Milosevic Dies Proving Show Trials are Pointless

Slobodon Milosevic was largely responsible for the worst genocide in Europe since the Nazis lost World War II. Thanks to him and a few other nationalists on all sides in the Balkans, more than 100,000 people were murdered. When he died from heart failure on Saturday in the fourth year of his trial in the Hague for crimes against humanity, he finally did mankind a service. He proved just how pointless this kind of trial is.

The Kensington Review has always believed that heads of state and government who preside over crimes against humanity, genocide and such, should be summarily shot in the field wherever they are captured. It is not a question of justice, nor of human rights. The continued existence of such individuals itself represents a clear and present danger to the rest of humanity.

As proof, the case of Napoleon Bonaparte comes to mind, a man who killed fewer than Stalin or Hitler mainly because he lacked the technology (imagine what he could have done to Europe with an air force). The Emperor finally lost and was exiled to Elba. He escaped and began “The 100 Days” which ended at Waterloo, where an estimated 40,000 died. They died because no one had the good sense to shoot Napoleon where he stood when they caught up with him, thus permanently ending the threat he posed simply by breathing.

Of course, the legalists believe that justice can only come out of courtroom proceedings like those at The Hague. In fact, justice in such a case is the last thing that comes out. The supporters of Mr. Milosevic never accepted the legitimacy of the trial, and he has now gone to achieve the very martyr status that the legalists so loath (surely if one martyrs enough of the other side, one wins?). Meanwhile, the testimony and evidence was there, and will always be there, whether it was blessed by judges and prosecutors.

Now, the toxicology report shows that there was a drug in the bloodstream of the Butcher of the Balkans that worked against his heart medicine. Perhaps he was trying to get released from the whole thing due to ill health. And the Serbian ultra-nationalists who revered him will always believe he was poisoned. Four years, millions of euro, and what do the legalists have to show for it? They created a martyr for Serbian ultra-nationalism and achieved no closure for his victims. The good news is he’s dead. The bad news is it could have been done cheaper and quicker.

© Copyright 2006 by The Kensington Review, Jeff Myhre, PhD, Editor. No part of this publication may be reproduced without written consent. Produced using Fedora Linux.

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