Milosevic trial evokes Bosnia's suffering

About 200,000 people died in the Bosnian war in 1992-95

		By Alix Kroeger in Sarajevo

In Bosnia-Herzegovina, public reaction to the start of the trial of Slobodan Milosevic has so far been muted.

It can not pay back for their husbands and sons lost during the war, but it still means that there is some justice

Lejla Radoncic

For many people, the event is a cause for private - not public - observance, as they remember the years when Bosnia was at war from 1992 to 1995.

About 200,000 people were killed, and two million people were displaced - more than half the population.

"I think everyone hoped for that day," said Lejla Radoncic, founder of a charity working with refugee women.

"It cannot pay back for their husbands and sons lost during the war, but it still means that there is some justice.

It is a chance for most of us once again to think about what we have suffered and to think what to do to avoid something like that to happen in the future

Ranko Mavrak

"People believe that the other two important guys supposed to be in The Hague will be there soon - Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic," she added, referring to the wartime leaders of the Bosnian Serbs, both indicted for genocide.

For Bosnian Croat journalist Ranko Mavrak, the opening of the trial brought back painful memories.

"I was really hypnotised by this history of the wartime," he said.

"It is a chance for most of us once again to think about what we have suffered and to think what to do in order to avoid something like that to happen in the future".

Historic trial

Reaction from Bosnia's political leaders has divided along predictable lines.

Many Bosnian Serbs say the trial puts an entire nation in the dock

The Muslim nationalist party of Bosnia's wartime president Alija Izetbegovic repeated its support for the war crimes tribunal.

But it said no punishment for Mr Milosevic would compensate the victims of genocide and their families.

Bosnia's Foreign Minister, Zlatko Lagumdzija, who was injured during the siege of Sarajevo, said it was an historic trial which would ensure that such inhumane projects could never happen again.

Pandora's box

In the Bosnian Serb Republic, there is little publicly stated support for Mr Milosevic.

Bosniaks say the trial is important to avoid similar horrors in the future

However, his trial reinforces the perception that the Hague tribunal is an anti-Serb institution which is putting an entire people in the dock.

If the former Serbian president is convicted of genocide, that would give weight to the arguments of critics who say the Bosnian Serb mini-state, Republika Srpska, was founded on ethnic cleansing.

Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic was quick to rule out changes to Bosnia's post-war settlement.

To question it, he said would re-open a Pandora's box in the Balkans, and that was in no one's interest.

'Trial of one man'

The opposition Independent Social Democrats endorsed the statement from chief war crimes prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, who said it was the trial of one man, not an entire people.

Over the coming months, the Hague tribunal will hear evidence from some of those who suffered and survived the events of the Bosnian war.

How Mr Milosevic will respond to that evidence remains to be seen, given his challenge to the very existence of the court.

But for many people in Bosnia, it is a crucial step.

In a column for the Sarajevo newspaper Oslobodjenje, commentator Gojko Beric said it was in The Hague that the official history of the last 10 years in the Balkans would be written.