Tarun 6 Report post Posted February 13, 2002 Milosevic: a lust for power driven by medieval savagery Historic War Crimes Trial begins at Den Haag = The Hague Ian Black in The Hague Wednesday February 13, 2002 The Guardian Slobodan Milosevic finally faced justice for his role in 3 Balkan wars yesterday as UN prosecutors pledged to hold him to account for ethnic cleansing and genocide committed in name of naked power. Impassive and silent in dock at Den Haag = The Hague tribunal at start of his historic trial, former Yugoslav president scribbled notes and watched selected film highlights of career which, court alleged, included mass expulsions, mass murder and other crimes against humanity. "Some of incidents revealed an almost medieval savagery and calculated cruelty that went far beyond bounds of legitimate warfare," chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, said in her 30-minute opening statement. Presiding over world's most important war crimes case since Nazi leaders were tried at Nuremberg more than 50 years ago, Judge Richard May of Britain ensured that first day's proceedings were calm, orderly and polite. But there was no mistaking raw brutality of what was being described in tribunal's court number one as long-awaited case - IT-02-54 - began under heavy security and with public and press gallery overflowing. Ms del Ponte, dogged Swiss attorney who has previously taken on Mafia, told court Mr Milosevic "pursued his ambition at price of unspeakable suffering imposed on those who opposed him or represented threat to his personal strategy of power". "Beyond nationalist pretexts and horrors of ethnic cleansing, behind grandiloquent rhetoric and hackneyed phrases, quest for power is what motivated Slobodan Milosevic," she said. Briton Geoffrey Nice, deputy prosecutor, prefaced long account of former president's career with brief but chilling descriptions of men shot, children burned alive and women thrown down wells by Serb troops - foretaste of more to come. In one incident, in house soaked in petrol before being set alight, "a baby's screams were heard for two hours before it too succumbed", he said. Accounts of torture, beatings, killings, forced labour and sexual assault would also be heard. Video clips, maps, photocopies of documents and organisational flow charts - screened on overhead TV monitors - placed defendant at centre of decade of bloody conflict, which killed tens of thousands, starting in Croatia 1991, when Yugoslav federation began to disintegrate, and ending in Kosovo in 1999. Effect was macabre version of This is Your Life, but without grinning friends. Yet defendant, a study in immobility flanked by UN guards, almost looked pleased, a hint of smile or flicker of recognition crossing his basilisk features as some of his bigger moments were replayed. It was sweeping history lesson replete with difficult but familiar Balkan names: Radovan Karadzic, Bosnian Serb leader still at large and wanted for genocide; paramilitary chief Zeljko Raznatovic, better known as Arkan, later murdered; and foreign envoys such as Cyrus Vance, David Owen and Lord Carrington, who tried to intervene but failed to stop killing. In one curiously intimate moment, Mr Milosevic was clearly heard in intercepted telephone conversation discussing weapons deliveries to Bosnian Serb forces with Mr Karadzic, who described man in Belgrade as "the Boss". Tracing Mr Milosevic's story, prosecution zoomed in on archive footage of him in April 1987, as Serbian communist party chief, telling cheering Serbs in Albanian-majority province of Kosovo: "Nobody will be allowed to beat you." "It was that phrase," said Mr Nice, "that gave this accused taste of power. It gave him an opening. "Evidence will show accused had central role in joint criminal enterprise" to create greater Serbia. "This trial is about climb of this accused to power, exercised without accountability, without responsibility or morality." Mr Milosevic "did not confront his victims", but "was able to view events from high political office. He had these crimes committed for him by others. "In these days when press, radio and television bring wars into our homes as they occur, he cannot not have known." Mr Milosevic has refused to appoint counsel since being handed over to tribunal by reformist government in Belgrade last summer. But he used mid-morning break to pass note to one of three lawyers appointed as amici curiae or "friends of court" to ensure he has fair trial. Zdenko Tomanovic, one of his two Yugoslav legal advisers, quoted his client as saying: "Do you hear this rubbish? How