Milosevic "trial" synopsis, Nov. 21 -- Dec. 4, 2003:
PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL”
1. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 24, 2003
2. MIROSLAV DERONJIC - A SERBIAN TRAITOR - November 26, 2003
3. B-H PRESIDENCY MEMBER TIHIC TESTIFIES AGAINST MILOSEVIC - December
2, 2003
* TIHIC ON A COURTESY VISIT TO WAR CRIMINAL ORIC ?
* MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: THE RETURN OF TIHIC - December 3, 2003
4. PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL” – December 4, 2003
=== 1 ===
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 24, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 24, 2003
Three witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan
Milosevic today. The first witness was Mr. Ibro Osmanovic, a Muslim
from the northeastern Bosnian town of Vlasenica.
Mr. Osmanovic testified that on April 23-24, 1992 members the Novi Sad
Corps of the JNA came to Vlasenica. He said that the JNA troops who
were there were commanded by an Albanian lieutenant.
According to Osmanovic the JNA was in Vlasenica for approximately
three weeks. While the JNA was in town it collected weapons. According
to Osmanovic, the JNA didn’t mistreat people, it didn’t shoot at
anybody, and it didn’t hold any prisoners. In mid-May the JNA left
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and so it left Vlasnica too.
After the JNA left, Osmanovic was arrested and sent to prison.
Eventually he was shipped to the Susica camp and then to the Batkovic
camp, and while he was there he was mistreated by, among others, a trio
of Muslim soldiers.
According to Osmanovic this trio of Muslims doled out the most severe
beatings. It was unclear why this trio of Muslims was beating
prisoners at what he said was a Serb-run detention facility, but that
was Osmanovic’s story. They were Muslims. They wore uniforms. They had
their own car that they would come to the camp in, and they severely
beat the detainees.
Osmanovic was released from captivity when he was exchanged. What his
evidence, or any of the other evidence they heard today, has to do
with President Milosevic, I have no idea. I guess the prosecutor is
just trying to run out the clock.
The next witness was a secret witness codenamed “B-1746.” B-1746 was a
Muslim from the municipality of Doboj in Bosnia-Herzgovina.
B-1746 didn’t see any killings take place, but B-1746 had heard about
killings from other people. B-1746 had also heard from other people
that Russian and Romanian volunteer units were in town and fighting on
the Serb side.
According to B-1746’s witness statement “Arkan’s White Eagles” had
attacked Doboj. Unfortunately for the witness, there is has never been
any such thing as “Arkan’s White Eagles.” Arkan was the commander of
the Serbian Volunteer Guard, also known as the Tigers. Arkan never
commanded the White Eagles.
When President Milosevic confronted B-1746 with these facts, the
witness responded by saying that they couldn’t be expected to keep the
identities of all those paramilitaries straight. So in other words
B-1746 had no idea who had attacked Doboj.
The prosecutor went into damage control mode. She explained that the
witness had not had the opportunity to see the witness statement. Well
then that puts it in a neat package; the witness isn’t responsible for
what is contained in their statement for the simple reason that
they’ve never seen it!
Regardless of the prosecutor’s efforts, the fact still remains that
the witness said that they couldn’t keep the identities straight.
The term “red berets” was thrown around a lot. The idea was to imply
that the JSO from Serbia had been involved. Because White Eagles wore
red berets, President Milosevic asked the witness to describe the
differences in the red berets that the JSO wore and the red berets
that the White Eagles wore. The witness couldn’t. The simple fact of
the matter is that this witness had no idea what they were talking
about.
Seeing that things weren’t going well B-1746 began to get hysterical
and say all sorts of dumb things. B-1746 claimed that the Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina was totally unarmed. President Milosevic, in
apparent disbelief that anybody could say something so stupid, asked
the question again. He asked, “Are you claiming that the Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina had no weapons?” The witness answered, “Yes that is
what I claim.”
B-1746 also claimed that Serbs in Doboj had been forced to fight
against their will. According to B-1746 Serb military commanders took
Serb men to the front lines and forced them to fight in the trenches,
and to keep them from running away they were tied up.
An astonished Milosevic asked the witness, how they could fight if
they were tied up? The witness answered him that they were not actually
tied up, but that they were tied together. That’s much better! I’m
sure that all of these men being tied to one another were an effective
fighting force. I would also like to know when the witness had access
to the Serbian trenches to see such a spectacle. Oh well, maybe this
is another one of those things that the witness heard from someone.
