2007年VOA标准英语-Prosecutor Discusses Milosevic on Anniversary o

By Lauren Comiteau
The Hague
11 March 2007

An admirer of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic holds his portrait during a rally to mark the first anniversary of his death in downtown Moscow, 11 March 2007

Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his jail cell in The Hague one year ago (3/11/07). His death put an abrupt¹ end to his four-year trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity for his role in the Balkans wars of the 1990s, and left his many alleged² victims hungry for a verdict they would never see. Lauren Comiteau spoke³ with Louise Arbour, the prosecutor⁴ who indicted⁶ Milosevic, about his premature⁷ death and its implications for justice.

Former prosecutor Louise Arbour is now the U.N. High Commissioner⁸ for Human Rights. She remembers the day she heard Slobodan Milsoevic was dead.

"It was probably the biggest professional disappointment to think that, because so much hope on the part of the victims was resting on this trial coming to a conclusion, with the truth being told," said Arbour. "So it is not so much a question of his punishment.

"The reality is he spent the last few years of his life in prison being called to account," she continued. "But I think it is the sense of non-closure, particularly for the victims, that was very sad. Now of course all the evidence collected in the long run will serve historians, will serve the purpose of preventing any revisionism, re-writing history. So it is not wasted by any measure."

Louise Arbour made history as the first person to indict⁵ a sitting head of state for war crimes. The first charges concerned fighting in Kosovo, but later included genocide allegations in Bosnia. Bringing the first charges during NATO's bombing campaign to end the Milosevic crackdown on ethnic⁹ Albanians in Kosovo was a gamble.

Arbour says at the time, she was worried her indictment¹⁰ could derail any potential peace process.

"For me the trick was what is my mandate¹¹? And my mandate was to make sure that this man stands trial in The Hague," she said. "And I was very concerned that if we did not move before any peace deal, that there could be - I did not think that there could be a legal amnesty that would stick, that would be binding¹², but I thought there could be a de-facto amnesty as in he would step down, he would go to a friendly country, and things would become difficult in reality, not in law. So that was the driving consideration there."

By the time Slobodon Milosevic's trial started in 2002, Arbour was back in her native Canada, a justice on her country's Supreme¹³ Court.

It was left to her successor, Carla Del Ponte, to try the former Serb president. By this time, there were 66 charges to prove, and Del Ponte wanted to try all of them at one time, from ethnic cleansing¹⁴ in Croatia to deportation¹⁵ in Kosovo to genocide in Bosnia.

But Milosevic, who insisted on defending himself, died before his four-year, $200-million case could conclude. This meant judges never got the chance to rule on all the evidence prosecutors¹⁶ presented, including the testimony¹⁷ of 300 witnesses and 5,000 exhibits. Arbour says his trial is full of lessons to be learned for the future.

"It is pretty clear that had the prosecutor proceeded only with Kosovo first, there is a good chance that there would have been a conclusion to at least that part," she said. "But I can see also the merits of putting the entire case together. Other mistakes, possibly in retrospect¹⁸, should these tribunals permit defendants¹⁹ to be self-represented when you see the heavy institutional demands that puts with amicus and other assistants, I think these are all issues which we are going to have to learn in the future."

International humanitarian²⁰ law has progressed since Arbour's days in The Hague. The International Criminal Court, the first permanent body set-up to try the leaders most responsible for war crimes, is reaping the benefits of the Tribunal's experiment in international law.

But the consequences of the Milosevic regime live on. The fate of Kosovo Province, which he tried to violently control, will be decided²¹ by the U.N. Security Council, as Serbia and ethnic Albanians were unable to negotiate a settlement after more than a year of talks.

And Serbia is being prevented from joining the European Union until it hands over Bosnia's Serb wartime leaders, General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. With the World Court's recent ruling that Serbia, under Slobodan Milosevic's leadership, failed to prevent genocide in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war, it is still being held to account to turn over the indicted former leaders to the Tribunal.

Arbour says all countries are bound by the court's decision.

"Whoever is sheltering him should read that part of the decision very carefully, because the responsibility to punish someone who is indicted, I think, includes the responsibility to surrender him to the court," she said.

With Slobodan Milosevic dead, the trial of General Mladic and Radovan Karadzic are the last chance for the architects of Bosnia's war to face justice.

