Informazione
RISARCIRE GLI AGUZZINI TEDESCHI?
Abbiamo gia' fatto notare in tante occasioni come la "nuova Serbia"
di Djindjic-Kostunica sembri ispirarsi agli atti del governo
collaborazionista
di Nedic, che durante la II Guerra Mondiale guardava inerte ai crimini
commessi dall'occupante nazifascista sul proprio territorio.
Il livello di prostrazione ed accondiscendenza della Serbia attuale
potrebbe portare persino al risarcimento delle "ingiustizie" subite dai
tedeschi del Banato, che oggi presentano il conto, un po' come quelli
dei Sudeti, della Slesia, di Kalinigrad, o come gli istro-dalmati
italiani...
Subject: Balkan Crisis Report No. 338
Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 15:44:21 +0100
From: "Institute for War & Peace Reporting" <info@...>
WELCOME TO IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 338, May 25, 2002
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the Yugoslav communists are
calling on the authorities to compensate them. Jan Briza reports from
Novi Sad
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the
Yugoslav communists are calling
on the authorities to compensate them.
By Jan Briza in Novi Sad
Germans expelled from the northern Serbian
province of Vojvodina in the
aftermath of the Second World War are
demanding the restitution of
property they lost.
The demand is causing unease, not only
among local residents, but also in
Belgrade, which hasn't the funds to deal
with compensation requests,
despite having drawn up a draft law for
dealing with the problem.
However, the government will have to
address the issue, as restitution of
property seized by the communist
authorities is one of the preconditions
of Yugoslavia joining the Council of
Europe.
The compensation request was filed by the
Presidency of the World
Association of Germans in the Danube
region on May 10 this year, in
Subotica on Vojvodina's border with
Hungary.
Germans from Vojvodina are demanding
restitution of property seized by the
so-called Anti-fascist Council for the
National Liberation of Yugoslavia,
AVNOJ, set up in 1944.
According to censuses carried out in 1921
and 1931, more than half a
million Germans lived in Yugoslavia -
340,000 of them in the northern
Serbian province. Known as Volkdeutschers,
they settled there in the 18th
century following the Turks withdrawal
from southern Hungary.
They had become the third largest ethnic
community after the Serbs and
Hungarians and a leading economic force
between the two world wars.
But after the Second World War,
retaliatory measures decimated the
population. The Danube association says
around 80,000 members of the
community lost their lives - mainly women,
children and the elderly - in
concentration camps in the region.
According to a 1991 census, just over
5000 Germans remain in Serbia.
Their confiscated property was mainly
distributed to Serbs who fled to
Vojvodina from Croatia, Bosnia and
Montenegro during the war.
The issue became taboo for many years.
Katica Andrijevic from Sremska
Mitrovica still remembers the time her
German neighbours were forced to
leave in the early Fifties.
"Franc Haltmayer, his wife Mandica and
sons Rudolf, Karl and Viktor were
our neighbours," said Ana in the
residential area of Rumska malta. "They
were good people. We all cried when they
left."
She said that, later on, Mandica and her
sons often visited Sremska
Mitrovica. Viktor even married his former
neighbour with whom he used to
play as a child.
Germans from Vojvodina, both those who had
been forced to leave and the
few who stayed behind, now await adoption
of denationalisation legislation
which will entitle them to compensation
for real estate illegally seized from them.
Head of the German National Alliance,
Rudolf Weis, and deputy head of the
World Association of Germans, Rudolf
Reiman, say they ought not to be
discriminated just because they are
Germans.
Enactment of the law is also eagerly
awaited by tens of thousands of Serbs
whose property had been confiscated after
the war.
However, this is easier said than done.
There can be no immediate solution
as owners of properties due for
restitution have to be found alternative
accommodation and the current authorities
in Belgrade are too impoverished
to compensate people for their loss.
The Serbian justice ministry's
denationalisation bill has been highly
commended by the international community,
but its enactment has been
repeatedly postponed. Government sources
say it could be held up for
another two years.
Property claimants hope that the Council
of Europe issue will speed things
up. Some Serbs have already said that they
intend to take their grievances
to the European Court in Strasbourg. One
similar lawsuit filed against the
Romanian government was enough to get it
to adopt restitution legislation within days.
Prominent Belgrade lawyer Milenko Radic
warns that German claimants must
prove that they have not already received
compensation from other sources.
"As far as I know, a large number of
Germans from Vojvodina had been
compensated in Germany," said Radic,
claiming that the German state as
well as some international humanitarian
organisations have already lent
them a helping hand.