B-1746 explained a couple of things. B-1746 knew that Croats and
Muslims didn’t respond to JNA call-ups and B-1746 knew that the JNA
took over weapons from the T.O. throughout Yugoslavia. Although, B-1746
was convinced that the take over of weapons was some sort of JNA plot
against Croats and Muslims, and so President Milosevic asked if B-1746
was aware that the JNA took over the T.O.’s weapons in Serbia as well.
B-1746 was aware of that fact but it didn’t change their mind.
B-1746 eventually escaped the war in Bosnia, and where do you think
B-1746 went? B-1746 went to Milosevic’s Serbia and guess what
happened. B-1746 was able to live freely, and B-1746 received
assistance from the FRY authorities. B-1746 was issued proper
documents and a passport. One would think that B-1746 would be
grateful for the help, but one would be wrong.
The next witness was Esed Belic, a member of the SDA from Bosanska
Krupa. He was at the “tribunal” to testify about the activities of the
SDS. He testified under his own name, but the “tribunal” put the facial
distortion on the video anyway. Maybe the “tribunal” did this because
the witness is so hideously ugly that they didn’t want anybody to see
his face, or maybe they did this because this guy isn’t really who
they say he is. I don’t know, but it doesn’t make any sense to hide
the face and still use his name.
Belic is a 92-bis witness and so President Milosevic only gets 1 hour
to cross-examine him. He got 20 minutes today, and will get the
remaining 40 minutes on Wednesday. The “tribunal” won’t be in session
tomorrow because it is a UN holiday.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg112603.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: MIROSLAV DERONJIC - A SERBIAN TRAITOR
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 26, 2003
Esed Belic finished his testimony at the “tribunal” today. He was the
president of the SDA in Bosanska Krupa from September 1991 onwards.
Belic testified that the SDA wanted to increase the number of Muslims
in the reserve police force in Bosanska Krupa so that they could
acquire more weapons.
Belic explained that the fighting started in Bosanska Krupa when two
young Serb men were shot by this same police at a checkpoint.
Belic considered that the killing of these two Serbs, by the Muslim
police officers, was a provocation that had been staged by the SDS.
President Milosevic didn’t buy that version of events, he mocked the
notion that the SDS told those Muslim police to shoot those two young
Serbs.
Belic’s statement had some inaccuracies in it, which highlight the
fact that admitting entire witness statements as evidence is a flawed
practice. Belic swore that his statement was truthful and accurate, and
the statement was admitted as evidence under Rule 89(F).
The only problem is that Belic’s statement was not truthful and
accurate. Belic attributed the inaccuracies to the fact that he didn’t
write his witness statement. At The Hague “tribunal” none of the
witnesses write their own witness statement. The prosecution
interviews the witness before they testify, and on the basis of the
interview the prosecutor writes the statement for the witness.
So what we have is the prosecutor writing a document and then having
their own document that they wrote themselves treated as evidence
against an accused.
With Belic his statement said one thing, but his live testimony said
something different. In his statement he spoke of the front lines in
Bosanska Krupa and talked about how the Muslim forces managed to hold
the frontlines. In his live testimony he said no front lines existed
in Bosanska Krupa at all. He recited the same old story that the
Muslims had no armed forces (which makes it all the more amazing that
they managed to fight a war for three years).
In his statement he said that he went to Zagreb to work in the war
presidency, but in his live testimony his story was different. He said
that he was sent to Zagreb by the war presidency, not that the war
presidency was located in Zagreb, and that he went there so that he
could work for them. He had been working for them all along.
This illustrates the fact that witnesses, either by accident or
intentionally, are not pointing-out inaccuracies in their 89(F)
statements. If the tribunal wanted to have even the appearance of a
real court of law they would abandon this practice of admitting
statements written by the prosecutor as evidence. Moreover, this
illustrates that evidence admitted under Rule 89(F) is suspect.
After Belic withdrew, Miroslav Deronjic took the witness stand.
Deronjic is involved in a plea bargain with the prosecution. He has
agreed to plead guilty to crimes in Glogova in exchange for a light
sentence, but he has not been sentenced as of yet.
