2006年VOA标准英语-Milosevic Death a Blow to Victims and Trib

Washington
11 March 2006

The death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic has sparked disappointment among world leaders and victims alike that he did not live to face justice on more than 60 charges of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The United States expressed its support for the work of the International Tribunal that was trying the former leader.

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Slobodan Milosevic (2000 file photo)   
  

Slobodan Milosevic died Saturday in his cell at the United Nations Detention¹ Unit near The Hague where he had been on trial for the past four years for his role in the wars in former Yugoslavia.

In Kosovo, the Serbian province where Milosevic sent troops to crush an uprising by the ethnic² Albanian majority, a spokeswoman for Prime Minister Agim Cheku said she was neither happy nor unhappy about the news. "We just heard the news, and we are sorry that Mr. Milosevic didn't live enough to face the result of the process against him, and to face the truth of what he has done in Kosovo during the '90s, and in the Balkans, as well," she said.

Croatian President Stipe Mesic said he regrets that Milosevic did not live long enough to receive the sentence he deserved.

Former Balkans envoy³ David Owen told British television that Milosevic was a complicated man, who was "ruthless" and "power crazy." He said it is a "tragedy" that Milosevic died before there was a verdict in his war crimes trial stemming from atrocities⁴ in Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina and Kosovo. "There's bound to be a sense of tremendous sort of feeling of being cheated by the victims. But even more important, the Serbs who are beginning to realize that they were responsible for this, needed this verdict. They saw the television film of this massacre⁵ in Srebenica, involving Serb soldiers, and a guilty verdict would, in my view, have made them face reality," he said.

Mothers and widows of some of the 8,000 Muslim men and boys massacred in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebenica in 1995 shared that view.

This woman says she is not happy Milosevic has died, and wishes he had lived to get a just verdict.

British Foreign Secretary Jack⁶ Straw said he hoped Milosevic's death would help the people of Serbia come to terms with their past, to better face the future. "What is important is that the region, particularly the people of Serbia, now draw a line across Milosevic's past and his life, which was a malign⁷ influence on the people of Serbia and the whole of the region," he said.

European Union Foreign Policy Chief Javier Solana said his thoughts go out to the families and people Milosevic made suffer. He said he believes Milosevic had a fair trial, and hopes his death will help Serbia look to the future." "The first thing I'd like to say is to the people of Serbia. I want to tell them that they have a place, without any doubt, among the family of European nations. I think justice has been served," he said.

But the European Union also says the death of Milosevic does not absolve⁸ Serbia of responsibility for handing over war crimes suspects, including the two most wanted, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladic.

In Serbia, reactions were mixed. The Serbian government has demanded the U.N. war crimes court provide it with a full report on Milosevic's death, which it called a "tragic⁹ event."

Some Serbs expressed suspicion about Milosevic's death in U.N. custody¹⁰. Others said they were happy to see him dead after the damage he inflicted¹¹ on the country. Vuk Draskovic, foreign minister of Serbia and Montenegro, the successor state to Yugoslavia, says it is a shame that Milosevic was not tried in his own country.

Milosevic's brother blamed the tribunal for his death, because it refused to allow him to go to Moscow for treatment. Milosevic suffered from heart problems and high blood pressure. The tribunal said it feared the former president, dubbed¹² the "Butcher of the Balkans" would flee if he were allowed to leave The Hague.

1 detention   

n.滞留，停留；拘留，扣留；(教育)留下

参考例句：

• He was kept in detention by the police.他被警察扣留了。
• He was in detention in connection with the bribery affair.他因与贿赂事件有牵连而被拘留了。

2 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。

3 envoy   

n.使节，使者，代表，公使

参考例句：

• Their envoy showed no sign of responding to our proposals.他们的代表对我方的提议毫无回应的迹象。
• The government has not yet appointed an envoy to the area.政府尚未向这一地区派过外交官。

4 atrocities   

n.邪恶，暴行( atrocity的名词复数 )；滔天大罪

参考例句：

• They were guilty of the most barbarous and inhuman atrocities. 他们犯有最野蛮、最灭绝人性的残暴罪行。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• The enemy's atrocities made one boil with anger. 敌人的暴行令人发指。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

5 massacre   

n.残杀，大屠杀；v.残杀，集体屠杀

参考例句：

• There was a terrible massacre of villagers here during the war.在战争中，这里的村民惨遭屠杀。
• If we forget the massacre,the massacre will happen again!忘记了大屠杀，大屠杀就有可能再次发生！

6 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

7 malign   

adj.有害的；恶性的；恶意的；v.诽谤，诬蔑

参考例句：

• It was easy to see why the cartoonists regularly portrayed him as a malign cherub.难怪漫画家总是把他画成一个邪恶的小天使。
• She likes to malign innocent persons.她爱诋毁那些清白的人。

8 absolve   

v.赦免，解除（责任等）

参考例句：

• I absolve you,on the ground of invincible ignorance.鉴于你不可救药的无知，我原谅你。
• They agree to absolve you from your obligation.他们同意免除你的责任。

9 tragic   

adj.悲剧的，悲剧性的，悲惨的

参考例句：

• The effect of the pollution on the beaches is absolutely tragic.污染海滩后果可悲。
• Charles was a man doomed to tragic issues.查理是个注定不得善终的人。

10 custody   

n.监护，照看，羁押，拘留

参考例句：

• He spent a week in custody on remand awaiting sentence.等候判决期间他被还押候审一个星期。
• He was taken into custody immediately after the robbery.抢劫案发生后，他立即被押了起来。

11 inflicted   

把…强加给，使承受，遭受( inflict的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• They inflicted a humiliating defeat on the home team. 他们使主队吃了一场很没面子的败仗。
• Zoya heroically bore the torture that the Fascists inflicted upon her. 卓娅英勇地承受法西斯匪徒加在她身上的酷刑。

12 dubbed   

v.给…起绰号( dub的过去式和过去分词 )；把…称为；配音；复制

参考例句：

• Mathematics was once dubbed the handmaiden of the sciences. 数学曾一度被视为各门科学的基础。
• Is the movie dubbed or does it have subtitles? 这部电影是配音的还是打字幕的？ 来自《简明英汉词典》