----- Original Message ----- From: Rick Rozoff <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, June 09, 2000 7:41 AM Subject: [STOPNATO] Human Rights And Peace Groups Want To Take NATO To The Hague STOP NATO: NO PASARAN! - HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.COM http://www.fr-aktuell.de/english/index.htm Frankfurter Rundschau June 8, 2000 Nato-Tribunal -------------------------------------------------------------------------------- ALTERNATIVE TRIBUNAL WIDENS CHARGES OVER KOSOVO WAR Human rights and peace groups want to take Nato to The Hague By Peter Nowak Berlin - An alternative "European tribunal" in Berlin passed judgment on Nato at the weekend, finding the transatlantic organisation guilty of crimes committed in the war over Kosovo. The white dove of peace is normally a rare sight, yet it was the centre of attention as it rested on the altar of Berlin's Church of the Holy Cross. For two days the church provided the venue for the unofficial "European Tribunal for the Nato War Against Yugoslavia" and its more than 300 participants. Patterned along the lines of the Russell Tribunal set up to investigate the Vietnam War, the "case" against Nato was prepared by more than 60 human rights and peace groups, including the International League for Human Rights, medico international and the Christian Peace Conference. The chair was taken by the Hamburg-based international lawyer Norman Paech who stressed that the tribunal was exclusively concerned with the legal judgment of the war. The charge, read by jurist Ulrich Dost, accused Nato members of having provoked the war and, through the conduct in the war, of having seriously breached international law. The tribunal then heard numerous witnesses, both lay and expert. Most of their arguments are well-known. Ralph Hartmann, Communist East Germany's former ambassador to Yugoslavia, for example, accused the German government of having deliberately pursued policies to speed the breakup of Yugoslavia since the early 1990s, while author Diana Johnstone opined that geostrategic considerations had prompted the United States government to back the war in early 1999. On trial at the mock court, naturally in absentia, were the leaders and top generals of all Nato states, as well as German parliamentarians who had voted for military intervention. None of them deigned to follow the invitation to defend themselves before the tribunal thus clearing the way for Russian jurist Valentina Strauss to assume the part of court-assigned defence counsel. She claimed that the role of international organisations such as the United Nations at the outbreak of war was not adequately covered by the indictment. But there was no doubt over the tribunal's verdict: that the defendants are guilty as charged. Next weekend, a similar tribunal will be staged in New York under the chairmanship of former US Attorney General Ramsey Clark. The next step is to pass the judgments to the International Court in The Hague, although as announced at the Berlin Tribunal, the war crimes court in The Hague has already rejected calling Nato to account on the ground that it had not deliberately targeted civilians. "The tribunal in The Hague," said a disgruntled Paech, "is a Nato-financed, one-eyed talking shop which only serves to rule on Serb war crimes." __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Photos -- now, 100 FREE prints! http://photos.yahoo.com ______________________________________________________________________ To unsubscribe, write to [EMAIL PROTECTED] ______________________________________________________________________ Start Your Own FREE Email List at http://www.listbot.com