can you not react?" After lunch, Mr Milosevic briefly nodded off during long passage about role of Yugoslav army in Bosnia, before jerking awake. He is expected to give lengthy opening statement today or tomorrow, arguing trial is inherently unfair and that tribunal, set up by UN in 1993, is illegal and biased in favour of his Nato enemies. Prosecutors face difficult task in drawing direct link between Mr Milosevic and crimes committed by Serb forces against Croats, Bosnian Muslims and Kosovo Albanians. Witnesses will include Kosovan leader, Ibrahim Rugova, and former US head of Kosovo peacekeeping mission William Walker. But many others are to appear as protected witnesses, their identities shielded. "Many victims cannot come before you because they did not survive," Ms Del Ponte said. "I am confident that prosecution will present full picture of circumstances of crimes and of their impact on people against whom they were directed." Richard Dicker, observer from Human Rights Watch, said he was impressed by prosecution. "So much has been said about 'insider witnesses', but what's striking is they have introduced a couple of documents that were very compelling in clear linkage between Belgrade and Bosnian Serb military and Croatian Serbs and military," he said. "Its very impressive in terms of specific links." Vladimir Krsljanin, member of Mr Milosevic's Socialist party, monitoring trial, said prosecution portrayed "an absurd picture of Milosevic's career and placed totally outside historic context. It's desperate attempt to prove what is unprovable." Trial's opening phase, likely to continue till summer, will focus on murder charges of hundreds of Kosovo Albanians and expulsion of some 800,000 people from their homes in 1998-99. Case is expected to last about two years. Special reports War crimes in the former Yugoslavia Serbia Kosovo Macedonia Full text 29.06.2001: The Milosevic indictment, part 1 29.06.2001: The Milosevic indictment, part 2 29.06.2001: The Milosevic indictment, part 3 29.06.2001: The Milosevic indictment, part 4 Useful links Full transcripts from the Milosevic trial 'Live' audio from the Hague (30 minute delay) UN international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia Documents from the war crimes tribunal War crimes tribunal watch Stop Milosevic Federal Republic of Yugoslavia B-92 radio Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tarun 6 Report post Posted February 14, 2002 Milosevic in grisly photo rebuttal February 14, 2002 Posted: 9:03 AM EST (1403 GMT) Milosevic used photos of charred corpses to lambast NATO's bombing campaign THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- Backed by a series of gruesome photos, Slobodan Milosevic has accused NATO of waging war on Yugoslavia based on "an ocean of lies." Launching his defence against war crimes charges, the 60-year-old former Yugoslav leader justified his actions in Kosovo as a "struggle against terrorism," and said he was a victim of twisted facts and "terrible fabrication." Milosevic faces total of 66 counts of genocide and other war crimes relating to decade of strife in republics that once made up Yugoslavia. Each count carries a maximum sentence of life in prison. He began giving evidence in his defence on third day of his trial at U.N. court at The Hague by showing video recording of German TV documentary. It included a comment from a German general saying he was ashamed of his government during NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia in 1999. VIDEO Milosevic challenges legitimacy of international court. CNN's Christiane Amanpour reports (February 13) Play video (QuickTime, Real or Windows Media) MORE STORIES • Key quotes: Milosevic • Charges: A summary of indictment • Timeline: The Milosevic years • The view from Serbia • Speaking out for Kosovo's dead EXTRA INFORMATION In pictures: Milosevic in court In-Depth: The case against Milosevic CNN Presents: The people against Milosevic RESOURCES • On the scene: CNN's Alessio Vinci reports • On the scene: Christiane Amanpour: Classic Milosevic "This is just an atom ... in an ocean of lies ... against my country," Milosevic said following video. "Civilian targets," Milosevic said, "were NATO's main targets," pointing to the deaths of women, children and the elderly. "They hit many more hospitals than they did tanks. They hit many more schools than they did tanks." He provided photographs of his claims, showing grisly images of severed body parts and charred corpses he said were ethnic Albanians killed during the bombing of Kosovo on April 14 when they were returning to their