Another problem facing the ethnic Germans
in their bid for justice is
resistance from those now living in their
properties. There were tensions
last year in the Vojvodina towns of Vrsac
and Bela Crkva when ethnic
Germans returned to see former homes.
Weis claims members of his community have
no desire to create new
injustices by reclaiming property. "We are
aware that undoing the wrongs
of the past could harm other people, but
we have to have talks on this
matter and find a solution that is best
for all," he said.
Reiman agrees. "The return of the seized
property, that is, restitution,
must not cause new injustices," he said. "
Revenge is not our aim."
Jan Briza is an editor of Novi Sad daily
"Dnevnik" and regular IWPR
contributor.
****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE:
www.iwpr.net ****************
IWPR's network of leading correspondents
in the region provides in-depth
analysis on events and issues affected the
Balkans. The reports are
published on the Web in English, Serbian
and Albanian. They are also
available via e-mail. For syndication
information, contact Anthony Borden
tony@...
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the
Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the
Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The
Netherlands Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also
acknowledges general support from
the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other
information services and media
programmes, visit IWPR's website:
www.iwpr.net
All our reporting services are available
free of charge online and via
e-mail subscription. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see:
https://www.global-list.com/secure/iwpr/subscribe_pop.asp
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden, Managing
Editor: Yigal Chazan, Associate
Editor: Gordana Igric, Assistant Editors:
Dragana Nikolic and Mirna
Jancic, Kosovo Project Manager: Nehat
Islami. Translation: Alban Mitrushi,
Dragana Nikolic, Denisa Kostovic and
others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
(IWPR) is a London-based
independent non-profit organisation
supporting regional media and
democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street,
London N1 9LH, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20
7713 7140 E-mail: info@...
Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis
Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of
the publication or of IWPR.
Copyright (c) 2002 The Institute for War &
Peace Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 338
Abbiamo gia' fatto notare in tante occasioni come la "nuova Serbia"
di Djindjic-Kostunica sembri ispirarsi agli atti del governo
collaborazionista
di Nedic, che durante la II Guerra Mondiale guardava inerte ai crimini
commessi dall'occupante nazifascista sul proprio territorio.
Il livello di prostrazione ed accondiscendenza della Serbia attuale
potrebbe portare persino al risarcimento delle "ingiustizie" subite dai
tedeschi del Banato, che oggi presentano il conto, un po' come quelli
dei Sudeti, della Slesia, di Kalinigrad, o come gli istro-dalmati
italiani...
Subject: Balkan Crisis Report No. 338
Date: Sun, 26 May 2002 15:44:21 +0100
From: "Institute for War & Peace Reporting" <info@...>
WELCOME TO IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 338, May 25, 2002
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the Yugoslav communists are
calling on the authorities to compensate them. Jan Briza reports from
Novi Sad
(...)
SERBIA: EXPELLED GERMANS DEMAND COMPENSATION
Ethnic Germans who lost property under the
Yugoslav communists are calling
on the authorities to compensate them.
By Jan Briza in Novi Sad
Germans expelled from the northern Serbian
province of Vojvodina in the
aftermath of the Second World War are
demanding the restitution of
property they lost.
The demand is causing unease, not only
among local residents, but also in
Belgrade, which hasn't the funds to deal
with compensation requests,
despite having drawn up a draft law for
dealing with the problem.
However, the government will have to
address the issue, as restitution of
property seized by the communist
authorities is one of the preconditions
of Yugoslavia joining the Council of
Europe.
The compensation request was filed by the
Presidency of the World
Association of Germans in the Danube
region on May 10 this year, in
Subotica on Vojvodina's border with
Hungary.
Germans from Vojvodina are demanding
restitution of property seized by the
so-called Anti-fascist Council for the
National Liberation of Yugoslavia,
AVNOJ, set up in 1944.
According to censuses carried out in 1921
and 1931, more than half a
million Germans lived in Yugoslavia -
340,000 of them in the northern
Serbian province. Known as Volkdeutschers,
they settled there in the 18th
century following the Turks withdrawal
from southern Hungary.
They had become the third largest ethnic
community after the Serbs and
Hungarians and a leading economic force
between the two world wars.
But after the Second World War,
retaliatory measures decimated the
population. The Danube association says
around 80,000 members of the
community lost their lives - mainly women,
children and the elderly - in
concentration camps in the region.
According to a 1991 census, just over
5000 Germans remain in Serbia.
Their confiscated property was mainly
distributed to Serbs who fled to
Vojvodina from Croatia, Bosnia and
Montenegro during the war.
