NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters

NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters
The damaged headquarters of RTS
Location	Belgrade, Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
Coordinates	44°48′41″N 20°28′12″E / 44.81139°N 20.47000°E / 44.81139; 20.47000
Date	April 24, 1999 02:06 am (CET)
Target	Radio Television of Serbia
Attack type	Missile attack
Deaths	16
Non-fatal injuries	16
Perpetrators	NATO

The NATO bombing of the Radio Television of Serbia headquarters occurred on 23 April 1999, during the Kosovo War. It formed part of 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. 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. 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 object which "was making an important contribution to the propaganda war which orchestrated the campaign against the population of Kosovo". The 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. 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.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.Amnesty International stated that the NATO bombing was a war crime, and Noam Chomsky views it as an act of terrorism.

In 2002, a Serbian court sentenced Dragoljub Milanović, general manager of Radio Television of Serbia, to 10 years in prison for failing to evacuate the building. 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.