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'{{Inadequate lead|date=January 2017}}{{main|NATO bombing of Yugoslavia}} {{Infobox civilian attack |title= NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters |image=Master RTS.jpg |caption=The damaged headquarters of RTS |location= [[Belgrade]], [[Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]] |target= [[Radio Television of Serbia]] |coordinates= {{coord|44|48|41|N|20|28|12|E|type:event_region:RS_dim:58}} |date=April 24, 1999 |time=02:06 am |timezone= [[Central European Time|CET]] |type= Missile attack |fatalities= 16 |injuries=16<ref name=Amnesty/> |perps= [[NATO]] |motive= }} {{Campaignbox Kosovo War}} The '''NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters''' occurred on the evening of 23 April 1999, during the [[Kosovo War]]. == Context == The bombing was part of [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia|NATO's aerial campaign against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia]], and severely damaged the [[Belgrade]] headquarters of [[Radio Television of Serbia]] (RTS). Other radio and electrical installations throughout the country were also attacked.{{sfn|McCormack|2006|p=381}} Sixteen employees of RTS died when a single NATO missile hit the building. Many were trapped for days, only communicating over mobile phones. The station returned to the air 24 hours later from a secret location.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://mondediplo.com/2000/07/03kosovo|title=Was the Serbian TV station really a legitimate target?|author=Claudio Cordone and Avner Gidron}}</ref><ref>{{cite news| url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/europe/1616461.stm | work=BBC News | title=Nato challenged over Belgrade bombing | date=2001-10-24 | accessdate=2010-05-20}}</ref> NATO Headquarters justified the bombing with two arguments; firstly, that it was necessary "to disrupt and degrade the command, control and communications network" of the Yugoslav Armed Forces, and secondly, that the RTS headquarters was a [[Dual-use technology|dual-use object]] which "was making an important contribution to the propaganda war which orchestrated the campaign against the population of Kosovo".{{sfn|McCormack|2006|p=381}} The [[BBC|British Broadcasting Corporation]] reported that the station was targeted because of its role in Belgrade's propaganda campaign. [[Tim Judah]] and others stated that RTS had been broadcasting [[Serb nationalist]] propaganda, which demonised ethnic minorities and legitimised Serb atrocities against them.<ref>{{cite journal|last=de la Brosse|first=Renaud|year=2003|title=Political Propaganda and the Plan to Create a "State for all Serbs": Consequences of Using the Media for Ultra-Nationalist Ends|url=http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://hague.bard.edu/reports/de_la_brosse_pt3.pdf|location=Reims}}{{dead link|date=January 2015}}</ref><ref>{{cite book|last=Judah|title=The Serbs|publisher=Yale University Press|isbn=978-0-300-15826-7}}</ref> A new building has since been built next to the bomb-damaged one, and a monument has been erected to those killed in the attack. With the bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters, NATO recognized that media is a weapon during war.<ref name="Scott2007">{{cite book|author=Neda Atanasoski|editor=Niall Scott|title=Monsters and the Monstrous: Myths and Metaphors of Enduring Evil|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=IzVJvx_snDUC&pg=PA72|accessdate=27 August 2013|year=2007|publisher=Rodopi|isbn=978-90-420-2253-9|page=73|quote=By destroying RTS, the alliance affirmed that it recognized the media as a weapon during times of war - though, paradoxically, they only acknowledged it to be a weapon in the enemy's hands.}}</ref> [[France]] was opposed to the attack; there was considerable disagreement between the United States and the French government regarding the legitimacy and legality of the bombing.<ref name=hrw2000>{{cite web|author1=Human Rights Watch |title=CIVILIAN DEATHS IN THE NATO AIR CAMPAIGN / THE CRISIS IN KOSOVO |url=https://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/nato/Natbm200-01.htm |accessdate=21 January 2015 |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20141022190610/http://www.hrw.org/reports/2000/nato/Natbm200-01.htm |archivedate=October 22, 2014 |date=2000 |deadurl=unfit }}</ref> [[Amnesty International]] stated that the NATO bombing was a [[war crime]],<ref name=Amnesty>{{cite web| publisher= Amnesty International| url= https://www.amnesty.org/en/news-and-updates/news/no-justice-victims-nato-bombings-20090423| author= | title= No justice for the victims of NATO bombings| date= 23 April 2009| accessdate= 18 February 2013}}</ref> and [[Noam Chomsky]] views it as an act of [[terrorism]].