In point 11(A) of Deronjic’s plea agreement it says “based on Miroslav
Deronjic’s full and substantial co-operation with the Office of the
Prosecutor, the Prosecutor will recommend to the Trial Chamber that it
impose a term of 10 years imprisonment.”
So the prosecutor needs to consider that Deronjic is fully and
substantially cooperating in order to recommend the 10 year
imprisonment. If they don’t consider that there is adequate
cooperation from Deronjic they are not bound to recommend anything.
In point 11(B) of the plea agreement it says, “the Prosecutor will
take necessary and reasonable steps to ensure the safety and
protection of Miroslav Deronjic and members of his family;”
In exchange for a light prison sentence, the protection of his family,
and immunity from further prosecution for the crimes that he plead
guilty to. Deronjic agrees in point 12 of his plea agreement “to meet
as often as necessary with members of the Office of the Prosecutor and
to co-operate with and provide them with truthful and complete
information that is known to him regarding individuals and events in
the former Yugoslavia. He agrees to be truthful and candid and to
freely answer all questions put to him by members of the Office of the
Prosecutor. Miroslav Deronjic agrees to testify truthfully in any
trials, hearings, and proceedings before the Tribunal where the
Prosecutor deems his evidence may be relevant, whether those matters
are presently before the Tribunal or may be in the future.”
So Deronjic only gets his sweet deal if he testifies against others.
He hasn’t been sentenced yet and if he fails to impress the prosecutor
he loses his deal. The last part of point 11(A) of his plea agreement
says “Miroslav Deronjic understands that the Trial Chamber is not bound
to accept the Prosecutor’s recommendation and may impose a sentence
above or below the Prosecutor’s recommended sentence. The imposition
of such a sentence will not vitiate the plea of guilty;”
In other words, the plea agreement doesn’t mean that they can’t still
screw him anyway, so he’d better play ball if he ever wants to be a
free man again. In looking at the plea agreement one can really see
that Deronjic’s testimony is the result of extortion by the prosecutor.
Deronjc testified under the now infamous Rule 89(F). His 232 paragraph
statement was admitted into evidence, and Slobodan Milosevic was only
allotted 2½ hours to cross-examine him.
The cross-examination started with the transcript of an allegedly
intercepted conversation between Radovan Karadzic and the witness. It
is interesting to note that the source of this transcript is unknown
and that no tape recording exists of this so-called intercept.
Deronjic nonetheless, confirmed that the transcript was of an
authentic telephone conversation.
Deronjic, who was the President of the Bratunac Municipal Board of the
SDS claimed that he frequently spoke with Radovan Karadzic. He claimed
that Karadzic told him at a meeting in Zvornik that he should prepare
Bratunac for VRS operations around Srebrenica.
Deronjic, whose memory was so precise about the alleged telephone
conversation, found that his memory failed him when he was asked to
say when the military operations actually began.
Deronjic said that he met with Gen. Krstic, but he didn’t know how
long he spoke with Krstic, what he spoke to Krstic about, or even what
day he met Krstic. Deronjic thought that he might have had some coffee
with Krstic, but he didn’t remember.
Deronjic, in spite of the fact that he claimed to have spoken with the
VRS commanders in the area, said that he didn’t know what objective
the VRS was trying to achieve in the area of Srebrenica. Deronjic said
that he didn’t know because he didn't ask.
In spite of the fact that Deronjic says he didn’t know what the VRS
was up to, he contacted Radovan Karadzic and advised him to send a
special unit of the R.S. MUP to assist with the situation in Srebrenica.
Deronjic said that because he didn’t know what was going on with
regard to Srebrenica that he traveled to Pale to meet with Radovan
Karadzic so that he could ask him.
Deronjic said that he went to Pale unannounced. He didn’t tell anybody
in Pale or Bratunac that he was going off to meet with President
Karadzic.
Deronjic had no idea when he left Bratunac to go to Pale, and he had
no idea when he got there. In his statement he got there on July 9,
1995, but when he was on the witness stand he didn’t know with any
certainty what day it was that he was there.
Deronjic claimed that when he got to Pale he just by luck happened
upon Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik, and Jovica Stanisic while
they were out taking a nice leisurely stroll.
Then Deronjic said that Karadzic introduced him to Krajisnik and
Stanisic as “our man in the field” and on the basis of that Deronjic
concluded that the three of them had been speaking about Srebrenica. He
didn’t hear them saying anything about it, but he none the less
concluded based on Karadzic’s reference to him as the “man in the
field” that the subject of this meeting was in Srebrenica.