homes. The bombing occurred near Djakovica. "Everybody could see they were civilians and peasants in their carts," Milosevic said. "They were intentionally targeted... They were targeted because they were going back to their village." He said there were pamphlets dropped out of airplanes urging civilians to flee. He said Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA) killed heads of families who disobeyed orders to flee. Other examples of bombings were presented by Milosevic, who provided photos of corpses and of schools, centres, houses and other buildings in Serbia that were bombed. CNN's Alessio Vinci in Belgrade said that Milosevic was aiming at a domestic Serb audience in Yugoslavia. "He is trying to shift attention to the fact that Serb people suffered and that this trial is not a trial against himself but a trial against his nation." Milosevic said the 1999 NATO bombing campaign was "the product of propaganda and the abuse of global media as a means of war against my country." He attacked his trial and the NATO bombing of his country as "an outrage against a whole nation and a whole people." "This whole thing is a manipulation, a fabrication," the former Yugoslav leader said. In contrast he said Serbs had mounted "a heroic defence" of their country. CNN's Alessio Vinci says Milosevic was aiming mostly at his Yugoslav audience Milosevic argued that mass deaths in Kosovo did not begin until the NATO bombing. He said the western intervention was contrived and "concocted," and that there had been no human disaster in Kosovo, as claimed by the west, until the bombing began. He denied that Serb military forces expelled hundreds of thousands of Kosovar Albanians, and said they actually had fled the KLA and the NATO bombing. "When people were fleeing from these places of conflict, this is called deportation," he said. "They want to make me accountable for crimes they perpetrated themselves." He also branded Serb opponents who defeated him in 2000 elections as a "puppet regime" of West and accused media of inherent bias. "This is a crime against truth. This is a competition between justice and injustice," he told the court's three scarlet and black-robed judges facing him across the austere modern courtroom. Milosevic, who pointed his figer and thumped the desk at times as he spoke, said the case was not against him alone but against the whole Serbian people. "Our citizens stand accused, citizens who lent their massive support to me," he said. "My conduct was an expression of the will of the people," he said. Milosevic said he was only defending his country and his people, arguing he was waging a war on terrorism. "Americans go right [to] the other side of the globe to fight terrorism in Afghanistan... and that is considered to be logical and normal," Milosevic said. Prisoner at Trnopolje detention camp, Bosnia, in 1992 "Whereas here (at the war crimes tribunal), the struggle against terrorism in the heart (of) one's own country... is considered to be a crime. That means that you are not master in own home." The video presented by Milosevic, a documentary prepared by German ARD television, claimed Serbs were massacred in Kosovo, and that the NATO campaign was "a violation of international law in which innocent civilians lost their lives." The video alleged that western propaganda was designed to solidify public opinion behind the campaign, especially in Germany. It showed interviews with German officials who dissented from the western policy toward Yugoslavia. On the first two days of the trial prosecutors detailed their case against Milosevic. They said he was responsible for the deportation of millions of non-Serbs and the killing of hundreds of thousands more during the wars in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, in a brutal campaign to entrench his own personal power. The prosecutors on Wednesday screened graphic film of gaunt prisoners in Bosnian camps, and claimed Milosevic masterminded "unrelenting violence" not seen since World War II. Prosecutors say the prison camps were part of a campaign to rid large portions of Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo of non-Serb populations and create a "greater" Serb state. Milosevic is the first head of state to be called to justice before an international tribunal. His case is the most prominent war crimes trial since military tribunals tried the leaders of Nazi Germany and Japan after World War II. For more World articles, search the TIME Magazine Archive. RELATED STORIES: • Milosevic trial sees prison tape February 13, 2002 • Milosevic to face single trial February 1, 2002 • Milosevic faces Hague trial ruling January 30, 2002 • Kosovo bombing victims sue Germany January 17, 2002 • Defiant Milosevic back in dock January 09, 2002 Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tarun 6 Report post Posted February 21, 2002 Many agree Milosevic should be on trial... iff = if & only if Bushvic & Blairic are on trial alongside him. Wholistic World Court justice ki jaya! Straight acroos the board. Kabe habe bolo se-din amar? Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Tarun 6 Report post Posted July 28, 2002 >Hello everyone, Here is an article by Jared Israel, a journalist covering the >trial of Slobodan Milosevic at the Hague. Yours truly, Edward. >- ><emperorsclothes1@aol.com> >Saturday, July 27, 2002 03:24 >WITNESS SAYS HE WAS TORTURED - MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" BLOWS UP IN >"TRIBUNAL'S" FACE! > > URL for this article: http://emperors-clothes.com/milo/rade.htm > > Join our email list at http://emperors-clothes.com/f.htm. Receive >articles >from Emperor's Clothes Website, www.tenc.net > > We encourage readers to reprint and re-post any Emperor's Clothes >article. >Please quote articles exactly and include the original URL and name of >author(s). > > ======================================= > > As Ex-Security Chief Testifies he was Tortured to Lie - > > MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" BLOWS UP IN HAGUE PROSECUTOR'S FACE! > > By Jared Israel & Nico Varkevisser (at The Hague) > > (The authors are Vice-chairpersons, ICDSM) > > [Posted 27 July 2002] > > ======================================= > > Today, as we prepared to post an article about the utter hypocrisy of >The >Hague "tribunal's" concern for Slobodan Milosevic's health, this "trial of >the century" exploded and died. > > Now the question is, will it linger in death? > > The "tribunal" passed away during the testimony of Rade Markovic, former >head of the Department of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of the >Interior (the Serbian Secret Service). Markovic (pronounced MARK-oh-vich) >was cross-examined today, 26 July, by Slobodan Milosevic. > > > > Mind you, the prosecution called Mr. Markovic to testify. He was "their" >witness. That is, for some reason they expected him to testify in their >favor. And yet, he testified against them... > > 1) Mr. Markovic testified that the Milosevic government did *not* try to >drive ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo during the NATO bombing. Quite the >contrary: > > "'I told (local officials) that presidential orders are that the flow of >refugees must be stopped,' Markovic said during cross-examination by >Milosevic..." (AP, 26 July 2002) > > 2) Mr. Markovic testified that Milosevic came down hard on anti-Albanian >hate crime: > > "'More than 200 criminal charges were filed against members of the >police, >and I think a similar figure stands for the army,' said Markovic..." (AP, >Ibid) > > Some news wire services reported the above points while trying to >downplay >their significance. > > > > Earlier, Mr. Markovic had testified that starting in 1997 Mr. Milosevic >did not exercise direct, daily control of security police. This testimony >was misreported in the press. We shall clarify that when we publish the >transcripts of Mr. Markovic's testimony, which will be soon. > > But no wire service reported the most shocking revelation. > > Prior to being brought to The Hague, Rade Markovic was held in a >Belgrade >jail for the past 17 months. > > Today at The Hague, Mr. Markovic testified that he was tortured in that >jail to force him to agree to give false testimony against Slobodan >Milosevic. > > He also testified that the current Belgrade security police, who work in >closest cooperation with "tribunal" prosecutors, offered him and his family >a change of identity and a comfortable new life in a foreign land if he >would lie against Slobodan Milosevic. > > Mr. Markovic said that, at one point, pro-NATO Serbian Interior Minister >Mihailovic and his Secret Police chief, Goran Petrovic, showed up at the >jail with a squad of secret police. Mr. Markovic said they removed him from >the facility - itself a violation of Serbian law - and took him to a >private >dinner where they made him the offer of a new identity with a luxury life - >and no more torture - in exchange for false testimony. > > The torture and the bribes would explain why the Prosecution had reason >to >believe Mr. Markovic was "their" witness. > > Stunned to see Markovic defy him, Prosecutor Jeffrey Nice (sic!) asked >so-called judge