<ref name=Chomsky2015>{{cite news|last1=Chomsky|first1=Noam|title=Chomsky: Paris attacks show hypocrisy of West's outrage|url=http://edition.cnn.com/2015/01/19/opinion/charlie-hebdo-noam-chomsky/|accessdate=20 January 2015|publisher=CNN International|date=19 January 2015}}</ref> In 2001, the [[European Court of Human Rights]] declared inadmissible a case brought on behalf of the station's employees by six Yugoslav citizens against NATO.<ref>{{cite web| publisher= BBC| url= http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/1719039.stm| author= | title= Court throws out case against NATO| date= 19 December 2001| accessdate= 18 February 2013}}</ref><ref>{{it}} [https://www.academia.edu/11468305/La_pronuncia_CEDU_sul_caso_Bankovic {{lang|it|Giampiero Buonomo, ''Non sempre la guerra «offre» giurisdizione extraterritoriale: l'occasione mancata del caso Bankovic''}}].</ref> Dragoljub Milanović, general manager of Radio Television of Serbia, was sentenced to 10 years in prison for failing to evacuate the building.<ref name=NYT02>''[[The New York Times]]'', 22 June 2002, [https://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9B02EFD7103FF931A15755C0A9649C8B63 World Briefing | Europe: Yugoslavia: Ex-TV Boss Jailed Over NATO Bombing]</ref> According to an Amnesty article published in 2009, nobody was held accountable for the attack itself, and no justice for the victims has been made.<ref name=Amnesty/> The building itself remains as it was left by the bombing.<ref>{{Cite web |last= Paletta |first= Karolyn |date= 13 March 2016 |title= Remembering the 1999 NATO Bombing of Radio Television Serbia |url= http://www.reportingbalkans.com/remembering-the-1999-nato-bombing-of-radio-television-serbia/ |website= Reporting Balkans |accessdate= 11 July 2016 }}</ref> ==Reaction== While giving a speech at the [[Overseas Press Club]] sixtieth anniversary dinner, held on Thursday evening 22 April 1999 [[Eastern Standard Time (North America)|EST]] at the [[Grand Hyatt New York|Grand Hyatt Hotel]] in [[New York City]], US envoy to Yugoslavia [[Richard Holbrooke]] reacted to the NATO's bombing of the RTS headquarters almost immediately after it took place: "[[Eason Jordan]] told me just before I came up here that while we've been dining tonight, the air strikes hit Serb TV and took out the Serb television, and at least for the time being they’re off the air. That is an enormously important event, if it is in fact as Eason reported it, and I believe everything [[CNN]] tells me. If, in fact, they're off the air even temporarily, as all of you know, one of the three key pillars, along with the security forces and the secret police, have been at least temporarily removed. And it is an enormously important and, I think, positive development."<ref>{{Cite news | author = [[Amy Goodman]] | title = Pacifica Rejects Overseas Press Club Award | date = 23 April 1999 | url = http://www.democracynow.org/1999/4/23/pacifica_rejects_overseas_press_club_award | work = [[Pacifica Radio]] | publisher = [[Democracy Now!]] | location=New York }}</ref> ==Consequences and conclusions== A report prepared by the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] (ICTY) entitled "Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia" concluded that the TV station's broadcasts to generate support for the war was not sufficient to make the RTS building a military target, but that the TV network had been part of the overall military communication system of the Serbian government, thus making the RTS building a legitimate military target. It said: {{quotation|Insofar as the attack actually was aimed at disrupting the communications network, it was legally acceptable ... NATO’s targeting of the RTS building for propaganda purposes was an incidental (albeit complementary) aim of its primary goal of disabling the Serbian military command and control system and to destroy the nerve system and apparatus that keeps Milošević in power<ref name=ICTYReport>{{cite web|title=Final Report to the Prosecutor by the Committee Established to Review the NATO Bombing Campaign Against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia|url=http://www.icty.org/sid/10052#IVB4|publisher=UNICTY}}</ref>}} In regards to civilian casualties, it further stated that though they were, "unfortunately high, they do not appear to be clearly disproportionate."<ref name=ICTYReport/> In the case [http://cmiskp.echr.coe.int/tkp197/view.asp?action=html&documentId=811562&portal=hbkm&source=externalbydocnumber&table=F69A27FD8FB86142BF01C1166DEA398649 Markovic v. Italy], the European Court of Human Rights found that the government of Italy had not violated human rights. However, in 2002, Dragoljub Milanović, the general manager of RTS, was sentenced to 10 years in prison because he had not ordered the workers in the building to evacuate, despite knowing that the building could be bombed.<ref name=NYT02/> Sian Jones, Balkans expert from Amnesty International stated the following about the attack: {{quotation|The bombing of the headquarters of Serbian state radio and television was a deliberate attack on a [[civilian]] object and as such constitutes a war crime.