Deronjic excluded the possibility that he had been referred to as “man
in the field” because he was the president of a local board of the
SDS. But that isn’t as important as Deronjic’s next ludicrous claim.
Deronjic claimed that Karadzic took him off to the side and told him
to kill as many Srebrenica Muslims as he could manage to kill.
President Milosevic ripped Deronjic’s lies to pieces. President
Milosevic produced the VRS orders regarding Srebrenica. The orders had
been issued by Maj. Gen. Jovanovic on July 2, 1995 – one week before
Deronjic went to Pale to ask Karadzic what the military’s objective
was.
The orders explicitly stated the objective and it was to sever links
between Srebrenica and Gorazde and reduce the enclaves to just the
urban areas. The orders also explicitly stated that the Geneva
conventions had to be observed.
Apparently our witness, who was the leading political figure in the
area, was the only one who didn’t know what the plan was.
President Milosevic asked Deronjic if he was part of the military
chain of command. Deronjic of course said that he wasn’t, and so
President Milosevic asked him why Karadzic would tell him that the
Muslims should be killed? If Deronjic couldn’t have them killed so why
would Karadzic even bring up the topic? The witness had no real answer
to speak of.
President Milosevic then produced orders issued to the VRS by Radovan
Karadzic himself. These orders were issued on July 9th, the same day
as Deronjic claims that Karadzic told him to kill all the Muslims. The
orders explicitly said that civilians, POWs and UNPROFOR soldiers
should be protected.
The witness got flustered and explained that he didn’t think that
accuracy was so critical in his statement. He admitted that the dates
were wrong and that the quotation marks were misplaced in his
statement. So what if quotes are being attributed to people who never
said something, this is the Hague Tribunal! Here we have a 232
paragraph witness statement that isn’t even written by the witness and
the witness says that the dates are wrong and the quotes aren’t that
exact, but he swears that the statement is true and it is admitted as
some sort of so-called “evidence” nonetheless.
Deronjic, in addition to being the SDS president in Bratunac, had been
appointed as the Civilian Commissioner for Srebrenica. He said that
Karadzic told him to meet with Muslim representatives and offer them 3
options. The first option was for them to remain in Srebrenica, the
second option was for them to go to an area that was under control of
the ABiH, and the third option was for them to go to a third country.
Deronjic said that the result was that the Muslims decided that they
wanted to leave Srebrenica.
According to Deronjic, Karadzic also ordered that war criminals be
apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the laws and customs of
war. Specifically the orders from Karadzic were that the POW’s should
be sent to the military prison, not that they should be killed or
anything of that sort.
At this point President Milosevic asked Deronjic if he thought that
these orders coming from Karadzic conflicted with his earlier
assertion that Karadzic wanted those people killed. Deronjic had no
choice but to admit that his testimony was contradictory here.
Deronjic said that the POWs weren’t properly guarded, and that he had
heard second-hand that some of them were being killed at the
cooperative farm in Bratunac but that he didn’t know, even to this day,
who was killing them; although, Deronjic did testify that civilians
had been carrying out revenge killings in the area.
Deronjic also testified that 15,000 – 20,000 Muslims soldiers in
Srebrenica were carrying out an operation to break-out towards Tuzla,
and he confirmed that they took large casualties in the process.
Deronjic, since he claimed prisoners were being killed, was asked how
many people were killed in combat and how many were killed while
imprisoned. Deronjic didn’t know, or else he didn’t want to answer
because he didn’t answer.
Deronjic claimed that Radovan Karadzic called him and asked him how
the evacuations were progressing and how the fighting was going. When
Karadzic called him, Deronjic had already heard about killings taking
place, but he says he didn’t tell Karadzic about them, because he
thought that Karadzic knew about it.
Then Deronjic says that a drunk man called “Beara” came to his office.
Of course nobody but Deronjic saw this, he had already sent his
assistant away.
Deronjic said that this drunk “Beara” person wanted to take over the
prisoners and kill them. President Milosevic asked Deronjic who sent
this “Beara” and Deronjic didn’t know for sure because he didn’t ask,
but he just assumed that Karadzic must have sent this drunk man to him.
Deronjic says he told “Beara” that he couldn’t kill the prisoners
because Karadzic had issued orders that the POWs should be sent to the
military prison, so that it could be established if they were war
criminals or not.
