19 years ago Slobodan Milosevic was charged with war crimes

The UN war crimes tribunal in Yugoslavia indicted President Slobodan Milosevic and four other senior officials on war crimes charges just 27 May 1999.

There is a reliable basis for believing that these indictees are responsible for the expulsion of 740,000 Kosovo Albanians and the killing of 340 Kosovo Albanians”, Louise Arbor, chief prosecutor, had said at a press conference in The Hague at the time.

Besides Milosevic, the others indicted are Serbia's president, Milutin Milutinovic; Yugoslavia's deputy prime minister, Nikola Sainovic; Yugoslav Army Chief of General Staff Dragoljub Ojdanic; and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, Serbia's minister of internal affairs.

Belgrade dismissed the charges and called the court an annex to NATO, but the indictment was also criticised by Jean-Pierre Cheveenement, France's interior minister. “does not approve of this initiative, but does not serve peace”, he said.

Milosevic's opponents echoed the criticism. “Now Milosevic has been placed in a corner and there is no incentive for him to compromise”, said Vojin Dimitrijevic, director of the Belgrade Centre for Human Rights.

NATO Attacks

NATO aircraft flew to a record 741 flights during 24 hours of Allied Forces operation to destroy Serbia's air defence. NATO said all aircraft had returned safely to their bases.

President Clinton issued a statement to expelled Albanian refugees through Voice of America and Radio Free Europe “You have left Kosovo for a purpose, to return to security. The United States and its NATO allies are working on this target”, he said at both Serbian and Albanian-language centres. “will take time, but with your strength and determination there is no doubt what the outcome will be. The campaign of ethnic cleansing in Kosovo will end and you will return”.