<ref name=Amnesty/>}} [[Human Rights Watch]] also condemned the attack, stating that: {{quotation|Even if one could justify legal attacks on civilian radio and television, there does not appear to be any justification for attacking urban studios, as opposed to transmitters.<ref name=hrw2000/>}} ===2011 apology statement=== On 23 May 2011, Radio Television of Serbia (RTS) issued an official apology for the way their programming was misused for spreading propaganda and discrediting political opponents in the 1990s, and for the fact that their broadcasts had "hurt the feelings, moral integrity and dignity of the citizens of Serbia, humanist-oriented intellectuals, members of the political opposition, critically minded journalists, certain minorities in Serbia, minority religious groups in Serbia, as well as certain neighbouring peoples and states.".<ref>[http://www.rts.rs/page/stories/sr/story/125/Dru%C5%A1tvo/896794/Programska+izjava+UO+RTS.html RTS Apology]</ref><ref>{{cite web | url= http://www.b92.net/eng/news/politics-article.php?yyyy=2011&mm=05&dd=24&nav_id=74507 | publisher=B92 | author= Tanjug | title= State broadcaster "sorry" for 1990s | date= 24 May 2011 | accessdate =10 July 2012 }}</ref> The American news agency, the [[Associated Press]], wrote: {{quotation|The station blatantly spread Milosevic's nationalist propaganda, portraying Serbs as the victims of ethnic attacks in the former Yugoslavia, thus whipping up nationalism that led to wars. At the same time, the television accused the Serbian opposition of being foreign mercenaries and traitors who were working against the country's interests. The propaganda was so intense that it led to anti-government protests in March 1991 in the capital, during which two people were killed in what was the first popular uprising against Milosevic's rule. It also prompted Nato in 1999 to declare the state TV a legitimate target. The RTS building was bombed during the air war that the alliance launched to stop Milosevic's onslaught against Kosovo Albanian separatists. Sixteen RTS employees died in the bombing.<ref>{{cite news|title=Serbia state TV apologises for Milosevic-era propaganda|url=https://www.theguardian.com/world/2011/may/24/serbia-state-tv-apologises-propaganda|accessdate=24 May 2015|work=The Guardian|date=24 May 2011}}</ref>}} ==List of killed RTS workers== [[File:Tašmajdan Park Memorial to victims of April 23,1999 NATO bombing.jpg|thumb|The Tašmajdan park memorial to the victims of the 23 April 1999 NATO bombing includes names, ages, and job descriptions of each person killed in the attack. At the bottom of the memorial there is a photo of the building taken just after the attack during rescue operations.]] * Aleksandar Deletić (30), cameraman * Branislav Jovanović (50), master technician * Darko Stoimenovski (25), visiting technician * Dejan Marković (39), security worker * Dragan Tasić (29), electrician * Dragorad Dragojević (27), security worker * Ivan Stukalo (33), technician * Jelica Munitlak (27), make-up artist * Ksenija Banković (27), vision mixer * Milan Joksimović (47), security worker * Milovan Janković (59), precision machinist * Nebojša Stojanović (26), master technician * Siniša Medić (32), production designer * Slaviša Stevanović (32), technician * Slobodan Jontić (54), director * Tomislav Mitrović (61), program director ==See also== * [[Legitimacy of NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]] * [[Operation Allied Force]] * [[Al Jazeera bombing memo]] ==Notes== {{Reflist}} ==References== * {{cite book | editor-last = Krieger | editor-first = Heike | title = The Kosovo Conflict and International Law: An Analytical Documentation 1974-1999 | year = 2001 | publisher = Cambridge University Press | location = Cambridge | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=-OhPTJn8ZWoC | isbn = 978-0-521-80071-6 | ref = harv }} * {{cite book | last = McCormack | first = Timothy | year = 2006 | editor1-last = McDonald | editor1-first = Avril | editor2-last = McCormack | editor2-first = Timothy | title = Yearbook of International Humanitarian Law - 2003 | publisher = T.M.C. Asser Press | location = The Hague | url = https://books.google.com/books?id=RnpUxiYTT_IC | isbn = 978-90-6704-203-1 | ref = harv }} ==External links== *[http://www.newssafety.com/casualties/1999.htm Full list of casualties, compiled by the ''International News Safety Institute''] [[Category:Aerial operations and battles of the Kosovo War]] [[Category:NATO airstrikes]] [[Category:Mass murder in 1999]] [[Category:Buildings and structures in Serbia]] [[Category:Radio Television of Serbia]] [[Category:1999 in Serbia]] [[Category:20th century in Belgrade]] [[Category:Civilian casualties in the Kosovo War]] [[Category:Incidents involving NATO]] [[Category:Headquarters in Serbia]] [[Category:April 1999 events]]'