Slobodan Milosevic is vilified across Europe as the architect of the wars in former Yugoslavia. But war crimes prosecutors are working with a tighter focus, tying his name to the murder and mistreatment of specific individuals.
While more than 150,000 people died in the wars in the Balkans, including at least 5,000 in Kosovo, the prosecutors of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia have concentrated on an indictment blaming him for the deaths of about 300 men, women and children in Kosovo in 1999.
The dry legal language of the indictment is at odds with the horror of what happened.
Most of the crimes in it refer to specific instances during the largest programme of so-called ethnic cleansing seen in the Balkans, during which 740,000 ethnic Albanians were expelled from Kosovo shortly after NATO began its bombing campaign in March 1999.
The expulsions were carried out amid great savagery by Serb army, police and paramilitary units. Tanks fired into villages. Civilians were machine-gunned as they fled. Homes were looted and set ablaze. Most of the towns and villages identified in the map (right) were known strongholds of ethnic Albanian guerrillas, and revenge was probably a motive behind the horrors that were unleashed.
However, in most cases the victims were not the guerrillas, who were able to pull out, but civilians.
Prosecutors do not need to prove Mr Milosevic did the killing, or even that he ordered it. It is enough to prove "chain of command", establishing that he and his co-defendants commanded the forces that carried out the killings and expulsions, knew about them and did nothing either at the time or later to stop them or to punish those involved.
This is an important legal tool, because it is much easier to prove chain of command than it is to find evidence of specific orders issued in the heat of battle for such killings.
Mr Milosevic is charged along with Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic and Vlajko Stojiljokovic, all senior members of his administration. They are charged with two counts: crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.
Despite yesterday's refusal by Mr Milosevic to recognise the jurisdiction of the tribunal, its lawyers clearly believe they have the evidence to convict him. Time will tell.
Chris Stephen reported from the Balkans for The Irish Times, the Guardian and the Scotsman. He is now based in Moscow