THE LAST TANGO IN THE HAGUE

The Last Tango in The Hague

The new SENSE Center's interactive narrative Last Tango in The Hague-A contribution to the chronology of the breakup of Yugoslavia is composed of excerpts from the trial of Slobodan Milošević related to the events before and after the Yugoslavian federation fell apart.  Milosevic's self-representation in the proceedings before the ICTY allowed him to directly address the witnesses who were called to testify. In this narrative, close encounters between the accused and some witnesses are shown.

This project, conceptualized by Mirko Klarin, longtime editor-in-chief and founder of SENSE, is not created to provide answers to questions about the causes and culprits of the crisis and dissolution of Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Its aim is to highlight the unique public material that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) collected during its investigations of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the breakup of the federation.

Slobodan Milošević, former president of Serbia and the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, met some of the protagonists of the Yugoslav crisis and the ensuing war for the last time in the Hague courtroom. During that "last tango in The Hague" of former collaborators or opponents, the stage was confined by the rules of legal proceedings, and the interlocutors by their respective roles as witnesses and the accused representing himself.

Their discussions revolved around events from three ICTY indictments against Milošević – for crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia from 1991 to 1995, and in Kosovo in 1999. Among the witnesses were the last Prime Minister of the Socialist Federative Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) Ante Marković, former President of Slovenia Milan Kučan, the representative of Serbia in the SFRY presidency Borisav Jović, the last Chairman of the SFRY Presidency Stjepan Mesić, international negotiators, and NATO generals.