Viewpoint: Going Out with a Whimper

After six months of hesitation followed by three days of suspense, Slobodan Milosevic is finally behind bars. That is a figure of speech, because his cell, just like all the other cells for solitary confinement in Belgrade’s Central Prison, has no windows, so there are no bars. He is entitled to 10-minute walks with a guard at his side and daily visits by his wife and lawyer. There is no special treatment: his shoelaces and his belt were taken away at the entrance, and he eats prison food served through a hole in the wall.

The real measure of Slobo’s humiliation, however, is the lack of response by his followers. When Milosevic’s Socialist Party called on its members to take to the streets to demand his release, fewer than 200 responded. There were times, not so long ago, when hundreds of thousands chanted his name in ecstasy, and last September more than 2 million voted for him in a tight race with his successor, Vojislav Kostunica. What happened? Did they suddenly change their minds, or were they afraid to come out?

None of the above: Milosevic’s charisma faded sometime during the Bosnian war and from then on, he ruled by fear, bribery and skillful political maneuvering. Now that he is no longer in a position to intimidate or bestow gifts, he has discovered, like many autocrats before him, that all the support is suddenly gone.

But there was also no jubilation in the camp of his opponents. On the night of his arrest a single car was honking through the dark Belgrade streets in a feeble attempt to celebrate, and bars were barely half full, doing business as usual. Those who liked Milosevic and those who hated him seem to be united by the same feeling of sudden emptiness. He was a pivotal point in the lives of both camps for 13 long years. As long as Milosevic was at large, there existed a hope — or fear — that he might come back, like a monster in a cheap horror film. Now his future has become a legal matter concerning judges, lawyers, prison officials and the victims of the wars he instigated.

Not quite, however. Milosevic may be gone from our lives, but his legacy will remain for years, possibly decades, until the evil he unleashed is exposed and understood throughout the former Yugoslavia. Containing and confining the other Milosevic-like autocrats in the region is the real challenge. The U.N. war crimes tribunal in the Hague can help, but the real work will have to be done by the Serbs and their neighbors. If that fails, watch out for the sequel.