Mr Karadzic and Mr Mladic are two of the 37 indictees still at large. The group includes the former President of Serbia, Milan Milutinovic.But if the Bosnian Serb duo follow Mr Milosevic to The Hague, the spotlight is likely to concentrate on Veselin Sljivancanin, the army colonel accused of overseeing the massacre of 260 wounded Croat soldiers in Vukovar, in eastern Croatia, after the town fell to the Yugoslav army in November 1991. The men were taken from their hospital beds, executed and the bodies dumped in a mass grave at a nearby sheep farm.Mr Sljivancanin's two assistants in this crime, Milan Mrksic and Miroslav Radic, have disappeared from view but Mr Sljivancanin has remained in his post at Serbian military headquarters.. On one level, it will be a contest between a diminutive but driven Swiss woman prosecutor and a Slobodan Milosevic who, far from cowed, intends to put up a vigorous defence to the war crimes charges against him. In a wider sense, however, the trial of the man who inflicted four separate wars in the former Yugoslavia will be a trial of the world's ability to operate a truly embracing system of international justice.
On one level, it will be a contest between a diminutive but driven Swiss woman prosecutor and a Slobodan Milosevic who, far from cowed, intends to put up a vigorous defence to the war crimes charges against him. In a wider sense, however, the trial of the man who inflicted four separate wars in the former Yugoslavia will be a trial of the world's ability to operate a truly embracing system of international justice. Even Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor in the UN war crimes tribunal, who has led the legal battle for the extradition of the former Yugoslav and Serbian president, admits it will be months, perhaps years, before a final verdict comes. Her direct opponent, Tomas Fila, head of Mr Milosevic's defence team both in the Netherlands and in Belgrade where the former leader was facing corruption charges, promises to fight the charges on every possible ground.Mr Milosevic will first argue that the tribunal has no right to try him at all. Failing that, he will object to any judge from the Nato countries which conducted the 11-week bombing war over Kosovo in 1999.A further complication is the possibility of additional charges against the former president. Although the current indictment focuses on Kosovo, Ms Del Ponte has indicated there could be further counts relating to the wars in Croatia and Bosnia between 1991 and 1995.Legal experts predict that although the case against Mr Milosevic appears strong, prosecutors could have a job to demonstrate that the chain of command for war crimes committed in Kosovo and Bosnia extended all the way to him, and that Mr Milosevic knew what was happening and failed to stop it.So far secret Nato intercepts may provide this evidence. Otherwise the prosecution may need to reach a plea bargain with one or more of Mr Milosevic's collaborators who are already arraigned in The Hague for them to testify against him in exchange for a reduced sentence.
The importance of the case for the future of international law is enormous; as the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson put it, "International justice has never been tested in this way."A successful and patently "fair" proceeding against Mr Milosevic and his co-accused would not only banish any lingering doubts about the authority of the war crimes tribunals dealing with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. It would also give huge credibility to the proposed permanent International Criminal Court by showing that no one is beyond the reach of international justice – and make it harder for the United States, one of the most persistent in its demands that Mr Milosevic be brought to trial, to continue to refuse to sign up to the ICC.The ICC, set up at a 1998 conference in Rome, will be a permanent Hague-based tribunal, empowered to try suspects on charges such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.On the other hand, the experts warn, failure to secure convictions or – worse still – suggestions of bias, would play into the hands of Serb hardliners and other critics, who say The Hague is a catspaw of Nato and the West, and another example of "victors' justice". Thus far 39 indicted people have been taken to The Hague, of whom 20 have so far been convicted.. A Brazilian police colonel whose officers gunned down prisoners in one of Brazil's most shocking jail riots has been sentenced to 632 years' imprisonment for a total of 102 murders. A Brazilian police colonel whose officers gunned down prisoners in one of Brazil's most shocking jail riots has been sentenced to 632 years' imprisonment for a total of 102 murders. Colonel Ubiratan Guimaraesis the first of 84 officials to face trial for the massacre at Carandiru prison in 1992. He left the courtroom in tears, vowing to appeal.As commander of a battalion of elite shock troops, Col Guimaraes ordered his men to quell a riot that broke out after a fight erupted between prisoners. When his officers moved in, some inmates tossed their weapons out the windows and hung banners appealing for peace.
Others barricaded themselves inside their units and set corridors ablaze.Fearing that the fires might spread, Col Guimaraes ordered more officers into the prison. When they emerged a few hours later, 111 prisoners were dead. The jury absolved him of responsibility for nine deaths by stabbing.Prisoners said they survived the gunfire by hiding under piles of dead bodies while the police executed prisoners at point-blank range even after they had surrendered. Independent investigators were prevented from entering the area for a week afterwards, leading officials to believe the police had tampered with evidence.Even in a country accustomed to police violence and horrific prison conditions, the massacre at Carandiru prompted outrage. Photographs of blood-smeared corpses lined up naked in morgues and hospital corridors were shown around the world, turning the jail into an exemplar of all that is wrong with the country's repressive prison system. Many of the bodies were found naked – a sign of surrender, according to human rights watchers. Col Guimaraes, 58, became a symbol of police brutality.Unrepentant, Colonel Guimaraes ran for office with the number 111 – the death toll at Carandiru – on his ballot and gave his horse the same number.
He has refused to acknowledge that his officers overreacted that October afternoon."I would do my duty again," he told a reporter. "It was not a massacre but a response to aggressions we suffered."The trial was stalled for years, first in military tribunals and then because the colonel's status as a S?Paulo city councillor gave him parliamentary immunity from prosecution. Yesterday's conviction has been hailed as a breakthrough.Although human rights activists have fought to close Carandiru, the facility remains open and today houses over 8,000 inmates, more than twice as many as it was designed to hold. Prisoners routinely complain of torture, including suspension of prisoners by the legs from metal bars, asphyxiation and the use of electric shocks. Infectious diseases sweep through the complex; tuberculosis and HIV/Aids are rife.Gangs are omnipresent. The authorities admit that with many of the wardens threatened or bought off by the prisoners, there is little they can do to stop the influx of drugs, knives, guns and even grenades into the jail.In February members of a notorious Carandiru gang with mobile phones incited 28,000 prisoners in 27 jails across the state of S?Paulo to stage an unprecedented mass riot.