The issue became taboo for many years.
Katica Andrijevic from Sremska
Mitrovica still remembers the time her
German neighbours were forced to
leave in the early Fifties.
"Franc Haltmayer, his wife Mandica and
sons Rudolf, Karl and Viktor were
our neighbours," said Ana in the
residential area of Rumska malta. "They
were good people. We all cried when they
left."
She said that, later on, Mandica and her
sons often visited Sremska
Mitrovica. Viktor even married his former
neighbour with whom he used to
play as a child.
Germans from Vojvodina, both those who had
been forced to leave and the
few who stayed behind, now await adoption
of denationalisation legislation
which will entitle them to compensation
for real estate illegally seized from them.
Head of the German National Alliance,
Rudolf Weis, and deputy head of the
World Association of Germans, Rudolf
Reiman, say they ought not to be
discriminated just because they are
Germans.
Enactment of the law is also eagerly
awaited by tens of thousands of Serbs
whose property had been confiscated after
the war.
However, this is easier said than done.
There can be no immediate solution
as owners of properties due for
restitution have to be found alternative
accommodation and the current authorities
in Belgrade are too impoverished
to compensate people for their loss.
The Serbian justice ministry's
denationalisation bill has been highly
commended by the international community,
but its enactment has been
repeatedly postponed. Government sources
say it could be held up for
another two years.
Property claimants hope that the Council
of Europe issue will speed things
up. Some Serbs have already said that they
intend to take their grievances
to the European Court in Strasbourg. One
similar lawsuit filed against the
Romanian government was enough to get it
to adopt restitution legislation within days.
Prominent Belgrade lawyer Milenko Radic
warns that German claimants must
prove that they have not already received
compensation from other sources.
"As far as I know, a large number of
Germans from Vojvodina had been
compensated in Germany," said Radic,
claiming that the German state as
well as some international humanitarian
organisations have already lent
them a helping hand.
Another problem facing the ethnic Germans
in their bid for justice is
resistance from those now living in their
properties. There were tensions
last year in the Vojvodina towns of Vrsac
and Bela Crkva when ethnic
Germans returned to see former homes.
Weis claims members of his community have
no desire to create new
injustices by reclaiming property. "We are
aware that undoing the wrongs
of the past could harm other people, but
we have to have talks on this
matter and find a solution that is best
for all," he said.
Reiman agrees. "The return of the seized
property, that is, restitution,
must not cause new injustices," he said. "
Revenge is not our aim."
Jan Briza is an editor of Novi Sad daily
"Dnevnik" and regular IWPR
contributor.
****************** VISIT IWPR ON-LINE:
www.iwpr.net ****************
IWPR's network of leading correspondents
in the region provides in-depth
analysis on events and issues affected the
Balkans. The reports are
published on the Web in English, Serbian
and Albanian. They are also
available via e-mail. For syndication
information, contact Anthony Borden
tony@...
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the
Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the
Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The
Netherlands Ministry for Foreign
Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also
acknowledges general support from
the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other
information services and media
programmes, visit IWPR's website:
www.iwpr.net
All our reporting services are available
free of charge online and via
e-mail subscription. To subscribe or
unsubscribe, see:
https://www.global-list.com/secure/iwpr/subscribe_pop.asp
Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden, Managing
Editor: Yigal Chazan, Associate
Editor: Gordana Igric, Assistant Editors:
Dragana Nikolic and Mirna
Jancic, Kosovo Project Manager: Nehat
Islami. Translation: Alban Mitrushi,
Dragana Nikolic, Denisa Kostovic and
others.
The Institute for War & Peace Reporting
(IWPR) is a London-based
independent non-profit organisation
supporting regional media and
democratic change.
Lancaster House, 33 Islington High Street,
London N1 9LH, United Kingdom.
Tel: +44 (0)20 7713 7130, Fax: +44 (0)20
7713 7140 E-mail: info@...
Web: www.iwpr.net
The opinions expressed in Balkan Crisis
Report are those of the authors
and do not necessarily represent those of
the publication or of IWPR.
Copyright (c) 2002 The Institute for War &
Peace Reporting
BALKAN CRISIS REPORT No. 338
Nel periodo che va dal gennaio 1998 al novembre 2001, le milizie
fondamentaliste dell'UCK hanno ucciso 1835 persone (Albanesi, Serbi, Rom
ecc.).
Di altre 1441persone, sempre vittime dell'UCk, non si ha traccia
alcuna.
