On trial: the will to see international justice done

On one level, it will be a contest between a diminutive but driven Swiss woman prosecutor and a Slobodan Milosevic who, far from cowed, intends to put up a vigorous defence to the war crimes charges against him. In a wider sense, however, the trial of the man who inflicted four separate wars in the former Yugoslavia will be a trial of the world's ability to operate a truly embracing system of international justice.

Even Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor in the UN war crimes tribunal, who has led the legal battle for the extradition of the former Yugoslav and Serbian president, admits it will be months, perhaps years, before a final verdict comes. Her direct opponent, Tomas Fila, head of Mr Milosevic's defence team both in the Netherlands and in Belgrade where the former leader was facing corruption charges, promises to fight the charges on every possible ground.

Mr Milosevic will first argue that the tribunal has no right to try him at all. Failing that, he will object to any judge from the Nato countries which conducted the 11-week bombing war over Kosovo in 1999.

A further complication is the possibility of additional charges against the former president. Although the current indictment focuses on Kosovo, Ms Del Ponte has indicated there could be further counts relating to the wars in Croatia and Bosnia between 1991 and 1995.

Legal experts predict that although the case against Mr Milosevic appears strong, prosecutors could have a job to demonstrate that the chain of command for war crimes committed in Kosovo and Bosnia extended all the way to him, and that Mr Milosevic knew what was happening and failed to stop it.

So far secret Nato intercepts may provide this evidence. Otherwise the prosecution may need to reach a plea bargain with one or more of Mr Milosevic's collaborators who are already arraigned in The Hague for them to testify against him in exchange for a reduced sentence. The importance of the case for the future of international law is enormous; as the human rights lawyer Geoffrey Robertson put it, "International justice has never been tested in this way."

A successful and patently "fair" proceeding against Mr Milosevic and his co-accused would not only banish any lingering doubts about the authority of the war crimes tribunals dealing with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda. It would also give huge credibility to the proposed permanent International Criminal Court by showing that no one is beyond the reach of international justice – and make it harder for the United States, one of the most persistent in its demands that Mr Milosevic be brought to trial, to continue to refuse to sign up to the ICC.

The ICC, set up at a 1998 conference in Rome, will be a permanent Hague-based tribunal, empowered to try suspects on charges such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

On the other hand, the experts warn, failure to secure convictions or – worse still – suggestions of bias, would play into the hands of Serb hardliners and other critics, who say The Hague is a catspaw of Nato and the West, and another example of "victors' justice". Thus far 39 indicted people have been taken to The Hague, of whom 20 have so far been convicted.