Milan Babic
Encyclopedia
Milan Babić was from 1991 to 1995 the first President
of the Republic of Serbian Krajina
, a Croatian
region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia
that wished to break away from Croatia
.
He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
in 2004; he was the first ever indictee to admit guilt and make a plea bargain
with the prosecution, after which he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was found dead in his Hague prison cell on March 6, 2006, having apparently committed suicide
.
near the town of Vrlika
, in Croatia
(then Yugoslavia
). He was originally a dentist
by profession. In 1989, he became one of the directors of the medical centre in Knin
, a largely Serb-inhabited town in southwestern Croatia. He entered politics in 1990, as Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, leaving the League of Communists of Croatia
and joined the newly-established nationalist
Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)
at its inception, on February 17, 1990. He was elected President of the Municipal Assembly of Knin shortly afterwards. At the time, Serbs comprised about 11% of Croatia's population, forming a majority in a strip of land known as the "Krajina" or Military Frontier along the Croatian-Bosnian border. Croatia's moves towards independence following the election of the President Franjo Tuđman were strongly opposed to the partitioning of their country by their Serbian minority, which was supported both politically and militarily by the Yugoslav People's Army
(JNA) and Serbia
under President Slobodan Milošević
. Nationalist Serbs in the "Krajina" established a Serbian National Council to coordinate opposition to Croatia; Babić was elected its President.
In September 1990, a referendum
(confined to Serb population) was held in the Krajina on the question of Serb "sovereignty
and autonomy
" in Croatia, which was passed by a majority of 99.7%. The vote was declared illegal and invalid by the Croatian government. Babić's administration in Knin then announced the creation of a Serbian Autonomous District (Српска аутономна област, САО, Srpska autonomna oblast, SAO) of Krajina on December 21, 1990 and on April 1, 1991, declared that it would secede from Croatia to join Serbia. Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they also would join the SAO. Babić was elected President of the Executive Council of the SAO on April 30 and was subsequently appointed Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defence by the Krajina Serb Assembly. In this capacity, he established an armed militia
, blockading roads and effectively severing the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia
from the rest of the country. Clashes between Krajina Serbs and Croatian security forces broke out almost immediately after Croatia declared independence, leaving dozens dead on both sides.
Around August 1991, Babić became a party to what war crimes prosecutors would later describe as a "joint criminal enterprise" to permanently forcibly remove the non-Serb population of the territory under his control in order to make them part of a new Serb-dominated state. His chief accomplices allegedly included Slobodan Milošević
, other Krajina Serb figures such as Milan Martić
, the Serbian militia leader Vojislav Šešelj
, and Yugoslav Army commanders including General Ratko Mladić
, at the time the commander of JNA forces in Croatia, all of them accused of and some by now convicted for war crimes. According to Babić's testimony during his war crimes trial, during the summer of 1991 the Serbian secret police – under Milošević's command – set up "a parallel structure of state security and the police of Krajina and units commanded by the state security of Serbia". A full-scale war was launched in which a large area of territory, amounting to a third of Croatia, was seized and the non-Serbian population was either massacred or ethnically cleansed
. The bulk of the fighting occurred between August and December 1991. Thousands more died and were deported in fighting in eastern Slavonia, but the JNA was the principal actor in that part of the conflict.
, under which the Krajina would be demilitarised and protected by a UN peacekeeping force while political talks on its future took place. Babić strongly opposed this, instead renaming the SAO as the Republic of Serbian Krajina
(RSK) on December 19, 1991 (to which was added the Serb-held areas of eastern Croatia in February 1992). He urged the Krajina Serb Assembly to reject the Vance plan. However, Milošević disagreed with this position: his strategic aims in Croatia had largely been achieved and the JNA was needed for the looming war in Bosnia
. Babić was sidelined and the Vance plan was pushed through the RSK Assembly on February 16, 1992. On February 26, 1992, Milošević engineered Babić's removal in favour of Goran Hadžić, a more pliant figure who was reported to have boasted that he was merely "a messenger for Slobodan Milošević".
Although Babić remained active in RSK politics as its Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was a greatly weakened figure. Babić stated that Krajina policy was "driven" from Belgrade via the Serbian secret police; Milošević has denied this, claiming that Babić had made it up "out of fear".