1 abrupt   

adj.突然的，意外的；唐突的，鲁莽的

参考例句：

• The river takes an abrupt bend to the west.这河突然向西转弯。
• His abrupt reply hurt our feelings.他粗鲁的回答伤了我们的感情。

2 alleged   

a.被指控的，嫌疑的

参考例句：

• It was alleged that he had taken bribes while in office. 他被指称在任时收受贿赂。
• alleged irregularities in the election campaign 被指称竞选运动中的不正当行为

3 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

4 prosecutor   

n.起诉人；检察官，公诉人

参考例句：

• The defender argued down the prosecutor at the court.辩护人在法庭上驳倒了起诉人。
• The prosecutor would tear your testimony to pieces.检查官会把你的证言驳得体无完肤。

5 indict   

v.起诉，控告，指控

参考例句：

• You can't indict whole people for the crudeness of a few.您不能因少数人的粗暴行为就控诉整个民族。
• I can indict you for abducting high school student.我可以告你诱拐中学生。

6 indicted   

控告，起诉( indict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• The senator was indicted for murder. 那位参议员被控犯谋杀罪。
• He was indicted by a grand jury on two counts of murder. 他被大陪审团以两项谋杀罪名起诉。

7 premature   

adj.比预期时间早的；不成熟的，仓促的

参考例句：

• It is yet premature to predict the possible outcome of the dialogue.预言这次对话可能有什么结果为时尚早。
• The premature baby is doing well.那个早产的婴儿很健康。

8 commissioner   

n.（政府厅、局、处等部门）专员，长官，委员

参考例句：

• The commissioner has issued a warrant for her arrest.专员发出了对她的逮捕令。
• He was tapped for police commissioner.他被任命为警务处长。

9 ethnic   

adj.人种的，种族的，异教徒的

参考例句：

• This music would sound more ethnic if you played it in steel drums.如果你用钢鼓演奏，这首乐曲将更具民族特色。
• The plan is likely only to aggravate ethnic frictions.这一方案很有可能只会加剧种族冲突。

10 indictment   

n.起诉；诉状

参考例句：

• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。
• They issued an indictment against them.他们起诉了他们。

11 mandate   

n.托管地；命令，指示

参考例句：

• The President had a clear mandate to end the war.总统得到明确的授权结束那场战争。
• The General Election gave him no such mandate.大选并未授予他这种权力。

12 binding   

有约束力的，有效的，应遵守的

参考例句：

• The contract was not signed and has no binding force. 合同没有签署因而没有约束力。
• Both sides have agreed that the arbitration will be binding. 双方都赞同仲裁具有约束力。

13 supreme   

adj.极度的，最重要的；至高的，最高的

参考例句：

• It was the supreme moment in his life.那是他一生中最重要的时刻。
• He handed up the indictment to the supreme court.他把起诉书送交最高法院。

14 cleansing   

n. 净化(垃圾) adj. 清洁用的 动词cleanse的现在分词

参考例句：

• medicated cleansing pads for sensitive skin 敏感皮肤药物清洗棉
• Soap is not the only cleansing agent. 肥皂并不是唯一的清洁剂。

15 deportation   

n.驱逐，放逐

参考例句：

• The government issued a deportation order against the four men.政府发出了对那4名男子的驱逐令。
• Years ago convicted criminals in England could face deportation to Australia.很多年以前，英国已定罪的犯人可能被驱逐到澳大利亚。

16 prosecutors   

检举人( prosecutor的名词复数 )； 告发人； 起诉人； 公诉人

参考例句：

• In some places,public prosecutors are elected rather than appointed. 在有些地方，检察官是经选举而非任命产生的。 来自口语例句
• You've been summoned to the Prosecutors' Office, 2 days later. 你在两天以后被宣到了检察官的办公室。

17 testimony   

n.证词；见证，证明

参考例句：

• The testimony given by him is dubious.他所作的证据是可疑的。
• He was called in to bear testimony to what the police officer said.他被传入为警官所说的话作证。

18 retrospect   

n.回顾，追溯；v.回顾，回想，追溯

参考例句：

• One's school life seems happier in retrospect than in reality.学校生活回忆起来显得比实际上要快乐。
• In retrospect,it's easy to see why we were wrong.回顾过去就很容易明白我们的错处了。

19 defendants   

被告( defendant的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• The courts heard that the six defendants had been coerced into making a confession. 法官审判时发现6位被告人曾被迫承认罪行。
• As in courts, the defendants are represented by legal counsel. 与法院相同，被告有辩护律师作为代表。 来自英汉非文学 - 政府文件

20 humanitarian   

n.人道主义者，博爱者，基督凡人论者

参考例句：

• She has many humanitarian interests and contributes a lot to them.她拥有很多慈善事业，并作了很大的贡献。
• The British government has now suspended humanitarian aid to the area.英国政府现已暂停对这一地区的人道主义援助。

21 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。