Richard May to do something to stop it. And May did try, >interrupting the cross-examination to argue that since "We are talking >about >Kosovo," the issue of Markovic being tortured to give false testimony (about >Milosevic's role in Kosovo) was irrelevant. > > As of this writing, not one English-language wire service has reported >Markovic's shattering accusations or the amazing response of "judge" May. > > Why not? > > Could it be because there is no way for them to spin these charges in >favor of the "tribunal" ...And thus the charges can't be mentioned. > > Doesn't this support our own charge, that the Western media has been the >agent of a massive anti-Yugoslav disinformation campaign? Is there any >other >way to explain their not mentioning that the head of Milosevic's secret >service was called to testify against Milosevic and instead testified that >he had been tortured to lie? > > WHO IS CREDIBLE AND WHO IS NOT > > What we find in the wire services is negative spin about Markovic, a >blackout regarding his torture, and lies. > > Dick Dicker from Human Rights Watch - which, from our direct observation >at The Hague, virtually runs the "tribunal" - told Agence France Presse >that >Markovic's testimony "lacked credibility." > > Ahh, is that so, Mr. Dicker? > > If Rade Markovic so lacks credibility, why did your "tribunal" call him >as >a prosecution witness? Indeed, why did they call him as the last >prosecution >witness before the summer break? > > Didn't your side call him because they thought he was theirs? Now, why >would they think such a thing, Mr. Dicker? > > Rade Markovic was never Slobodan Milosevic's political opponent. > > So why was your "tribunal" so confident? Why was Mr. Nice so surprised? > > Doesn't it make sense that the "court" expected Rade Markovic to >cooperate >because, "It is understood that he has had certain experiences in jail and >he knows what is in store for him - for the rest of his life - if he defies >us." Perhaps the flunkies in Belgrade exaggerated the extent of their >success persuading Markovic to cooperate. Flunkies will do that to impress >the home office. > > Is that why your associates trusted him to cooperate? And is that why >you >and they were stunned when he didn't, so now you must sputter about >Markovic >not being credible - and him your own witness! > > Speaking of credibility, why wasn't Rade Markovic's stunning charge >broadcast on TV in the West? > > Why doesn't the media report that Rade Markovic named the two US/West >European agents - Mihailovic and Petrovic - who oversaw his torture? > > Why doesn't the media broadcast the news - the scoop! - that instead of >ordering an immediate investigation and putting Mr. Markovic under >protection, instead of taking these minimal steps in accord with most basic >justice, instead "judge" May told Markovic to stop wasting time with >irrelevancies? > > Doesn't "judge" May's reaction testify eloquently to the credibility of >what Rade Markovic said? > > And as for your own credibility, Mr. Dicker, why don't you demand an >investigation of this charge of torture in this "trial of the century"? >Aren't you Human *Rights* Watch? And if you don't demand an investigation >because you *know* he's lying, why don't you share with the rest of us how >it is that you know? > > In the same dispatch as Dicker's "non-credible" remark, Agence France >Presse reported that: > > "Markovic has been temporarily released from prison in Serbia in order >to >testify at the trial." (AFP, 16 July 2002) > > This is called lying by half-truth. AFP left out the fact that Mr. >Markovic is now being held in Scheveningen, where the Nazis tortured >leading >members of the Dutch Resistance during World War Two. > > So tonight Rade Markovic is at the mercy of those whom he defied. > > As we shall document in a forthcoming article about the unbelievable >"suicide" of Slavko Dokmanovic, Serbian leaders have died under suspicious >circumstances while incarcerated at The Hague. In giving this testimony, >Rade Markovic has risked torture and death. > > > > And what did he gin? A nice job with Milosevic? Good treatment for his >family in a Belgrade now controlled by NATO and the Western secret >services? >Rade Markovic had nothing whatsoever to gain in making these charges and he >had everything to lose. > > > > His action today went beyond mere credibility. It was magnificent. > > > > GANGSTERISM - But what of the New World Order? > > On 28 June 2001, Slobodan Milosevic was kidnapped from Belgrade. > > The Yugoslav Constitutional Court had forbidden his extradition: it >would >violate