The Bosnian Serbs' military collapse in July–August 1995 propelled Babić into the post of RSK Prime Minister, but he held this for only a few weeks. In early August 1995, the Croatian government launched Operation Storm
to retake the entire area of the Krajina (with the exception of the strip in eastern Slavonia, which remained under Serb control until 1998). Babić fled to Serbia along with the entire Krajina Serb leadership and 200,000 Serbian refugees from the region (most of the Serb population in the Krajina). He was said to have retired to a chicken farm in Vojvodina
.
. Although he did not initially enter a plea, he pleaded guilty on January 27, 2004 to one count of crimes against humanity in an apparent plea-bargain
with prosecutors under which the remaining charges were dropped. He expressed "shame and remorse" in a public statement and declared that he had acted to relieve the collective shame of the Croatian Serbs, asking his "Croatian brothers to forgive their Serb brothers" for their actions. His confession to the charge of persecution, a crime against humanity, marked a major victory for the ICTY prosecutors, as Babić was, prior to his death, the only participant in the Croatian war to admit guilt. His testimony was of great importance to the prosecution in bolstering their contention that Milošević was the main actor in the "joint criminal enterprise" in Croatia.
In June 2004, he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment when the court rejected the prosecutors recommendation for an 11-year sentence. The court found him more responsible than the prosecutor characterized him but also gave him credit for voluntarily surrendering and pleading guilty. The court found that while "Babić was not the prime mover, ... Babić chose to remain in power and provided significant support for the persecutions." He was sent to a secret location to serve his sentence, which was an unprecedented move by the court. This led to some unproven speculations that Babić had been given a privileged treatment in exchange for his testimony against other defendants. The official justification for not disclosing his location was concerns for his safety from people who he testified against.
Fellow Serbs that Babić accused for war crimes in Croatia, during his trial in The Hague
:
Milan Babić was found dead after he reportedly committed suicide on March 5, 2006 while in the ICTY detention unit in The Hague
, Netherlands
, where he was in the midst of giving evidence against Milan Martić, his successor as President of the breakaway RSK. While the suicide was confirmed by the Dutch authorities, the information that he hanged himself is still unconfirmed.
President
A president is a leader of an organization, company, trade union, university, or country.Etymologically, a president is one who presides, who sits in leadership...
of the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
, a Croatian
Croats
Croats are a South Slavic ethnic group mostly living in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and nearby countries. There are around 4 million Croats living inside Croatia and up to 4.5 million throughout the rest of the world. Responding to political, social and economic pressure, many Croats have...
region at the time of the war largely populated by a Serbs of Croatia
Serbs of Croatia
Višeslav of Serbia, a contemporary of Charlemagne , ruled the Županias of Neretva, Tara, Piva, Lim, his ancestral lands. According to the Royal Frankish Annals , Duke of Pannonia Ljudevit Posavski fled, during the Frankish invasion, from his seat in Sisak to the Serbs in western Bosnia, who...
that wished to break away from Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
.
He was indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
in 2004; he was the first ever indictee to admit guilt and make a plea bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
with the prosecution, after which he was sentenced to 13 years in prison. He was found dead in his Hague prison cell on March 6, 2006, having apparently committed suicide
Suicide
Suicide is the act of intentionally causing one's own death. Suicide is often committed out of despair or attributed to some underlying mental disorder, such as depression, bipolar disorder, schizophrenia, alcoholism, or drug abuse...
.
Entering politics
Babić was born in the village KukarKukar
Kukar is a small village in Croatia located approximately 3 km from the town of Vrlika under the mountain Dinara. It is part of the Vrlika municipality, within Split-Dalmatia County.-History:...
near the town of Vrlika
Vrlika
Vrlika is a small town and municipality in inland Dalmatia, Croatia. The closest large towns are Sinj, Knin, and Drniš. The town of Vrlika has a population of 959, while the municipality has a population of 2,705 . There are 2,670 Croatian speakers, 16 Serbian speakers and 19 speakers of other...
, in Croatia
Croatia
Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...
(then Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia refers to three political entities that existed successively on the western part of the Balkans during most of the 20th century....
