-Caveat Lector-
>From http://mondediplo.com/2002/04/07hague
}}}>Begin
MILOSEVIC IN THE DOCK
The case against the Hague court
by CATHERINE SAMARY
"We knew the Milosevic trial was going to be difficult but who could have imagined
that, from the very beginning, it would be such a disaster for the International
Criminal Tribunal?" This comment from Stojan Cerovic, a reporter on the weekly
news magazine Vreme (1), well known in Belgrade for hostility to Slobodan
Milosevic, confirmed what people were saying, not without pride, on the streets of
the Serbian capital after the first few days of what was to be a "historic trial".
Until the trial opened on 12 February, it had looked as though Milosevic and his
defenders were going to challenge the legal standing of the tribunal and boycott the
trial (2). Milosevic had been held in Belgrade at the time and his supporters claim
that his forcible removal to The Hague was unlawful. Indeed, the Yugoslav
constitutional court had just refused to grant extradition on the ground that there was
- and still is - no legal basis for cooperation with the ICTY.
In the event, Milosevic opted to use this public arena to present his own defence,
declaring that "the people and public opinion should be his judges." In Belgrade,
there was intense interest in the opening of the trial. The proceedings were
broadcast live on three channels, viewers kept a daily tally of the points scored by
the defendant and his popularity began to recover. But it was not to last.
CNN stopped broadcasting when he produced pictures of the collateral damage
caused by the Nato bombing. Since 19 February, when he undermined the principal
witness for the prosecution, Mahmut Bakalli, in cross-examination, even the ICTY
website no longer publishes transcripts of the proceedings. The Serbian radio and
television service Radiotelevizija Srbije (RTS) stopped broadcasting the trial on 8
March, on the ground that it was too costly, and the federal TV channel YuInfo
followed suit on 13 March. The independent radio station B92, which has good
technical links with the ICTY, still covers the trial, but subscribers may decide to
call
a halt at any time.
President Vojislav Kostunica's view is that "much of the evidence is true but much is
also superficial, truncated and manipulated. It is being politicised and there is an
element of hypocrisy" (3). In fact, despite the tribunal's attempts to appear
impartial,
the prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, has largely helped to bring the ICTY into disrepute
by refusing to investigate the claim that Nato was guilty of war crimes against
civilians. And the defendant, Milosevic, whatever one may think of his policies and
his one- sided interpretation of events, has been helped by the paranoid theory -
rightly condemned by Stojan Cerovic - that "the whole disaster in former Yugoslavia
was the result of a criminal conspiracy among members of his entourage" (4).
Sociologist Srdjan Bogosavljevic, interviewed in Belgrade during the first week of
the trial, explained the general unwillingness to admit that crimes had been
committed in the name of Serbia: "Most people say they could not bring themselves
to commit a crime and they believe the same is true of Serbs in general. But the
main reason for this collective blind spot is that there are about 600,000 Serbian
refugees from Croatia and Bosnia in the country, so people are more aware of the
crimes of others."
The jokes circulating in Belgrade about the Kosovar Albanian witnesses are
sometimes thought to be a bit racist. In fact, Mahmut Bakalli, a former apparatchik
of the League of Communists, was president of Kosovo in 1981 and in that sense
he is emblematic of the prosecution's weaknesses. He made a very poor showing as
a witness for the prosecution because he was desperately anxious to attribute the
start of the crisis in Kosovo to a speech Milosevic made in 1989. He was equally
poor as a spokesman for the Albanian cause because, as the defendant did not fail
to point out, this was the man who had ordered the tanks out in 1981 to crush
demonstrations by young Kosovars seeking republican status for the province.
Milosevic quoted an interview with Bakalli at the time, in which he had rejected their
claim.
The responsibility for evidence of this type lies with the tribunal machinery, which
has tried to justify bringing a case against Milosevic for the events in Kosovo during
the Nato bombing, while glossing over the nature of the real conflicts that were
tearing the province apart and overlooking the civil war underlying the expulsions,
which was made worse by the bombing. Will the ICTY be accused of "revisionism"
because it withdrew the charge relating to the notorious Operation Horseshoe (5),
which turned out to be a fabrication? The constant bombardment, actual and verbal,
("Auschwitz", "genocide", "deportation") has caused intoxication; a cool look at the
evidence is needed. The misguided press campaign sought to justify the war waged
by Nato and still prevents any genuine reappraisal of a territorial conflict in which
both sides, Serbian and Albanian, were in the right.
There is no denying certain facts. Many Kosovars were the victims of real crimes
perpetrated by the Serbs; but the prosecutor has not been able to charge Milosevic
with genocide in Kosovo. Hence the extension of the trial to include events in
Croatia and Bosnia. Yet everyone knows that the Dayton accords sanctioned the
ethnic cleansing at the time and that those responsible for it were present at the
negotiating table. If Milosevic is guilty of crimes against humanity, then others are
too. Not to mention their willing accomplices: the governments of the West.
(1) See Courrier International no 592, 7 March 2002.
(2) See interview with Jacques Verg�s (8 January 2001). The ICTY budget has
increased from $276,000 in 1994 to $96m. in 2001, 14% being privately funded and
the remainder being provided by the UN. Washington would like to cut this
"excessive" expenditure.
(3) Le Monde, 21 March 2002.
(4) Courrier International, op cit.
(5) See Serge Halimi and Dominique Vidal, L'opinion, �a se travaille. Les medias,
l'OTAN et la guerre du Kosovo, Editions Agone, Marseille, 2000.
Translated by Barbara Wilson
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED � 1997-2002 Le Monde diplomatique
End<{{{
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Forwarded as information only; no automatic endorsement
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
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.
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Do not believe in anything simply because you have heard it. Do not believe
simply because it has been handed down for many generations. Do not
believe in anything simply because it is spoken and rumored by many. Do
not believe in anything simply because it is written in Holy Scriptures. Do not
believe in anything merely on the authority of Teachers, elders or wise men.
Believe only after careful observation and analysis, when you find that it
agrees with reason and is conducive to the good and benefit of one and all.
Then accept it and live up to it."
The Buddha on Belief, from the Kalama Sutta
+ + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + + +
"Always do sober what you said you'd do drunk. That will
teach you to keep your mouth shut."
--- Ernest Hemingway
<A HREF="http://www.ctrl.org/";>www.ctrl.org</A>
DECLARATION & DISCLAIMER
==========
CTRL is a discussion & informational exchange list. Proselytizing propagandic
screeds are unwelcomed. Substance�not soap-boxing�please! These are
sordid matters and 'conspiracy theory'�with its many half-truths, mis-
directions and outright frauds�is used politically by different groups with
major and minor effects spread throughout the spectrum of time and thought.
That being said, CTRLgives no endorsement to the validity of posts, and
always suggests to readers; be wary of what you read. CTRL gives no
credence to Holocaust denial and nazi's need not apply.
Let us please be civil and as always, Caveat Lector.
========================================================================
Archives Available at:
http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html
<A HREF="http://peach.ease.lsoft.com/archives/ctrl.html";>Archives of
[EMAIL PROTECTED]</A>
http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/
<A HREF="http:[EMAIL PROTECTED]/";>ctrl</A>
========================================================================
To subscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SUBSCRIBE CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
To UNsubscribe to Conspiracy Theory Research List[CTRL] send email:
SIGNOFF CTRL [to:] [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Om