the Yugoslav constitution. Nevertheless the "tribunal" and its >Belgrade stooges kidnapped him. National constitutions don't count under the >New Order. (1) > > Mr. Milosevic has been abused in the former Nazi jail at Scheveningen. >At >times he has been tortured with lights on him, 24 hours a day. He has been >denied the basic right to meet advisers of his choice. > > One of the authors of this article, Nico Varkevisser, was denied >permission to see President Milosevic just this month, despite being the >Dutch coordinator for Mr. Milosevic's defense. > > Chris Black, head of Milosevic's legal defense group, was banned from >visiting Mr. Milosevic by the "tribunal", one of whose officials suggested >at a press conference last year that the criterion for deciding whether a >lawyer could see Mr. Milosevic was whether the "tribunal" believed he or >she >would have a "good effect" on the prisoner. > > President Milosevic is forbidden access to the Internet or a library. >His >research tool is a pay telephone near his cell. > > For five months we have seen an endless parade of blatantly disreputable >"witnesses." Some are officials of NATO governments or organizations >associated with NATO. It was NATO that bombed Yugoslavia including Kosovo. >And NATO spokesperson, Jamie Shea, once boasted that NATO runs the >"tribunal." (2) > > Other "witnesses" have been Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists, or >members >of their front groups. That's whom the Milosevic government was fighting on >the ground while NATO bombed from the air... > > And now we have this case, the abuse of Rade Markovic. > > Really, is there a greater disgrace, morally or professionally, than to be >part of this "tribunal" or to defend it in the media or through some phony >human rights group that fawns and scurries to serve the gangster bullies? > > Slobodan Milosevic and Rade Markovic are imprisoned in Scheveningen. On a >stone in that former Nazi prison a member of the Dutch Resistance engraved >the following words: > > "In deze bajes zit geen gajes, maar Hollands glorie, potjandorie." > > which means: > > "In this prison there are no criminals, but only the glory of Holland." > > Let the NATO masters be careful how they treat Slobodan Milosevic and Rade Markovic. > > - Jared Israel & Nico Varkevisser are Vice Chairpersons, International >Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) > > *** > > FURTHER READING: > > 1) On the kidnapping of Mr. Milosevic, please see "THE TREASON OF >VOJISLAV >KOSTUNICA," at > > http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/treas.htm > > 2) For the press conference in which Jamie Shea indicated that NATO >controls the "tribunal," see "Official Statements Prove Hague 'Tribunal' >Belongs to NATO" at > > http://www.icdsm.org/more/belongs.htm > > ======================================= > > Emperor's Clothes Urgently Needs Your Help! > > ======================================= > > In order for Emperor's Clothes to continue publishing we urgently need >your help. We rely entirely on contributions. Not only are we (again!) >behind on all our usual bills (such as rent, paying our computer guru and >phone bills) but we also need to pay for the plane fare which allowed >Editor >Nico Varkevisser to attend a most interesting meeting in Moscow, about >which >you will be reading shortly. > > Please help! We do not charge for articles and we do not accept >advertising because it's irritating to readers. We're as frugal as >possible, >but we do have to pay bills. In order to continue publishing, we urgently >need the help of our friends. > > Please send whatever contributions you can! $20, $50, $100, or more. >More >would be very helpful, but every penny will be used to get articles to more >people. > > You can make a donation using at >https://www.paypal.com/xclick/business=emperors1000@aol.com&no_shipping=1 > > You can make a credit card donation by going to our secure server at http://emperorsclothes.com/howyour.html#donate > > Or Mail a check to Emperor's Clothes, P.O. Box 610-321, Newton, MA >02461-0321. (USA) > > Or make a donation by phone at the donation line, (U.S.) 617 916-1705. > > Note: If you mail a donation or make one by secure server, please let us >know by email at emperors1000@aol.com to make sure we receive it. Thanks! > > Thank you for reading Emperor's Clothes. > > www.tenc.net * [Emperor's Clothes] > > This Website is mirrored at http://emperor.vwh.net/ and at >http://globalresistance.com > > To or , click or send an email to @emperor.vwh.net Quote Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
