Delayed Farce

No one knows who first got the idea that the Vuckovic trial could be a good marketing move that would succeed in bringing the fallen Serbian justice system back on its feet in front of the world public. Despite suspicions, many foreign newspapers and TV stations did not resist temptation: they sent their journalists and TV crews to Sabac to follow the trial in the district court. The President of the Supreme Court of Serbia generously gave all of them permission to enter the courtroom and allowed them to film and record the reading of the indictment, but not the far more interesting explanation full of the prosecutor's patriotic cadences and his wise avoidance of difficult confirmation and boring verification of the facts. When the foreign reporters realized on the first day that the indictment was really a propaganda tool that was supposed to teach them the real truth about Serbia, their curiosity diminished to such an extent that they did not appear in the courtroom the following day. According to the indictment against the Vuckovic brothers, "on the basis of the results of the investigation, it has been confirmed that the following occurred: that there was a civil war in 1992 in the former Bosnia-Herzegovina and that D. Vuckovic and his older brother Vojin went to the former Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to help the Serb people in defending their territories". Aggression or civil war? Former UNHCR head for the territory of former Yugoslavia and great friend of the Serbs, Jose Maria Mendiluce, happened to be in Zvornik when the Vuckovic brothers "helped the Serb people in that city" as members of a paramilitary group. However, Mendiluce had a different impression. He claims that what occurred was the notorious ethnic cleansing, which is otherwise generally known, except to the prosecution in Sabac. "I knew how the system of ethnic cleansing functioned", says Mendiluce, "and in Zvornik I had the opportunity to witness it. For days, the Belgrade media had been writing about how there was a plot to kill all Serbs in Zvornik. The authorities in Zvornik realized that the point in question was a typical maneuver by Seselj's Radicals-volunteers. This maneuver always precedes the killing of Muslims, as had already happened in Bijeljina and many places along the left bank of the Drina River. There were many soldiers, tanks and much shooting in the city. I guess they were so preoccupied with shooting and killing that they did not see me. There were many corpses strewn about and I saw them kill some elderly people who were unable to escape..." Of course we are talking about massacre and expulsion of Muslims from Zvornik and the surrounding area.

The investigation did not confirm when D. Vuckovic committed the crime, who the murdered civilians (16 people) were, where they were buried or left, who ordered and organized the massacre, who is responsible and who was responsible for provoking the fighting, from simple executors such as D. Vuckovic to the highest ranking officers in the Serbian police. The indictment does not contain the most important facts that are necessary for a more serious trial, although all of this is more or less well-known and noted. The investigation did not attempt to confirm all of the relevant facts (above all because revealing them would be dangerous for the government) which would enable the prosecutor to write a more serious indictment. All foreign and the majority of domestic journalists think that this trial of a war criminal represents just one unsuccessful performance by poor actors and even worse directors.

The trial has nevertheless been delayed for an unspecified time. As heard off the record, it is estimated that the trial was obviously unnecessary and that it brought the opposite effects than expected. At least when we are talking about world opinion.