The morning after this “Beara” allegedly came staggering drunk into
Deronjic’s office, Deronjic says that he was woken up by news that
“Beara” was taking a group of POWs to the brick factory to kill them.
Deronjic says that he caught-up with “Beara” on the road to the brick
factory, but that he didn’t see any POWs with him.
By this time it is July 14th and Deronjic, who says he already thought
that Karadzic knew about the alleged killings, went to Pale to see
Radovan Karadzic so that he could tell him about the killings.
Deronjic says that he met with Karadzic alone, and that Karadzic was
concerned about what to do with the bodies. What Deronjic didn’t know
was that President Milosevic had acquired a copy of President
Karadzic’s daily agenda book, and in the book it can be seen that
Deronjic never met with Karadzic alone on July 14th. Deronjic saw
Karadzic, but as part of a whole delegation from Srebrenica. Deronjic
didn’t see Karadzic alone. He was caught in a lie, and there are
witnesses from that delegation who can bear this out.
The “trial’s” broadcast feed abruptly ended today. Video technicians
put-up the slate for Milan Babic’s initial appearance before the
Milosevic “trial” had adjourned.
All I have to say to Deronjic is that he should take a good look at
Milan Babic. Babic prostituted himself for the OTP and look what it got
him. Deronjic should also take a harder look at his plea agreement
since it only refers to Glogova. The OTP could still indict him for
something else; perhaps they would indict him for Srebrenica since he
talks like he was up to his elbows in that mess.
At any rate, being a whore never pays. I don’t know what sort of
pathetic excuse of a man would betray his people in such a shameful
fashion as Mr. Deronjic is doing. If the “tribunal” doesn’t get
Deronjic then God will.
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120203.htm
B-H PRESIDENCY MEMBER TIHIC TESTIFIES AGAINST MILOSEVIC
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - December 2, 2003
Two witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic
today. The first witness was a secret witness codenamed “C-57.” He
concluded his testimony after testifying last Thursday.
C-57 was an officer in the JNA. Apparently he or his unit was serving
in Borovo Selo, Dalj, and Erdut in Croatia.
C-57 testified that the JNA’s orders were to separate the warring
factions in Croatia. C-57 defined the warring factions as the Croatian
MUP and the Serbian population and T.O. Units.
According to C-57 members of the JNA swore an oath to defend
Yugoslavia’s territorial integrity and its constitutional order from
internal and external attack. On Thursday the prosecution made a big
deal about the term “internal enemy” appearing in orders issued to the
JNA. Today under cross-examination C-57 defined an “internal enemy” as
anybody who was attempting to overthrow the constitutional order or
damage the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.
C-57 said that looting was prohibited by the JNA, but that it occurred
in spite of efforts to stop it. C-57 also said that the JNA had orders
to respect the Geneva Conventions, and that nobody issued the JNA
orders not to respect them.
C-57 described one incident when a member of the JNA cut the ears off
of a Croatian POW. The problem here is that C-57 never reported the
incident and so the JNA leadership never had a chance to punish the
perpetrator, because quite simply they didn’t know about the incident.
C-57 also said a couple of words about volunteers. C-57 said that the
Serbian Radical Party sent volunteers to Croatia and that those
volunteers were suborned to the local T.O., and that they had nothing
to do with the Government of Serbia.
After C-57 withdrew, B-H Presidency member Sulejman Tihic testified.
Tihic claimed that he had been captured and beaten by paramilitaries,
after which he was turned over to the JNA and allegedly beaten by them
in a JNA prison facility in Serbia.
The drama was high when Mr. Groome played a video tape of President
Milosevic shaking hands with a JNA soldier named Jovanovic, since
according to Tihic one of the men who beat him was named Jovanovic.
Amazing! The man who allegedly beat Tihic and the man on the tape both
had one of the most common Serbian surnames that there is. What
amazing proof!
Mr. Groome’s next question proved to be rather anti-climactic. Groome
asked Tihic if this was the same Jovanovic who had beaten him, and
Tihic couldn’t tell if it was him or not.
Tihic has a gift for denying the obvious. For example, Tihic says that
he supports the cantonization of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the abolition
of the entities, which he says is in accordance with Annex 4 of the
Dayton Accords. The only problem is that Annex 4 of the Dayton Accords
says “Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of the two Entities, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska.” No
mention is made of cantonization, and the entities that Tihic wants to
abolish are the whole basis behind the Dayton Accords.
