The International Criminal Court and the Balkan Crisis: The Capture and Indictment of Slobodan Milosevic

The Balkan Crisis raged throughout Yugloslavia from 1991 to 1999, and has been compared to the holocaust in Nazi Germany during World War II. Yuglslavia's President, Slobodan Milosevic, enforced his policy of ethnic cleansing, killing thousands of innocent victims. The institution of the International Criminal Court in 1998 was a landmark for human rights - "with due and full regard for the rights and interests of victims." In 2002, Milosevic was captured, indicted, tried, and imprisoned at The Hague, where he eventually died before the end of the trial. Due to the untiring efforts of the International Criminal Court, heads-of-state can no longer claim immunity from prosecution for commiting crimes against humanity. This study recounts and assesses international justice with particular attention to the Balkan crisis that followed the breakup of the former Yugoslavia and The Hague trial of Slobodan Milosevic.