La maggioranza degli uccisi e degli scomparsi vanno pero' riferiti al
periodo
successivo all'ingresso delle truppe internazionali (KFOR), cioe' da
giugno 1999
in poi.
----- Original Message -----
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Belgrade: 3,276 Victims of Albanian Militia in Kosovo,
DPA, Feb 21
DPA, 20 February 2002
BELGRADE -- A total of 3,276 Serbs, Albanians and
others disappeared or were killed by ethnic Albanian
rebels between January 1998 and November 2001, a
Yugoslav committee said Wednesday.
"They are victims of Albanian terrorism in Kosovo ...
before and after the arrival of international civil
and military missions," Ilija Simic, of the body in
charge of collecting evidence of crimes against
humanity, told a press conference.
In his words, 1,835 people were killed and 1,441
disappeared. These included ethnic Albanians who
opposed their compatriots in the Kosovo Liberation
Army militia or refused to be drafted by them.
A United Nations administration and a NATO-led
peacekeeping mission arrived in Serbia's southern
province in June, 1999, after NATO intervened against
Yugoslavia to force former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic into pulling the security forces out.
Simic, who led the data-gathering team over the
previous three years, said the majority of Serbs,
Montenegrins and other non-Albanians - 1,154 of them -
disappeared since then.
The investigation produced a 500-page book, including
360 summarized testimonials that were filed to the UN
war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
===*===
DI SEGUITO:
LINK A DUE ARTICOLI SULLA CONDIZIONE DELLE MINORANZE
KOSOVARE E DEI PROFUGHI DAL KOSMET
===*===
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cj/Qyugo-kosovo-refugees.RfaW_CuO.html
Three years after their exodus, Kosovo Serbs impatient
to return
AFP / Aleksandar Mitic
-The meeting is aimed at presenting a plan for return
and collecting funds to prevent a "humanitarian
catastrophe" next winter for the Serbs displaced from
Kosovo as well as for more than 500,000 Serb refugees
from Bosnia and Croatia who are currently in Serbia.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cj/Qyugo-kosovo-refugees.RfaW_CuO.html
===*===
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
story.asp?id={EF184AEF-BE18-4476-8A7F-D0D0E9E490CD}
'The most dangerous place on Earth'
Secret guerrilla armies. Neighbours stoning
schoolbuses. Two peoples living
in terror and hatred: Three years later,
war-ravaged Kosovo remains a powderkeg.
Scott Taylor
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, June 22, 2002
Photos:
* Monuments and tributes to the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA), like this mural
in the village of Kline, have been erected
all across Kosovo. For the Serbs
living in NATO-protected enclaves, this
militant Albanian nationalism is
viewed as intimidation.
* In Kosovo-Polje, formerly a Serbian suburb of
Pristina, Albanians construct
a 'monster' home. Many humanitarian aid
workers in Kosovo question the scale
of accommodations being provided to these
former refugess as a 'basic human
necessity.' Throughout the Albanian sectors
Albanians are building these
large homes, many of which are larger than
7,000 square feet.
* Following NATO's 1999 entry into Kosovo,
Albanian extremists embarked on a
large-scale 'revenge campaign' aimed at
forcing Serbs from the province and
preventing their return. Since the 14th
century, Kosovo has been the
religious heartland of Serbia, and many of
the historical landmark Orthodox
churches - like this one near Pec -- were
destroyed.
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
story.asp?id={EF184AEF-BE18-4476-8A7F-D0D0E9E490CD}
fondamentaliste dell'UCK hanno ucciso 1835 persone (Albanesi, Serbi, Rom
ecc.).
Di altre 1441persone, sempre vittime dell'UCk, non si ha traccia
alcuna.
La maggioranza degli uccisi e degli scomparsi vanno pero' riferiti al
periodo
successivo all'ingresso delle truppe internazionali (KFOR), cioe' da
giugno 1999
in poi.
----- Original Message -----
Deutsche Presse Agentur
Belgrade: 3,276 Victims of Albanian Militia in Kosovo,
DPA, Feb 21
DPA, 20 February 2002
BELGRADE -- A total of 3,276 Serbs, Albanians and
others disappeared or were killed by ethnic Albanian
rebels between January 1998 and November 2001, a
Yugoslav committee said Wednesday.
"They are victims of Albanian terrorism in Kosovo ...
before and after the arrival of international civil
and military missions," Ilija Simic, of the body in
charge of collecting evidence of crimes against
humanity, told a press conference.
