Milošević, Slobodan << mee LOH shehv ihtch, SLAW baw duhn >> (1941-2006), was president of Yugoslavia from 1997 to 2000. Before that, he had served as president of Serbia, one of the republics of Yugoslavia. Milošević was known for his extreme nationalism.
Milošević was born on Aug. 20, 1941, in Pozarevac, Serbia. After graduating from the University of Belgrade in 1964, he held several positions in the Yugoslav Communist Party. In 1986, he became head of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Serbia. He became Serbia’s president in 1989.
In 1989 and 1990, Milošević abolished the power of self-government held by the Serbian provinces of Kosovo and Vojvodina. He supplied arms and troops to Serbs living and fighting in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, two former republics of Yugoslavia that declared independence in the early 1990’s. War broke out in those former republics between Serbs, who demanded territory there, and non-Serbs. Milošević urged Serbs to practice the policy of ethnic cleansing—to rid Serbian-held areas of all non-Serbs.
In 1998, Milošević sent Serbian police to put down an independence movement in Kosovo, where most of the people were ethnic Albanians. The crisis rapidly escalated, and forces of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization intervened. See Kosovo and Serbia for details on the Kosovo conflict.
In 1999, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia indicted (formally accused) Milošević on charges of crimes against humanity and of violating the laws and customs of war. The indictment marked the first time that a sitting head of state had been charged with war crimes.
In presidential elections in 2000, opposition candidate Vojislav Kostunica won significantly more votes than Milošević. However, Milošević and his allies claimed that a runoff election was necessary. The opposition claimed victory, and protesters flooded the streets of Serbia’s major cities to show their support for Kostunica. Police forces were overwhelmed by the size of the protests, and Milošević was ousted from power.
In 2001, Milošević was arrested by the Yugoslav government on a variety of corruption charges. After much debate within Yugoslavia and under pressure from other countries, Milošević was delivered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. His trial on war crimes charges began in 2002. Milošević died in his prison cell on March 10 or 11, 2006, before his trial ended.
See also Srebrenica Massacre.
