Nhan Dan (Vietnam)
March 22, 2006
THE FAILURE OF ICTY RIGGING FORCES
by Thanh Tra
In recent days, the sudden and unusual death of the former Yugoslavian
President Slobodan Milosevic in custody at the International Tribunal for
Yugoslavia (ICTY) has become an event of great public concern in the world.
Mr S. Milosevic was an eventful politician in Yugoslavia in the 1980s. The
ups and downs in his political life linked with the changing history of the
Republic of Serbia in particular and Yugoslavia in general (now
Serbia-Montenegro).
For many reasons, the former Yugoslavia Federation formed by Serbia,
Slovenia, Croatia, Macedonia, Bosnia - Herzegovina and Montenegro) collapsed
in the 1990s. Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia - Herzegovina and Macedonia have
separated to become independent nations.
This separation led to severe conflicts and then civil war between those
wishing to maintain the former Yugoslavia and those wanting to declare
independent.
In early 1992, the left-wing leaders of Serbia and Montenegro, the two
remaining parts of Yugoslavia, decided to establish a new Yugoslavia.
Being a founder and president of the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS), a
left-wing party preferring an independent democratic orientation, Mr
Milosevic together with SPS was persistent to protecting the national
interest and fighting against Western countries' unequal treatment
concerning relations with the nations within the former Yugoslavia. The
Serbian people elected him President of the Presidency of Serbia on 8 May
1989.
In the first multi-party elections held in December 1990, he was elected
President of Serbia. After the new Yugoslavia was set up in April 1992, he
was re-elected President of Serbia. In July, he was elected President of the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY)
During the last years of holding the position of President of Serbia and
FRY, he had to face pressures from opposition parties at home and abroad.
Western countries had always accused him of the racial nationalism and
authoritarianism and tried to overturn him.
They used the "Kosovo" trump card to encourage and incite the Albanians to
carry out opposition activities to cause instability in the country and lend
a hand to extremist forces who demanded separation in this locality to
launch the armed struggle for independence. They also funded the pro-Western
parties in Montenegro to win elections and supported their intention of
separation in order to divide the new Yugoslavia. In an attempt to remove Mr
Milosevic and his left-wing ruling party, in June 1999, the US announced an
award of US $5 million for the capture of Mr Milosevic. In November of the
same year, Western countries sent a group of spies to Serbia to assassinate
him but it proved an abortive attempt.
During the general elections in Yugoslavia in September 2000, the US
administration released US $77 million to help gain votes for the opposition
faction, thus overthrowing Mr Milosevic. It was thought the US and Western
countries wanted to rule out Mr Milosevic, a left-winger, because of his
widespread influence in Serbia and the Balkans at that time and also due to
his determination not to follow them, preventing the attempt by the US and
the West to expand to Southern Europe and Balkan in an attempt to vie with
Russia for influence.
The later pro-Western administration in Serbia arrested Mr Milosevic in
April 2001 and in June he was extradited to ICTY in La Hague in the
Netherlands. The ICTY's trial against Mr Milosevic was carried out for over
four years and was delayed for 22 times due to his poor health. He suffered
from high blood pressure and heart related problems and received inadequate
treatment in prison so it became increasingly worse.
The former Yugoslav president was charged by ICTY on no fewer than 66 counts
including a charge of "crimes against humanity," saying that he had been
responsible for the collapse of Yugoslavia, civil wars in Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina as well as the racial conflict in Kosovo in the 1990s.
Since the beginning of the trial, he had denounced the legitimacy of the
court and argued against the legitimacy of the trial as it was the justice
of the winners. He said he was not guilty and he had acted according to the
constitution and law of Yugoslavia. He accused the US and NATO for their
invasion, using bombs against innocent people and destroying the country of
Yugoslavia. He asked ICTY to call on senior officials from the US, Western
countries and NATO to give evidence in court. After four years of
self-defence at the trial, Mr Milosevic believed that he would win in the
final proceeding scheduled to open on March 14. However, a verdict in his
trial would never be reached due to his sudden death.
Mr Milosevic's unusual death forced the ICTY to declare an end for the
trial. The ICTY and the forces controlling this trial have brazenly violated
human rights when failing to give him sufficient health care and rejecting
his proposal to go to Moscow for treatment. The ICTY's failure in the
lengthy proceedings together with the ethnic conflicts instigated by the US
and Western countries, shows that those forces trying to impose their wicked
political designs on other nations will bear heavy consequences and will be
vehemently condemned.
Serbian News Network - SNN
[email protected]
http://www.antic.org/