In his words, 1,835 people were killed and 1,441
disappeared. These included ethnic Albanians who
opposed their compatriots in the Kosovo Liberation
Army militia or refused to be drafted by them.
A United Nations administration and a NATO-led
peacekeeping mission arrived in Serbia's southern
province in June, 1999, after NATO intervened against
Yugoslavia to force former Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic into pulling the security forces out.
Simic, who led the data-gathering team over the
previous three years, said the majority of Serbs,
Montenegrins and other non-Albanians - 1,154 of them -
disappeared since then.
The investigation produced a 500-page book, including
360 summarized testimonials that were filed to the UN
war crimes tribunal in The Hague.
===*===
DI SEGUITO:
LINK A DUE ARTICOLI SULLA CONDIZIONE DELLE MINORANZE
KOSOVARE E DEI PROFUGHI DAL KOSMET
===*===
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cj/Qyugo-kosovo-refugees.RfaW_CuO.html
Three years after their exodus, Kosovo Serbs impatient
to return
AFP / Aleksandar Mitic
-The meeting is aimed at presenting a plan for return
and collecting funds to prevent a "humanitarian
catastrophe" next winter for the Serbs displaced from
Kosovo as well as for more than 500,000 Serb refugees
from Bosnia and Croatia who are currently in Serbia.
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/cj/Qyugo-kosovo-refugees.RfaW_CuO.html
===*===
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
story.asp?id={EF184AEF-BE18-4476-8A7F-D0D0E9E490CD}
'The most dangerous place on Earth'
Secret guerrilla armies. Neighbours stoning
schoolbuses. Two peoples living
in terror and hatred: Three years later,
war-ravaged Kosovo remains a powderkeg.
Scott Taylor
The Ottawa Citizen
Saturday, June 22, 2002
Photos:
* Monuments and tributes to the Kosovo
Liberation Army (KLA), like this mural
in the village of Kline, have been erected
all across Kosovo. For the Serbs
living in NATO-protected enclaves, this
militant Albanian nationalism is
viewed as intimidation.
* In Kosovo-Polje, formerly a Serbian suburb of
Pristina, Albanians construct
a 'monster' home. Many humanitarian aid
workers in Kosovo question the scale
of accommodations being provided to these
former refugess as a 'basic human
necessity.' Throughout the Albanian sectors
Albanians are building these
large homes, many of which are larger than
7,000 square feet.
* Following NATO's 1999 entry into Kosovo,
Albanian extremists embarked on a
large-scale 'revenge campaign' aimed at
forcing Serbs from the province and
preventing their return. Since the 14th
century, Kosovo has been the
religious heartland of Serbia, and many of
the historical landmark Orthodox
churches - like this one near Pec -- were
destroyed.
http://www.canada.com/ottawa/ottawacitizen/
story.asp?id={EF184AEF-BE18-4476-8A7F-D0D0E9E490CD}
-------------------------
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the June 27, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
TURNING THE TABLES ON U.S.:
MILOSEVIC CROSS-EXAMINES WAR CRIMINAL
By Heather Cottin
The prosecution has brought in its heavy hitters for the
show trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
in The Hague.
They trotted out William Walker, the head of a U.S.
"peacekeeping" mission in Kosovo, on June 12, followed by
the head of the German army, Gen. Klaus Neumann, the next
day.
Even with Judge Richard Mays' open displays of hostility,
Milosevic was not intimidated.
The major NATO powers, notably the United States and
Germany, created the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 to criminalize Serb and
Yugoslav leaders and personnel as part of their plan to
dismember and re-colonize Yugoslavia.
Milosevic confronted William Walker first. Walker worked for
the U.S. State Department from 1985-1988 on Central America
policy. He was U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador during the
Sumpul River massacre. So he knows about massacres. He knows
how to cover them up.
Walker was an integral part of the Reagan-Bush war against
the people of El Salvador that took nearly 100,000 lives.
Walker was directly involved in another campaign of terror
while in Central America. He supported the anti-Sandinista
Contra fighters in Nicaragua with proceeds from secret arms
sales to Iran. The CIA-organized counter-revolutionaries
killed over 20,000 people in Nicaragua.
'MASSACRE' ALLEGATION BY U.S. WAR CRIMINAL
It was Walker who first reported the story that the U.S. and
NATO used to justify the 78-day bombing war against
Yugoslavia in 1999. As the Associated Press noted in its
coverage of the testimony, "William Walker, the former U.S.
head of an OSCE Kosovo peacekeeping mission, claimed he saw
'piles of bodies at Racak,' a massacre that focused world
attention on atrocities by Serb forces."
