By Steve Kurczy

Staff writer

Since former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was arrested last April, he has been under wide scrutiny for what is now called ``ethnic cleansing.'' Under command of the United Nations, Milosevic has been brought to The Hague, an international criminal court in the Netherlands, to begin his indictment.

The dramatic arrest of April 2001, was under charges relating to the atrocities in Kosovo in 1999, to crimes against humanity committed in Croatia between 1991 and 1992, and to the alleged genocide in Bosnia-Herzegovina between 1992 and 1995.

While Mr. Milosovic's most serious crime relates to Bosnia and the killing of thousands of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, it extends into his own Yugoslavia under charges of alleged corruption, abuse of power and the siphoning of billions of dollars of state funds into foreign accounts.

Head Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte addressed the court and a world audience on television last week.

``Your honors, the chamber will now begin the trial of this man for the wrongs he is said to have done to the people of his own country and to his neighbors,'' Del Ponte opened.

``As prosecutor, I bring the accused, Milosevic, before you to face the charges against him. I do so on behalf of the international community and in the name of all the member states of the United Nations, including the states of former Yugoslavia.''

She soon specified, ``No state organization is on trial here today. The indictments do not accuse an entire people of being collectively guilty of the crimes- even the crime of genocide. It may be tempting to generalize when dealing with the conduct of leaders at the highest level. But that is an error that must be avoided.

``I do, of course, intend to explore the degree to which the power and influence of the accused extended over others, but I stress again that the accused is brought before you to answer for his own actions and for his personal involvement in the crimes alleged against him.

``One must not seek ideals underlying the acts of the accused. Beyond the nationalist pretext and the horror of ethnic cleansing, behind the grandiloquent rhetoric and the hackneyed phrases he used, the search for power is what motivated Slobodan Milosevic. They were not his personal convictions, even less patriotism or honor, or even racism or xenophobia, which inspired the accused, but the quest for power, and personal power at that,'' Del Ponte said.

However, Milosovic- described by some as haughty, by others as confident- has tried to refute the very validity of the trial. At 60 years old, he has decided to represent himself in court, and gave a two-day opening statement before he was asked to give a summation.

BBC legal correspondent Jon Silverman wrote, ``Milosovic's main theme blames NATO and western powers for Yugoslavia's misfortunes and war crimes. In his words, they fanned the flames of ethnic hatred by their policies -for example, Germany's decision to recognize Croatia as an independent state -and the Serbs had reacted to events rather than instigated them.''

Milosovic is on two pedestals here. One is the support of aggrieved Serbs who feel burdened with the events; the other reinforces his argument that the court needs to hear from key Western politicians, most especially our very own Bill Clinton. While questions as to the attitudes of Western governments have arose, Milosovic unobtrusively avoided the crimes aimed at him.

The Hague Trial is the most important of its kind since Nuremberg after World War II: it is international justice in action. It will merge all charges relating to Kosovo, Bosnia and Croatia, and can easily be expected to last two years. As Milosovic said in opposition to Del Ponte, ``the government, the parliament, the various political organizations, the media -they all stand accused here...''

``This tribunal will write only one chapter, the most bloody one, and the most heart-breaking one -a chapter of individual responsibility of the perpetrators of serious violations of international humanitarian law,'' prosecutor Del Ponte said as she closed her remarks.

``It is up to the other courts to make the moral, historical or even psychological diagnosis of the accused, to analyze the social, economic and political dynamics which constituted the basic fabric of the crimes we are going to consider.''