This village is one of six cited in the tribunal's indictment of Milosevic May 22, the first ever against a sitting head of state for war crimes. Though British officials say the total figure of such deaths could reach 10,000, the tribunal accuses Milosevic and four other officials of being responsible for the deaths of more than 340 people whose names are known. But proving the case won't be easy. Some physical evidence might have been contaminated, either through carelessness or on purpose. At the same time, investigators have been hampered by postwar chaos and have been unable to get to sites where executions are believed to have taken place.
Prosecutors insist that they can make the charges stick.
But that might not be enough for the anguished relatives of victims who want their justice written in blood. Journalists, returning refugees and those bent on manipulating the facts have easy access to whatever evidence exists. In Kacanik, in southern Kosovo, a grave believed to hold 81 bodies was secured by British and U.S. soldiers June 14. But dozens of journalists and villagers wandered for days along the steep mountain path across town where the killings occurred April 9. The dirt path was littered with spent ammunition rounds, important evidence in any court.