An analysis by Armen Georgian and Arthur Neslen in the April
5, 2001, edition of the New Statesman showed that the
January 1999 "Rakac Massacre" came at a convenient time,
when the Clinton administration was looking for an excuse to
begin the war against socialist Yugoslavia.
It was, according to the New Statesman article, reminiscent
of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, "the CIA-manipulated story
... that escalated the Vietnam War." The report is notable,
since the New Statesman is not friendly to Milosevic or the
Yugoslav socialists.
Georgian and Neslen pointed out that on Aug. 12, 1998, the
U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee had commented:
"Planning for a U.S.-led NATO intervention in Kosovo is now
largely in place. The only missing element seems to be an
event--with suitably vivid media coverage--that could make
the intervention politically saleable."
The Sunday Times of London reported in 2001 that Walker was
"inextricably linked with the CIA." In the Times story,
diplomatic and intelligence sources alleged that the team
led by Walker which discovered the "Rakac Massacre" was a
CIA front that also gave logistical and technical support to
the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Milosevic knew all this. Cross-examining Walker, he charged
that the CIA had recruited the OSCE team.
"In Kosovo, you supported a different kind of Contras,"
Milosevic charged, "the Contra Kosovo Liberation Army." He
also suggested Walker was involved in the murder of Jesuit
priests and nuns in El Salvador.
Clearly flustered on the witness stand, Walker said he had
only supplied humanitarian aid to El Salvador from the air
base used by U.S. authorities to provide illicit arms to the
Contras.
His credibility was clearly damaged.
GERMAN GENERAL'S INCREDIBLE STORY
The next day, General Neumann gave his testimony to the
ICTY. His story was even more incredible.
Neumann claimed, on the stand, that Milosevic told him in
1999 "that Yugoslavia's problems would be solved if ethnic
Albanians were murdered."
Neumann was the commanding officer of KSK, the elite
commando unit of the Bundeswehr, or German army. His unit
trained the KLA in Albania and at NATO bases in Turkey in
1998.
Milosevic's defense of himself and of Yugoslavia during the
trial has proven that he knew intimately what NATO forces
were doing to destabilize and destroy Yugoslavia.
Milosevic knew Germany's role in dismembering the socialist
federation. He knew that Klaus Neumann, the most powerful
military leader in Germany, was the archenemy of the Serbian
people and a united Yugoslavia. Neumann was part of the
effort to supply and train the Kosovo Liberation Army,
NATO's cat's paw in Yugoslavia.
Milosevic could never confide in Neumann. He knew Neumann
was an implacable enemy of peace in Yugoslavia.
The ongoing trial in The Hague is a clear case of "victor's
justice." As political activist and author Greg Elich wrote:
"Open perjury appears not to be a problem for Judge May. The
prosecution hasn't even come close to presenting a case, and
not a shred of evidence that Milosevic was responsible for
crimes." (www.stopnato.org)
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@w... Subscribe wwnews-on@w...
Unsubscribe wwnews-off@w... Support the voice of
resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
Via Workers World News Service
Reprinted from the June 27, 2002
issue of Workers World newspaper
-------------------------
TURNING THE TABLES ON U.S.:
MILOSEVIC CROSS-EXAMINES WAR CRIMINAL
By Heather Cottin
The prosecution has brought in its heavy hitters for the
show trial of former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
in The Hague.
They trotted out William Walker, the head of a U.S.
"peacekeeping" mission in Kosovo, on June 12, followed by
the head of the German army, Gen. Klaus Neumann, the next
day.
Even with Judge Richard Mays' open displays of hostility,
Milosevic was not intimidated.
The major NATO powers, notably the United States and
Germany, created the International Criminal Tribunal for the
Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993 to criminalize Serb and
Yugoslav leaders and personnel as part of their plan to
dismember and re-colonize Yugoslavia.
Milosevic confronted William Walker first. Walker worked for
the U.S. State Department from 1985-1988 on Central America
policy. He was U.S. Ambassador to El Salvador during the
Sumpul River massacre. So he knows about massacres. He knows
how to cover them up.
Walker was an integral part of the Reagan-Bush war against
the people of El Salvador that took nearly 100,000 lives.
Walker was directly involved in another campaign of terror
while in Central America. He supported the anti-Sandinista
Contra fighters in Nicaragua with proceeds from secret arms
sales to Iran. The CIA-organized counter-revolutionaries
killed over 20,000 people in Nicaragua.