Tihic says that that he supports the Dayton Accords, but in reality he
wants to do away with them in order to abolish the Republika Srpska.
Tihic is not a truthful person. He even denies concrete facts that
anybody can verify in order to advance his own agenda, but then again
he is a politician.
Tihic claimed that he was forced to make false statements to the media
by the JNA. He says that they forced him to say that nobody was
beating him, that there was proper food, medical care, that he was
allowed to take walks, and that he wanted to stay in Serbia so as to
escape the war.
Transcripts of Tihic’s interviews were produced and he made no mention
about any of those things. He said nothing about the food, the medical
care, the beatings, or wanting to remain in Serbia. On the contrary,
in the interview he said that he wanted to go back to Bosnia.
Shortly after the JNA withdrew from Bosnia, Tihic got his wish and was
sent back to Bosnia. It should be noted here that previous prosecution
witnesses have testified that the JNA was under the command of the
SFRY presidency and not under the control of Slobodan Milosevic.
The fact that the JNA had a facility in Serbia is nothing unusual
since Serbia, like Bosnia, was part of Yugoslavia. Tihic could just
have easily been in a JNA prison in Bosnia as Serbia.
Because of the untruthful nature of Tihic’s testimony President
Milosevic expressed doubt that the JNA had beaten Tihic at all.
Tihic was at a loss for proof, he was a lawyer before the war, but
when he showed-up in “court” today he had no proof that his ribs were
broken or that his teeth were knocked out. He said that X-rays were
made and that the OTP might have them, but that he didn’t have them
with him, and indeed the prosecutor never produced them. I don’t know
about you, but I wouldn’t want this clown for my lawyer.
Tihic was given to making outlandish claims. He claimed that the JNA
would bus prisoners through villages in Serbia, and stop the busses in
the villages so that the local Serbs could get onto the busses and
beat the prisoners. Tihic had the claimed that this was all done in
front of UNPROFOR, the Red Cross, and the media. Apparently, nobody
made any reports about this therefore the so-called "joint criminal
enterprise" must be bigger than we thought.
Before the war Tihic was the president of the SDA in Bosanski Samac.
Under cross-examination from President Milosevic Tihic admitted that
Muslims there were arming themselves for months before the war ever
started, he also admitted that Muslims who joined the JNA were branded
as traitors by other Muslims.
Of course the fact that Muslims didn’t join the JNA lest they be
branded as traitors by other Muslims didn’t stop Tihic from being
critical of the JNA’s ethnic composition.
It turns out that the prosecution had a copy of a diary that Tihic
kept. The prosecution claims that it provided this diary to President
Milosevic back in March, but that they just didn’t put Tihic’s name on
it. At any rate, President Milosevic might recall Tihic tomorrow to
cross-examine him on questions that arise from this diary that he just
today, during the witness’s testimony, learned had come from the Tihic.
The proceedings ended today with some interesting administrative
matters. The U.S. Government wants to know what questions Wesley Clark
will be asked before he testifies. It appears as though they are
busily primping the perfumed prince for his big debut.
Wesley Clark will testify behind closed doors, the U.S. Government has
been given the right to redact the transcripts and edit the video
tapes, and now they want to know the questions in advance. This
so-called “trial” is a pathetic joke; the ICTY is a travesty of
justice. It is a worthless puppet court whose sole objective is to
provide retroactive justification for NATO and the U.S. Government’s
criminal aggression against Yugoslavia.
---
TIHIC ON A COURTESY VISIT TO WAR CRIMINAL ORIC ?
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/srna113003.htm
Bosnian Presidency's Muslim member to testify against Milosevic
SRNA - November 30, 2003
Sarajevo - Sulejman Tihic, a member of the Presidency of
Bosnia-Hercegovina, will leave for The Hague today where he is due to
testify against former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic on 2 December, Sarajevo papers report today.
Citing Tihic's office, Dnevni avaz Sarajevo-based Muslim daily said
that Tihic was expected to meet the chief prosecutor of the Hague
tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, and her deputy Graham Blewitt.
Tihic also plans to visit Naser Oric, Srebrenica wartime commander
indicted for war crimes, in the detention unit of the Hague tribunal.
