-Caveat Lector- From >From http://ban.joh.cam.ac.uk/~maicl/index.htm <<begin excerpt>> Submission to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, requesting the investigation and indictment of Prime Minister Tony Blair, Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Defence Secretary George Robertson of the United Kindgom for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia Back to the Introduction Requests for information BACKGROUND 1. On 24 March 1999, the North Atlantic Treaty Organisation (NATO) commenced military operations against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, with the stated aim of deterring human rights violations in the Kosova region of Yugoslavia. Operations began at 8p.m. Manned aircraft were used from the start of the military mission, initially in concert with ship-launched cruise missiles. During the first few days of military operations, attacks were directed largely against the air-defence systems of the Federal Republic, including anti-aircraft missile batteries, radar and command-and-control facilities. By the end of March, NATO aircraft were mostly attacking wider military targets, including army headquarters, ammunition dumps, and airfields. However, as the Yugoslav government continued to refuse to accede to NATO�s demands, the list of targets was enlarged to include fuel depots, oil refineries (specifically those in Novi Sad and Pancevo) and government offices; and by 4 April 1999, power stations and communications links, including roads, tunnels, bridges and railway links were openly targeted, including those not inside the region of, or in the vicinity of, Kosova. By 23 April, attacks were being launched against television studios and transmitters. This shift from attacking military targets to attacking civilian infrastructure and objects is apparent in both announcements of the NATO spokesman and NATO Heads of Government on the one hand, and also in the nature of the sites in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia attacked on the other. On 20 April 1999, Mr Tony Blair, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, said in the Press Conference at NATO HQ in Brussels: "I think it is extremely important that all of us do everything in our power to make sure that the economic measures that we are taking against Serbia are effective and our attacks of course have done immense damage to the lines of communication, the lines of supply, the oil refineries and the oil supplies of the Milosevic regime." (emphasis added) Mr George Robertson, UK Secretary of State for Defence, stated: "At the outset of the air campaign, NATO Ministers collectively agreed to certain categories of targets--the first of which was, self-evidently, the Yugoslav air defences. We subsequently agreed to widen the range of targets to include strategic assets such as bridges, barracks and headquarters." (House of Commons, 19 April, Hansard, col.667, p.830). Dr James Shea, Spokesman of NATO and Deputy Director of Information and Press, made similar statements on attacking economic and telecommunications targets shortly afterwards. On 21 April 1999, also at NATO HQ in Brussels, Dr Shea said: "[A]ny aspect of the power structure is considered as a legitimate target by NATO, the power structure, and of course in dictatorial societies it becomes progressively impossible to distinguish between the party and the state, as we all know, they become conflated with each other, and this is also the party headquarters which contains the propaganda too of the ruling socialist party and that is enough for us to consider that to be a wholly legitimate target." More clearly, the increased volume of attacks on civilian infrastructure can be detected in the chronology of NATO attacks, which forms Annex I to this submission. The first attacks on bridges occurred on 1 April 1999, with the strikes on the Varadin Bridge over the Danube. On 3 April, the Republican and Federal Ministry of the Interior in Belgrade was severely damaged by NATO attacks, and damage was done to the building of the Institute for Security of the Ministry of the Interior in Banjica. On 4th and 5th April, numerous road and railway bridges throughout the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia were directly targeted. Electric power stations, oil refineries and fuel storage sites were also targeted. Industrial sites and factories were primary targets on 15 April, and have continued to be so. TV transmitters and the Radio Televizija Srbija (RTS) Studio were targeted later in April. Such instances will be described in greater detail below (see paragraph 7), and a case will be made that many such attacks constitute serious violations of international humanitarian law, amounting to a breach of a rule protecting important values, and with grave consequences for persons with interests in the infrastructure so destroyed. A further stage in NATO's campaign can be seen on the night of 2 May 1999, when five major electricity stations were bombed, cutting off power to approximately 70% of the Yugoslav population. NATO spokesperson, James Shea, said: "the fact that the lights went out across 70% of the country I think shows that NATO has its finger on the light switch in Yugoslavia now and we can turn the power off whenever we need to and whenever we want to". (Press Conference, NATO HQ, Brussels, 3 May 1999). In addition to these deliberate attacks on civilian infrastructure and objects, there are a great number of attacks which caused direct physical harm and death to civilians, often with no associated military benefit, and which were subsequently claimed by NATO to be the result of mistaken targeting. Instances of this nature include the 29 March bombing of two refugee centres in Nis, managed by CARE Australia on behalf of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, killing 9 refugees; the 8 April bombing of the town of Chubria, leaving one woman dead and five injured; the 12 April bombing of a train travelling from Belgrade to Ristovac as it crossed the bridge spanning the Yuzhna Morava river at the Grdelica gorge, killing 10 passengers and wounding 16; and the 15 April bombing of a refugee convoy in four separate locations along a 12 mile stretch of the road that runs from Prizren to Djakovica, killing approximately 74 individuals. In all these stated cases, NATO claimed that the civilian deaths were the result of accidents, even apologising in many of the cases for "collateral damage". However, NATO�s operational doctrine did not change at any point, despite the clear and disproportionate danger to civilians that arose from that doctrine. Moreover, even though it was claimed in certain cases that the pilot was not able to determine what his targets were but fired missiles nevertheless, no disciplinary action was taken against those pilots. In such cases, it is clear that a superior had reason to know that his subordinates were about to commit acts in which all feasible measures were not being taken to prevent civilian casualties, but failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent these acts; or knew that his subordinates had committed such acts and failed to punish the perpetrators thereof. Such acts constitute a serious violation of the laws and customs of war, and the superior may be held to be criminal responsible for them. THE ACCUSED 2. Anthony Charles Lynton Blair was born on 6 May 1953. He trained in law, and became a barrister in 1976. He became Member of Parliament for Sedgefield in 1983, and has retained this constituency since. He became Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in May 1997. Robin Finlayson Cook, son of Peter Cook, was born on 28 February 1946. He has been a Member of Parliament since 1974. He is currently Member of Parliament for the constituency of Livingston. He has been Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs since May 1997. George Islay MacNeill Robertson, son of George P. Robertson, was born on 12 April 1946. He worked as a trades union organiser from 1969 until 1978. He was elected to Parliament in 1978, and is currently Member of Parliament for Hamilton South. He has been Secretary of State for Defence since May 1997. GENERAL ALLEGATIONS 3. As the three individuals in the government of the United Kingdom with primary responsibility for NATO�s actions in Yugoslavia, Mr Anthony Blair, Mr Robin Cook and Mr George Robertson have committed serious violations of the laws and customs of war, and are thus liable under Article 3 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for breaches thereof. As persons who have planned, instigated and ordered the execution of violations of the laws and customs of war, they hold individual criminal responsibility under Article 7(1) of the Statute. Moreover, as persons who, knowing that their subordinates both were about to commit such acts, and subsequently had done so, failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts and to punish the perpetrators thereof, they hold "command responsibility" under Article 7(3) of the Statute. <<end of excerpt; go to site to review remaining information>> A<>E<>R ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~ The only real voyage of discovery consists not in seeking new landscapes but in having new eyes. -Marcel Proust + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + A merely fallen enemy may rise again, but the reconciled one is truly vanquished. -Johann Christoph Schiller, German Writer (1759-1805) + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + Forwarded as information only; no endorsement to be presumed + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. section 107, this material is distributed without charge or profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving this type of information for non-profit research and educational purposes only. 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