). He was originally a dentist
Dentist
A dentist, also known as a 'dental surgeon', is a doctor that specializes in the diagnosis, prevention, and treatment of diseases and conditions of the oral cavity. The dentist's supporting team aides in providing oral health services...
by profession. In 1989, he became one of the directors of the medical centre in Knin
Knin
Knin is a historical town in the Šibenik-Knin county of Croatia, located near the source of the river Krka at , in the Dalmatian hinterland, on the railroad Zagreb–Split. Knin rose to prominence twice in history, as a one-time capital of both the Kingdom of Croatia and briefly of the...
, a largely Serb-inhabited town in southwestern Croatia. He entered politics in 1990, as Yugoslavia began to disintegrate, leaving the League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia
League of Communists of Croatia was the Croatian branch of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia . Until 1952, it was known as Communist Party of Croatia .- History :...
and joined the newly-established nationalist
Nationalism
Nationalism is a political ideology that involves a strong identification of a group of individuals with a political entity defined in national terms, i.e. a nation. In the 'modernist' image of the nation, it is nationalism that creates national identity. There are various definitions for what...
Serbian Democratic Party (SDS)
Serb Democratic Party (Croatia)
The Serb Democratic Party was a political party in Croatia whose primary constituency were the Serbs of Croatia. It led the Republic of Serbian Krajina. It existed between 1990 and 1995.The SDS was founded in the Socialist Republic of Croatia on February 17, 1990...
at its inception, on February 17, 1990. He was elected President of the Municipal Assembly of Knin shortly afterwards. At the time, Serbs comprised about 11% of Croatia's population, forming a majority in a strip of land known as the "Krajina" or Military Frontier along the Croatian-Bosnian border. Croatia's moves towards independence following the election of the President Franjo Tuđman were strongly opposed to the partitioning of their country by their Serbian minority, which was supported both politically and militarily by the Yugoslav People's Army
Yugoslav People's Army
The Yugoslav People's Army , also referred to as the Yugoslav National Army , was the military of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.-Origins:The origins of the JNA can...
(JNA) and Serbia
Serbia
Serbia , officially the Republic of Serbia , is a landlocked country located at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe, covering the southern part of the Carpathian basin and the central part of the Balkans...
under President Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
. Nationalist Serbs in the "Krajina" established a Serbian National Council to coordinate opposition to Croatia; Babić was elected its President.
Independence of Krajina
Serbs became opposed to any status that would make them remain in an independent Croatia. After Tuđman was elected, the first democratic constitution was drafted and gave the Serbs a minority status within Croatia.In September 1990, a referendum
Referendum
A referendum is a direct vote in which an entire electorate is asked to either accept or reject a particular proposal. This may result in the adoption of a new constitution, a constitutional amendment, a law, the recall of an elected official or simply a specific government policy. It is a form of...
(confined to Serb population) was held in the Krajina on the question of Serb "sovereignty
Sovereignty
Sovereignty is the quality of having supreme, independent authority over a geographic area, such as a territory. It can be found in a power to rule and make law that rests on a political fact for which no purely legal explanation can be provided...
and autonomy
Autonomy
Autonomy is a concept found in moral, political and bioethical philosophy. Within these contexts, it is the capacity of a rational individual to make an informed, un-coerced decision...
" in Croatia, which was passed by a majority of 99.7%. The vote was declared illegal and invalid by the Croatian government. Babić's administration in Knin then announced the creation of a Serbian Autonomous District (Српска аутономна област, САО, Srpska autonomna oblast, SAO) of Krajina on December 21, 1990 and on April 1, 1991, declared that it would secede from Croatia to join Serbia. Other Serb-dominated communities in eastern Croatia announced that they also would join the SAO. Babić was elected President of the Executive Council of the SAO on April 30 and was subsequently appointed Minister of the Interior and Minister of Defence by the Krajina Serb Assembly. In this capacity, he established an armed militia
Militia
The term militia is commonly used today to refer to a military force composed of ordinary citizens to provide defense, emergency law enforcement, or paramilitary service, in times of emergency without being paid a regular salary or committed to a fixed term of service. It is a polyseme with...
, blockading roads and effectively severing the Croatian coastal region of Dalmatia
Dalmatia
Dalmatia is a historical region on the eastern coast of the Adriatic Sea. It stretches from the island of Rab in the northwest to the Bay of Kotor in the southeast. The hinterland, the Dalmatian Zagora, ranges from fifty kilometers in width in the north to just a few kilometers in the south....
from the rest of the country. Clashes between Krajina Serbs and Croatian security forces broke out almost immediately after Croatia declared independence, leaving dozens dead on both sides.
