however, has very little connection with war crimes, catharsis and Balkan de-Nazification processes. Even the most zealous advocates of extraditions condemn and criticize the Tribunal, but say that cooperation is necessary because of loans, the world, European integration... The Hague Tribunal courtroom has been converted into an unusual stock exchange, in which a second-hand president is bartered for decent economic assistance, while the value of the current president is negligible. The story about the Hague did not address crimes, but it opened the issue of responsibility and maturity of the political elite, which appears too ready to play with the most important state issues just to steal two points on public opinion polls from its opponents. One fears to guess what the ruling coalition will do after solving the Hague issue!