Milosevic And The Lilic Testimony

Yugoslav President Zoran Lilic admitted: ``We kept quiet about a number of illegalities in order not to endanger the national interests.'' The President admitted a lot more in last week's interview to Politika.

First, The Bosnian Serb leadership has no morality: ``Most have gotten rich, and they even drew the highest monetary institutionthe National Bank Of the Serb Republicinto crime when it issued unbacked money, supplied dealers and raised inflation in Yugoslavia.''

Lilic then turned to crime although he didn't use that qualification. He spoke of the Strpci kidnapping and said that it became clear to everyone quickly (!) that ``it was committed by a man named Lukic,'' who the police arrested at personal risk. Then: ``An investigation was undertaken but no one, no one, would help get any firm evidence.'' When he was handed over he was released and even rewarded by the Bosnian Serb leaders.

Lilic also analyzed the ``unreasonable and unacceptable behavior of the Bosnian Serb leaders'' and said that despite promises to the contrary they had bombed Sarajevo; that they hadn't arrested gangs and paramilitary formations who were ``terrorizing civilians and shaming the Serb people''; that they had expelled nonSerbs from some regions; that they hadn't abandoned the crazy attack on Gorazde.

All that was known to the sponsors of the Bosnian Serb Republic (RS), so why did they keep quiet? The law, where it exists, includes the crime of inaction.

Lawyer, one time military judge, Jovan Buturovic says a crime can be committed by action and inaction. The description of the crime shows if someone was obliged to act and didn't and that caused certain consequences. The Serbian and Yugoslav criminal codes include the crime of not reporting a crime. If anyone finds out a crime has been committed which draws a penalty of five years in prison or more, they are obliged to report it and that includes officials.

The Strpci crime, Obradovic says, is a serious violation of the Geneva convention and international humanitarian law. It's an old rule of the law that if you hold a war criminal you can hand him over or try him yourself. There was reason to try the criminals because the crime was committed against FRY citizens.

Under one legal interpretation, Lukic should have gone on trial in Yugoslavia because the law on criminal proceedings bans the handing over of Yugoslav citizens. It's a totally separate question who Lukic was handed toa state which does not exist and which the FRY does not recognize, the selfproclaimed RS, on the basis of their claims that their ``legislature would end the matter, that the crime was committed on their territory and that they are a legal state.''

The ruthless bombing of civilians in Sarajevo without any military need is a serious violation of the Geneva rules of war obliging warring sides to protect civilians. Lilic disclosed that Karadzic continued ``the agony of the civilians'' and specified that the problem was that ``the RS leaders are tied to Sarajevo and have their personal interests there.'' The only thing he didn't say was when the Yugoslav leaders realized and how long they kept quiet.

Only a court could determine in what measure the FRY could prevent the destruction of Sarajevo and everything else, but that raises the question of competencies. Karadzic is not formally under anyone in the FRY, its a crime committed outside FRY territory. If Serbia decided to hold a trial for Karadzic for treason (a conclusion that can be drawn from the Lilic interview) reasons could be found. Although a new law on citizenship is being prepared the old SFRY law on citizenship has not been specifically barred. The members of all the Serb leaderships are SFRY citizens and the FRY is constantly trying to prove continuity with that state.

But since the law has moved out of this country, everything Lilic said falls into politics. The truth always surfaces in politics when someone needs it and now Milosevic needs it. And there's no reason to doubt that everything the FRY President said is right. The crimes committed by the RS leaders are no less crimes just because they were disclosed in the way they were disclosed and by who they were disclosed. But, the way is a masterpiece of hypocrisy and deserves little attention.

``WeSerbia and Montenegroare'', according to Lilic, ``unselfish'' and ``we showed in history a unique solidarity with the Serb people over the Drina.'' And theythe Pale leaders``instead of gratitude'' are hurling into a new war of conquest which we can't support. The one so far, including the crimes that Lilic mentioned, was supported because it was a defensive and justified war. Justified or not, that war was waged with arms and every other form of help which the FRY gave to the RS.