'MASSACRE' ALLEGATION BY U.S. WAR CRIMINAL
It was Walker who first reported the story that the U.S. and
NATO used to justify the 78-day bombing war against
Yugoslavia in 1999. As the Associated Press noted in its
coverage of the testimony, "William Walker, the former U.S.
head of an OSCE Kosovo peacekeeping mission, claimed he saw
'piles of bodies at Racak,' a massacre that focused world
attention on atrocities by Serb forces."
An analysis by Armen Georgian and Arthur Neslen in the April
5, 2001, edition of the New Statesman showed that the
January 1999 "Rakac Massacre" came at a convenient time,
when the Clinton administration was looking for an excuse to
begin the war against socialist Yugoslavia.
It was, according to the New Statesman article, reminiscent
of the Gulf of Tonkin incident, "the CIA-manipulated story
... that escalated the Vietnam War." The report is notable,
since the New Statesman is not friendly to Milosevic or the
Yugoslav socialists.
Georgian and Neslen pointed out that on Aug. 12, 1998, the
U.S. Senate Republican Policy Committee had commented:
"Planning for a U.S.-led NATO intervention in Kosovo is now
largely in place. The only missing element seems to be an
event--with suitably vivid media coverage--that could make
the intervention politically saleable."
The Sunday Times of London reported in 2001 that Walker was
"inextricably linked with the CIA." In the Times story,
diplomatic and intelligence sources alleged that the team
led by Walker which discovered the "Rakac Massacre" was a
CIA front that also gave logistical and technical support to
the Kosovo Liberation Army.
Milosevic knew all this. Cross-examining Walker, he charged
that the CIA had recruited the OSCE team.
"In Kosovo, you supported a different kind of Contras,"
Milosevic charged, "the Contra Kosovo Liberation Army." He
also suggested Walker was involved in the murder of Jesuit
priests and nuns in El Salvador.
Clearly flustered on the witness stand, Walker said he had
only supplied humanitarian aid to El Salvador from the air
base used by U.S. authorities to provide illicit arms to the
Contras.
His credibility was clearly damaged.
GERMAN GENERAL'S INCREDIBLE STORY
The next day, General Neumann gave his testimony to the
ICTY. His story was even more incredible.
Neumann claimed, on the stand, that Milosevic told him in
1999 "that Yugoslavia's problems would be solved if ethnic
Albanians were murdered."
Neumann was the commanding officer of KSK, the elite
commando unit of the Bundeswehr, or German army. His unit
trained the KLA in Albania and at NATO bases in Turkey in
1998.
Milosevic's defense of himself and of Yugoslavia during the
trial has proven that he knew intimately what NATO forces
were doing to destabilize and destroy Yugoslavia.
Milosevic knew Germany's role in dismembering the socialist
federation. He knew that Klaus Neumann, the most powerful
military leader in Germany, was the archenemy of the Serbian
people and a united Yugoslavia. Neumann was part of the
effort to supply and train the Kosovo Liberation Army,
NATO's cat's paw in Yugoslavia.
Milosevic could never confide in Neumann. He knew Neumann
was an implacable enemy of peace in Yugoslavia.
The ongoing trial in The Hague is a clear case of "victor's
justice." As political activist and author Greg Elich wrote:
"Open perjury appears not to be a problem for Judge May. The
prosecution hasn't even come close to presenting a case, and
not a shred of evidence that Milosevic was responsible for
crimes." (www.stopnato.org)
- END -
(Copyright Workers World Service: Everyone is permitted to
copy and distribute verbatim copies of this document, but
changing it is not allowed. For more information contact
Workers World, 55 W. 17 St., NY, NY 10011; via e-mail:
ww@w... Subscribe wwnews-on@w...
Unsubscribe wwnews-off@w... Support the voice of
resistance http://www.workers.org/orders/donate.php)
Subject: Rtf : NOUVEAU FILM : Les Damnés du Kosovo
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 20:40:45 +0200
From: Michel COLLON
Un document essentiel pour tous les pays
menacés de devenir un jour une cible des
Etats-Unis
Les Damnés du Kosovo
Film de Michel Collon & Vanessa Stojilkovic
Bill Clinton avait promis que l¹occupation
de l¹Otan amènerait la paix et la
protection de toutes les nationalités au
Kosovo. Qu¹en est-il aujourd¹hui ?
