The indictment handed down yesterday by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charges President Slobodan Milosevic and four of his Serbian associates with war crimes committed in Kosovo, but it also refers back to their earlier alleged conduct in Bosnia and Croatia.
The indictment, the first against a serving head of state, charges Mr Milosevic and others with orchestrating and conducting a campaign of terror against civilians in Kosovo, forcing one-third of the population to flee.
Arrest warrants, sent to all members of the United Nations and Switzerland (which is not a UN member), accuse them of murder, deportation and persecutions, as well as violations of laws and customs of war. All states are also requested to search for, and freeze, any assets of the accused found within their jurisdictions.
The indictment says that Serbian and Federal Yugoslav forces have "engaged in a well-planned and co-ordinated campaign of destruction of property owned by Kosovo Albanian civilians".
In continues: "Towns and villages have been shelled, homes, farms, and businesses burned, and personal property destroyed. As a result of these orchestrated actions, towns, villages, and entire regions have been made uninhabitable for Kosovo Albanians.
"Additionally, forces of the FRY [Federal Republic of Yugoslavia] and Serbia have harassed, humiliated, and degraded Kosovo Albanian civilians through physical and verbal abuse. The Kosovo Albanians have also been persistently subjected to insults, racial slurs, degrading acts based on ethnicity and religion, beatings, and other forms of physical mistreatment.
"The unlawful deportation and forcible transfer of thousands of Kosovo Albanians from their homes in Kosovo involved well-planned and co-ordinated efforts by the leaders of the FRY and Serbia, and forces of the FRY and Serbia, all acting in concert.
"Actions similar in nature took place during the wars in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina between 1991 and 1995. During those wars, Serbian military, paramilitary and police forces forcibly expelled and deported non-Serbs in Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina from areas under Serbian control, utilising the same method of operations as have been used in Kosovo in 1999: heavy shelling and armed attacks on villages; widespread killings; destruction of non-Serbian residential areas and cultural and religious sites; and forced transfer and deportation of non-Serbian populations.
"On March 24th, 1999, NATO began launching air strikes against targets in the FRY. The FRY issued decrees of an imminent threat of war on March 23rd and a state of war on March 24th.
"Since the air strikes commenced, forces of the FRY and Serbia have intensified their systematic campaign and have forcibly expelled hundreds of thousands of Kosovo Albanians.
"In addition to the forced expulsions of Kosovo Albanians, forces of the FRY and Serbia have also engaged in a number of killings of Kosovo Albanians since March 24th. Such killings occurred at numerous locations, including but not limited to, Bela Crkva, Mali Krusa/Krushe e Vogel - Velika Krusa/Krushe e Mahde, Dakovica/Gjakov, Crkovez/Padalishte, and Izbica.
"The planning, preparation and execution of the campaign undertaken by forces of the FRY and Serbia in Kosovo was planned, instigated, ordered, committed or otherwise aided and abetted by Slobodan Milosevic, the President of the FRY; Milan Milutinovic, the President of Serbia; Nikola Sainovic, the Deputy Prime Minister of the FRY; Col Gen Dragoljub Ojdanic, the Chief of the General Staff of the VJ [Yugoslav Army]; and Vlajko Stojiljkovic, the Minister of Internal Affairs of Serbia.
"By May 20th, over 740,000 Kosovo Albanians, approximately one-third of the entire Kosovo Albanian population, were expelled from Kosovo. Thousands more are believed to be internally displaced. An unknown number of Kosovo Albanians have been killed in the operations by forces of the FRY and Serbia."