� Jul, 06 2001 http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/07/06/9449.html Pravda.RU 10:01 2001-07-06 HAGUE TRIBUNAL OBSESSED WITH YUGOSLAVIA The International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) at The Hague appears to have an obsession with the former Yugoslavia and in particular the Slavic Republics of Croatia, Serbia and the Srpska Republika in Bosnia. ICT Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte made an unnecessary and gloating appearance to hear Slobodan Milosevic call the Tribunal illegal (in English and without headphones for translation) before making another trip to the Balkans. The presiding judge was the British Brian May, who cut the microphone connection many times when Slobodan Milosevic was speaking, demonstrating what freedom of speech means for this illegal and intrusive organism. This time it is to apply pressure on the Bosnian Serb Republic (BSR - Srpska Republika), where she is to meet Prime Minister Mladen Ivanovic. It is believed Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, formerly President and Chief of the Armed Forces of the BSR, respectively, live in the BSR. A spokesperson for the Chief Prosecutor of the ICT said �We will remind (the BSR authorities) of their obligation to cooperate with the tribunal and the importance of starting immediately�. Maybe here we have the first evidence which points to the fact that Carla del Ponte is becoming desperate as she realises that, in her vindictive obsession to humiliate Slavs, she has shot her bolt too early. Fearing that the case against Slobodan Milosevic for alleged war crimes committed in Kosovo will not stand up, the Chief Prosecutor frantically tries to find evidence of other atrocities in other battlefields, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina. It may be thought that Mr. Karadzic and General Mladic could provide information linking Slobodan Milosevic to personal orders to commit atrocities. Here is another clear indication that Carla del Ponte, as well as the ICT, which she represents, and the spite behind it, has a warped and biased vision of the events which took place in the Balkans in the past decade. The fact that Slobodan Milosevic sits in court without headphones and Carla del Ponte sits clutching hers to her ears says all � it means she does not understand. She and her Court or Tribunal, or whatever other name one cares to give it, never understood and never intended to understand. She and her backers have one mission only � to apportion blame somehow, using whatever means possible, to indict Balkans Slavs for war crimes, sweep the matter into a nice, neat little pile, and brush it under the carpet as if nothing happened so as not to see NATO leaders in a war crimes trial, where they belong. If there was a war in the Balkans, it was because there was political interference from outside, namely from the western countries, who raced to recognise the �new states�, arm them, equip them and train them...for war. It was unfortunately the people of the Balkans who paid the high human price for this war, not the countries which instigated it, whether directly or indirectly. It was to Mr. Milosevic, after all, that these countries turned to broker peace in Bosnia, a role which he performed promptly and effectively. Now to bring only Slavs to this summary court which has as much credence as a medieval �trial by ordeal�, is so evidently one-sided that it is scandalous. Where are the Moslems who murdered Croats? Where are the Albanians who murdered Serbs? Where are the representatives of the criminal NATO organisation which murdered Serbs and Albanians alike with their illegal attacks? That NATO deliberately attacked civilian targets is beyond doubt. Such attacks are by definition war crimes. But NATO is not staffed by Slavs. Where are those responsible for the deaths of the 200,000 ethnically cleansed Krajina Serbs? Carla del Ponte cannot deny that her tribunal is biased and anti-Slavic. Furthermore, to even imagine that Slobodan Milosevic was personally responsible for atrocities is to call the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia a Banana Republic. Unlike those countries baying for its blood, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a state of law. There is a chain of command which is respected, the political authorities have their responsibilities and the military authorities have theirs. That the Albanians were being equipped, trained and armed by western countries, led by the USA, is a fact. They were being encouraged to create a situation of instability and insecurity in Kosovo, an integral part of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. That the Albanian extremists are no more than a bunch of unruly bandits is also a fact, however romantic the idea of an innocent and oppressed people might have seemed in the western press to court the well-groomed readership, spoon-fed with lies for decades. Yugoslavia reacted to this situation as a state of law imposing law and order in its territory. Whoever was killed in the process is a tragedy because the loss of any human life is tragic. War is violent and there are deaths on both sides. To accuse only the Slavic peoples of being guilty for the Balkans conflicts is to be biased, one-sided and as judicious as a Medieval witch-trial. Carla del Ponte is a shame to herself and an insult to her profession. A judge should be impartial and sit in a legally constituted organism. Carla del Ponte and her Tribunal are neither of these. She may as well dress Mr. Milosevic as a witch, tie him to a chair, and put him under water for five minutes to see if he drowns, and if he does, declare him guilty. Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY PRAVDA.Ru LISBON PORTUGAL Serbian News Network - SNN [EMAIL PROTECTED] http://www.antic.org/