Vingt témoins parlentS
Chassée de son appartement à Pristina,
Maria n¹a eu la vie sauve que parce
qu¹elle parlait albanais. Son neveu,
interprète pour l¹ONU, a été
sauvagement assassiné. Le mari de Silvana a
été kidnappé en 1999, elle est
toujours sans nouvelles. La maison de
Stanimir a été brûlée. Qu¹ont-ils en
commun? Ils sont Serbes et vivent, ou
plutôt survivent, au Kosovo. Mais le
³nettoyage² frappe aussi les autres
minorités : Roms, Juifs, Gorans,
Musulmans... Pourquoi les médias ne
parlent-ils plus de cette région occupée
par l¹Otan ? Le nouveau film de Michel
Collon et Vanessa Stojilkovic brise
le silence.
Pour éclairer ce débat : la mondialisation
nous mène-t-elle vers des guerres
de plus en plus nombreuses ?
80 minutes 9 Euros
Infos, commandes, organisation de
projections-débats : voir fin de message
Interview des auteurs dans un mail séparé :
³Que se passe-t-il au Kosovo ?²
Peut être fourni en Word Mac ou PC, avec
illustrations du film. Peut être
reproduit en avertissant les auteurs (
³Fair use only²).
Bon de commande :
Nom, prénom :
..............................
Rue, numéro :
...............................
Code, ville :
...............................
Pays :
..........................................
E-mail :
.....................................
Commande :
........ exemplaires en français des Damnés
du Kosovo
........ exemplaires en serbo-croate des
Damnés du Kosovo
Veut recevoir une information sur la
parution des versions en
O anglais O espagnol O italien O russe
O néerlandais O arabe O allemand
Est prêt à aider à faire connaître ce film
:
O en organisant une projection, un débat
O traductions O relectures O montage O
diffusion O promotion Internet
Suggère de :
......................................................
A renvoyer à :
Michel Collon, 68 rue de la caserne, 1000
Bruxelles - Belgique
00 32 (0)2 50 40 140
info@...
Ou à Vanessa Stojilkovic 00 33 - (0)6 03
13 78 13 nessa.kovic@...
Date: Mon, 10 Jun 2002 20:40:45 +0200
From: Michel COLLON
Un document essentiel pour tous les pays
menacés de devenir un jour une cible des
Etats-Unis
Les Damnés du Kosovo
Film de Michel Collon & Vanessa Stojilkovic
Bill Clinton avait promis que l¹occupation
de l¹Otan amènerait la paix et la
protection de toutes les nationalités au
Kosovo. Qu¹en est-il aujourd¹hui ?
Vingt témoins parlentS
Chassée de son appartement à Pristina,
Maria n¹a eu la vie sauve que parce
qu¹elle parlait albanais. Son neveu,
interprète pour l¹ONU, a été
sauvagement assassiné. Le mari de Silvana a
été kidnappé en 1999, elle est
toujours sans nouvelles. La maison de
Stanimir a été brûlée. Qu¹ont-ils en
commun? Ils sont Serbes et vivent, ou
plutôt survivent, au Kosovo. Mais le
³nettoyage² frappe aussi les autres
minorités : Roms, Juifs, Gorans,
Musulmans... Pourquoi les médias ne
parlent-ils plus de cette région occupée
par l¹Otan ? Le nouveau film de Michel
Collon et Vanessa Stojilkovic brise
le silence.
Pour éclairer ce débat : la mondialisation
nous mène-t-elle vers des guerres
de plus en plus nombreuses ?
80 minutes 9 Euros
Infos, commandes, organisation de
projections-débats : voir fin de message
Interview des auteurs dans un mail séparé :
³Que se passe-t-il au Kosovo ?²
Peut être fourni en Word Mac ou PC, avec
illustrations du film. Peut être
reproduit en avertissant les auteurs (
³Fair use only²).
Bon de commande :
Nom, prénom :
..............................
Rue, numéro :
...............................
Code, ville :
...............................
Pays :
..........................................
E-mail :
.....................................
Commande :
........ exemplaires en français des Damnés
du Kosovo
........ exemplaires en serbo-croate des
Damnés du Kosovo
Veut recevoir une information sur la
parution des versions en
O anglais O espagnol O italien O russe
O néerlandais O arabe O allemand
Est prêt à aider à faire connaître ce film
:
O en organisant une projection, un débat
O traductions O relectures O montage O
diffusion O promotion Internet
Suggère de :
......................................................
A renvoyer à :
Michel Collon, 68 rue de la caserne, 1000
Bruxelles - Belgique
00 32 (0)2 50 40 140
info@...
Ou à Vanessa Stojilkovic 00 33 - (0)6 03
13 78 13 nessa.kovic@...
