A judgment on judgment
Milošević on trial
pp. 142-163
in: Silke Panse, Dennis Rothermel (eds), A critique of judgment in film and television, Berlin, Springer, 2014Abstract
Michael Christoffersen's award-winning film Milošević on Trial (2007), documents the prosecution of Slobodan Milošević at the International Court at The Hague for war crimes committed in the course of the conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia, and Kosovo.1 The highest-profile case of its kind since Nuremberg, the trial marked a critical moment in the history of international justice.2 The charges brought against Milošević, relating to the period of his presidency of Serbia (1989) and later of Yugoslavia (1997), consisted of three separate indictments conjoined for the purposes of the trial. The charges included: "crimes against humanity involving persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds; extermination; murder; imprisonment; torture; deportation; and inhumane acts (forcible transfers)," grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 and the laws and customs of war, including the killing of unarmed civilians, and "genocide and complicity in genocide" (Scharf and Schabas 2002, 56–73; Laughland 2007, 12–15). As Milošević refused to acknowledge the authority of the court, the court filed a plea of not guilty to all sixty-six charges on his behalf.