Tromp from The Hague: A verdict against Milosevic would have made it more difficult to try the KLA leaders 24 years ago
KosovaPress presents an interview with researcher at the Hague Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Nevenka Tromp, conducted at the former building known as the Hague Tribunal.
Tromp recalls February 2, the day the trial started, noting the crowds of journalists around the building.
Milosevic was tried for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide in Croatia, Bosnia, and Kosovo.
The author of the book The Unfinished Trial of Slobodan Milosevic spoke to KosovaPress about the significance of the trial, especially for Kosovo.
Tromp emphasized that during Milosevic’s time in power, massive crimes and atrocities occurred.
Tromp added that this trial was particularly significant because, for the first time, genocide was being judged at an individual level.
The trial against Milosevic began on February 12, 2002, and continued until March 2006 but did not reach a final verdict because he died in custody.
Tromp said that had the trial concluded with a conviction, it would have made it much harder today to try the former leaders of the Kosovo Liberation Army.
“From a legal perspective, a conviction against him would have been very significant. His confirmed personal responsibility under the law would have implicated the Serbian military leadership much more directly in criminality. I am confident that it would have been far more difficult, 20 years later, for the Kosovo Specialist Chambers to try KLA leaders for crimes in Kosovo. It would seem very immoral and detached from reality compared to what a verdict against Milosevic as head of state would have contained. I have no doubt that out of the 66 counts in the indictment, he might not have been found guilty of all, but for the majority, yes. And the Kosovo indictment was very important because it strengthened the narrative of asymmetrical responsibility in war—which means that no other party, as an individual or a state, bore greater role and responsibility for the violent disintegration and crimes than Milosevic, the Serbian political, military, and police leadership, and ultimately Serbia as a state,” she concluded.