Around August 1991, Babić became a party to what war crimes prosecutors would later describe as a "joint criminal enterprise" to permanently forcibly remove the non-Serb population of the territory under his control in order to make them part of a new Serb-dominated state. His chief accomplices allegedly included Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević
Slobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
, other Krajina Serb figures such as Milan Martić
Milan Martic
Milan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
, the Serbian militia leader Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj
Vojislav Šešelj, JD is a Serbian politician, writer and lawyer. He is the founder and president of the Serbian Radical Party and was vice-president of Serbia between 1998 and 2000...
, and Yugoslav Army commanders including General Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić
Ratko Mladić is an accused war criminal and a former Bosnian Serb military leader. On May 31, 2011, Mladić was extradited to The Hague, where he was processed at the detention center that holds suspects for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia...
, at the time the commander of JNA forces in Croatia, all of them accused of and some by now convicted for war crimes. According to Babić's testimony during his war crimes trial, during the summer of 1991 the Serbian secret police – under Milošević's command – set up "a parallel structure of state security and the police of Krajina and units commanded by the state security of Serbia". A full-scale war was launched in which a large area of territory, amounting to a third of Croatia, was seized and the non-Serbian population was either massacred or ethnically cleansed
Ethnic cleansing
Ethnic cleansing is a purposeful policy designed by one ethnic or religious group to remove by violent and terror-inspiring means the civilian population of another ethnic orreligious group from certain geographic areas....
. The bulk of the fighting occurred between August and December 1991. Thousands more died and were deported in fighting in eastern Slavonia, but the JNA was the principal actor in that part of the conflict.
Downfall
The international community attempted to resolve the conflict in November 1991 by proposing a peace plan put forward by the UN Special Envoy Cyrus VanceCyrus Vance
Cyrus Roberts Vance was an American lawyer and United States Secretary of State under President Jimmy Carter from 1977 to 1980...
, under which the Krajina would be demilitarised and protected by a UN peacekeeping force while political talks on its future took place. Babić strongly opposed this, instead renaming the SAO as the Republic of Serbian Krajina
Republic of Serbian Krajina
The Republic of Serbian Krajina was a self-proclaimed Serb entity within Croatia. Established in 1991, it was not recognized internationally. It formally existed from 1991 to 1995, having been initiated a year earlier via smaller separatist regions. The name Krajina means "frontier"...
(RSK) on December 19, 1991 (to which was added the Serb-held areas of eastern Croatia in February 1992). He urged the Krajina Serb Assembly to reject the Vance plan. However, Milošević disagreed with this position: his strategic aims in Croatia had largely been achieved and the JNA was needed for the looming war in Bosnia
Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnia and Herzegovina , sometimes called Bosnia-Herzegovina or simply Bosnia, is a country in Southern Europe, on the Balkan Peninsula. Bordered by Croatia to the north, west and south, Serbia to the east, and Montenegro to the southeast, Bosnia and Herzegovina is almost landlocked, except for the...
. Babić was sidelined and the Vance plan was pushed through the RSK Assembly on February 16, 1992. On February 26, 1992, Milošević engineered Babić's removal in favour of Goran Hadžić, a more pliant figure who was reported to have boasted that he was merely "a messenger for Slobodan Milošević".
Although Babić remained active in RSK politics as its Minister of Foreign Affairs, he was a greatly weakened figure. Babić stated that Krajina policy was "driven" from Belgrade via the Serbian secret police; Milošević has denied this, claiming that Babić had made it up "out of fear".
The Bosnian Serbs' military collapse in July–August 1995 propelled Babić into the post of RSK Prime Minister, but he held this for only a few weeks. In early August 1995, the Croatian government launched Operation Storm
Operation Storm
Operation Storm is the code name given to a large-scale military operation carried out by Croatian Armed Forces, in conjunction with the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to gain back control of parts of Croatia which had been claimed by separatist ethnic Serbs, since early...
to retake the entire area of the Krajina (with the exception of the strip in eastern Slavonia, which remained under Serb control until 1998). Babić fled to Serbia along with the entire Krajina Serb leadership and 200,000 Serbian refugees from the region (most of the Serb population in the Krajina). He was said to have retired to a chicken farm in Vojvodina
Vojvodina
Vojvodina, officially called Autonomous Province of Vojvodina is an autonomous province of Serbia. Its capital and largest city is Novi Sad...
