From: Diana Johnstone
Press Release
As of May 19, 2010, more than 100 persons from over a dozen countries have
signed the following statement, which has been forwarded to Kenneth Clarke, the
Lord High Chancellor, Justice Ministry, UK.
The vicious May 7 attack on General Radislav Krstic in Wakefield Prison (U.K.)
is a dramatic illustration of the failure to ensure the safety of the prisoners
of international tribunals.
A Serb native of Bosnia, General Krstic was sentenced to 35 years in prison by
the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for complicity
in 1995 Srebrenica massacres, although it is acknowledged that he was not
directly involved in criminal executions. General Krstic repeatedly denied any
knowledge of the massacres at the time, and his sentence is regarded as
excessive and politically motivated by many informed observers who believe the
case should be reopened.
On May 7, General Krstic was physically assaulted by three inmates identified
as "Muslims." A 22-year-old ethnic Albanian named Indrit Krasniqi is reported
to have slit the throat of General Krstic, narrowly missing the jugular.
Krasniqi was serving a life sentence under British law for the gang torture and
murder of a 16-year-old girl. Wakefield Prison, in the north of England, is
reserved especially for criminals serving long sentences for grave sex offenses.
We find it highly irresponsible of British authorities to incarcerate General
Krstic, essentially a prisoner of war, in such an environment. Now 62 years
old, General Krstic is disabled, having lost a leg in the Bosnian war. There is
an obvious risk in imprisoning a Bosnian Serb accused of grave crimes against
Muslims in a region of England with a particularly large Muslim population. The
claim that the attack was motivated by "Muslim revenge" serves as a smokescreen
to cover the responsibility of British authorities.
The near-fatal attack on General Krstic comes in the wake of an extraordinary
series of deaths of prisoners held by the International Criminal Tribunals for
former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda .
We, the undersigned, demand:
* An official inquiry into the May 7 incident.
* The immediate transfer of General Krstic to a country able to ensure
his personal safety, for example to Norway, or to Serbia as requested by
Belgrade authorities.
* An end to the indifference of governments, human rights organizations
and the media to the fate of prisoners of ad hoc criminal tribunals, often
exaggeratedly stigmatized by the media and without the benefits of the
protection afforded by judicial process in normal national courts.
Samir Amin, Author, Director of the Third World Forum, Dakar, Senegal; Dr.
Patrick Barriot, MD, Former Blue Helmet in ex-Yugoslavia, Montpellier, France;
David Binder, Retired Newspaperman, Evanston, Illinois; James Bissett, Former
Canadian Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Ottawa, Canada; Christopher Black, Canadian
Barrister, International Criminal Lawyer, Lead Counsel at the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; Vincenzo Brandi, Engineer, Rome, Italy; Jean
Bricmont, Physicist, Brussels, Belgium; Vladimir Caller, Peruvian Journalist,
Brussels; Louis Dalmas, Editor, B.I. Magazine, Paris, France; Richard B. Du
Boff, Economic Historian and Writer, Rhinebeck, New York; Jane Franklin,
Historian, USA; Antonio Ginetti, Artist, Pistoia, Italy; Joachim Guilliard,
Journalist, Heidelberg, Germany; Dr. Philip Hammond, London South Bank
University, UK; Klaus Hartmann, Vice President of World Union of Freethinkers,
Offenback am Main, Germany; Ralph Hartmann, Author, Former East German
Ambassador to Yugoslavia, Berlin, Germany; Edward S. Herman, Professor Emeritus
of Finance, The Wharton School, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, USA;
Marc W. Herold, Department of Economics, University of New Hampshire, USA; Finn
S. Jensen, Teacher, Odense, Denmark; Diana Johnstone, Journalist, Author,
Paris, France; Hans-Joachim Kahlke, Jurist, Heidelberg, Germany; Harald
Kampffmeyer, Diplomat, Berlin, Germany; June Kelly-Mullingar, Stenographer,
County Westmeath, Ireland; Jugoslav Kiprijanovic, Editor, Pravoslavlje (The
official Magazine of Serbian Orthodox Church) Belgrade, Serbia; Prof. Dr. Hans
Köchler, University of Innsbruck, President, International Progress
Organization, Vienna, Austria; Godfred Louis-Jensen, Architect,
Oktokerbevaegelsen, Denmark; Nebojsa Malic, Balkans Columnist, Antiwar.com,
Washington, DC, USA; Sarah Martin, Nurse, Women Against Military Madness (WAMM)
International Committee, Minneapolis, MN, USA; David McReynolds, Former Chair
of War Resisters International, Former Co-chair of the Socialist Party USA, New
York; Audun Øfsti, Professor Emeritus, Philosophy, NTNU, Trondheim, Norway;
Michael Parenti, Author, Lecturer, Berkeley, California, USA; Prof. Dr.
Wolfgang Richter, President of the European Peace Forum, Chairman of the
Association for the Protection of Civil Rights and Human Dignity, Berlin,
Germany; Dr. Michael Schiffmann, Linguistics and Cultural Studies in the
English Department, University of Heidelberg, Germany; Lee W. Smith, Security
Consultant (retired), Red Cliff, Colorado, USA; Michael Steven Smith, Co-host,
"Law and Disorder" Radio Show, WBAI
Board of Directors, Center for Constitutional Rights, United States; Tony
Sutton, Editor, ColdType, Georgetown, Ontario Canada; Mark Lewis Taylor,
Professor, Religion and Society, Princeton Theological Seminary, Princeton, NJ,
USA;
Prof. Dr. Velko Valkanov, Sofia, Chairman of the Bulgarian Peace Council;
Jacques Vergès, Barrister, Paris, France; Jean Toschi Marazzani Visconti,
Journalist, Milan, Italy.
Full list of 123 on demand.
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