Gulf News says: Swift justice for Milosevic

Slobodan Milosevic, who is to be tried for crimes against humanity, has been at his worst again. His contempt for the due process of law and the United Nations war crimes tribunal has been blatantly offensive ever since he was taken into custody in June last year and his latest outburst on Thursday had to be cut short by the presiding judge when the former Serbian leader sought to turn a hearing into another invective-laden tirade.

Milosevic faces charges, along with four other senior Serbs, for the murder of 900 Kosovo Albanians and the expulsion of 800,000 civilians from their homes during the Kosovo war in 1999. In addition he also faces war crimes charges for the Croatian and Bosnian conflicts.

He is expected to call leaders of Nato countries as witnesses in another attempt to turn proceedings against him into a circus. The presiding judge has been quick to curb Milosevic in the past and has called for a speedy trial. This is only right so that a war criminal can be brought to justice swiftly and not allowed to turn international norms into a parody.