.
Trial and suicide
In December 2002, Babić was unexpectedly revealed as a witness against Milošević as part of a plea bargain, testifying before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia that Milošević had been personally involved in the Croatian conflict. The following November, he was indicted on five charges of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of warLaws of war
The law of war is a body of law concerning acceptable justifications to engage in war and the limits to acceptable wartime conduct...
. Although he did not initially enter a plea, he pleaded guilty on January 27, 2004 to one count of crimes against humanity in an apparent plea-bargain
Plea bargain
A plea bargain is an agreement in a criminal case whereby the prosecutor offers the defendant the opportunity to plead guilty, usually to a lesser charge or to the original criminal charge with a recommendation of a lighter than the maximum sentence.A plea bargain allows criminal defendants to...
with prosecutors under which the remaining charges were dropped. He expressed "shame and remorse" in a public statement and declared that he had acted to relieve the collective shame of the Croatian Serbs, asking his "Croatian brothers to forgive their Serb brothers" for their actions. His confession to the charge of persecution, a crime against humanity, marked a major victory for the ICTY prosecutors, as Babić was, prior to his death, the only participant in the Croatian war to admit guilt. His testimony was of great importance to the prosecution in bolstering their contention that Milošević was the main actor in the "joint criminal enterprise" in Croatia.
In June 2004, he was sentenced to 13 years imprisonment when the court rejected the prosecutors recommendation for an 11-year sentence. The court found him more responsible than the prosecutor characterized him but also gave him credit for voluntarily surrendering and pleading guilty. The court found that while "Babić was not the prime mover, ... Babić chose to remain in power and provided significant support for the persecutions." He was sent to a secret location to serve his sentence, which was an unprecedented move by the court. This led to some unproven speculations that Babić had been given a privileged treatment in exchange for his testimony against other defendants. The official justification for not disclosing his location was concerns for his safety from people who he testified against.
Fellow Serbs that Babić accused for war crimes in Croatia, during his trial in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
:
- Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and Yugoslavia. He served as the President of Socialist Republic of Serbia and Republic of Serbia from 1989 until 1997 in three terms and as President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000...
- Milan MartićMilan MarticMilan Martić is a Serbian politician, former president of the Republic of Serbian Krajina...
- Jovica StanišićJovica StanišicJovica Stanišić is a former head of the State Security Service now BIA within the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. He is facing trial at the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for his role in the wars in Croatia and in Bosnia and Herzegovina...
- Franko SimatovićFranko SimatovicFranko "Frenki" Simatović was the head of the Serbian secret police of Slobodan Milošević, the Special Forces of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs. He was the founder of the "Special Operations Unit"....
- Momčilo KrajišnikMomcilo KrajišnikMomčilo Krajišnik is a Bosnian Serb former politician convicted of murder and other crimes against humanity during the Bosnian war .He co-founded the Bosnian Serb nationalist Serbian Democratic Party with Radovan...
Milan Babić was found dead after he reportedly committed suicide on March 5, 2006 while in the ICTY detention unit in The Hague
The Hague
The Hague is the capital city of the province of South Holland in the Netherlands. With a population of 500,000 inhabitants , it is the third largest city of the Netherlands, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam...
, Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, where he was in the midst of giving evidence against Milan Martić, his successor as President of the breakaway RSK. While the suicide was confirmed by the Dutch authorities, the information that he hanged himself is still unconfirmed.
Milošević trial
In his own trial, Babić gave testimony that was used to indict Milošević. The former also appeared at the trial of the latter to give evidence. In one case, Milošević denied that he supported Babić by quoting transcripts of his tapped telephone, where he referred to Babić as "an idiot", "ordinary scum" and "Tudjman's trump."External links
- ICTY – Initial Indictment of Milan Babić
- ICTY press release confirming Babić's death
- ICTY Sentencing Judgement
- http://www.srpskapolitika.com/Tekstovi/Komentari/2006/043.html A. Samigullina. Milosevic's accuser commits suicide