SOURCE: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 0951
gmt 30 Nov 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120303.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: THE RETURN OF TIHIC
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - December 3, 2003
Three witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan
Milosevic today. Sulejman Tihic was recalled today. Tihic was recalled
because President Milosevic had questions about his diary, which was
not properly disclosed to him until after the witness was already
giving his testimony yesterday. President Milosevic was given only 20
minutes to go over the 65 page diary, and he made good use of the 20
minutes he had.
From Tihic’s diary it emerged that Tihic himself was engaged in the
developing war plans and arming the Muslims before the war. According
to Tihic’s diary the SDA formed a crisis command and developed war
plans before the war ever started. It also emerged that Tihic himself
was sending Muslims for sabotage training. Tihic’s diary described 6
separate instances of arms smuggling by the Muslims before the war.
The SDA’s plans to destroy the multiethnic structure of the JNA also
emerged from Tihic’s diary. According to Tihic’s diary, the SDA spread
rumors and distributed leaflets with the goal of identifying Muslim JNA
members and branding them as traitors. This scheme worked in tandem
with appeals from Alija Izetbegovic that Muslims should not join the
JNA either as reservists or to perform their military service.
Tihic described Muslim members of the 4th detachment of the T.O. in
derogatory terms. He called them “traitors”, “criminals”, and “people
from mixed marriages”.
It also turns out that Tihic was not with the SDA from the beginning
as he had previously stated. Apparently he had reservations about
joining the party because he felt that the membership were illiterate
hardliners.
I’m sure that more interesting tidbits could be found in Tihic’s
diary, but President Milosevic only got 20 minutes.
The next witness to testify was Ahmet Zulic, a Muslim from Sanski
Most. Mr. Zulic is a self-confessed liar. He gave one statement to the
B-H authorities in 1994 and another statement to the ICTY in June of
2001. President Milosevic asked him if the statements were both true
and Zulic said that neither one of the statements was true.
Matters concerning the untruthful nature of the statements were dealt
with by the so-called “tribunal” in private session. At one point Mr.
Kwon indicated that the witness had admitted to lying to ICTY
investigators in one of the private sessions.
The fact that the witness clearly admitted to lying in the statements
did not stop the prosecutor from trying to assert that the ICTY
witness statement was true. And after the prosecutor claimed that the
ICTY statement was true; this self-confessed liar who was occupying
the witness stand agreed with the prosecutor that the statement was
true, even though on two previous occasions he clearly said that it
was not true.
Zulic’s explanation to Mr. Kwon was that he had made a mistake, when
earlier on the same day, he clearly said on two separate occasions
that he was not telling the truth in either of his witness statements.
Zulic claimed to be the victim of some mistreatment. But he had 3
different versions of the same mistreatment. In one version people’s
throats were being slashed and then a pistol was put into his mouth, in
another version the pistol was placed in his mouth and then people’s
throats were slashed, and in a third version the pistol was in his
mouth while the throats were being slashed. The sequence of events
changes in each instance. His diary had one version, his statement
another, and there was another version still in his testimony in the
Brdjanin and Talic case.
Another interesting point that came up was that Seselj’s men and the
White Eagles were not one in the same unit. This is a common
misconception. Seselj’s men joined the Army and the T.O. as volunteers;
they did not have their own units. The White Eagles were a totally
separate group. President Milosevic brought up this point, but the
Zulic couldn’t differentiate between any groups he said that they were
all the same to him. Therefore who mistreated him?
In the Talic case he said the following about the people who allegedly
mistreated him “They wore olive-grey uniforms” and when asked what
unit they belonged to he said “I really am unable to tell which unit
they belonged to, whether they were Chetniks or the regular army,
regular troops, because they were behind some willow trees, so that we
just saw some soldiers. I couldn't see them properly.”
All of this happened in Bosnia, so what is this testimony about some
unidentified unit, accused of this alleged massacre, supposed to prove
against Milosevic? Apparently nothing.
After Zulic left, a secret witness codenamed “B-1021” took the stand.
B-1021’s testimony was a big secret since it all took place in closed
session.
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120403.htm
PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL”
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – December 4, 2003
The so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic was held in secret today.
A secret witness testified about God only knows what. None of the
testimony was public it’s all a big secret.
The so-called “tribunal” dealt with some administrative matters and
then it announced that it would go into a so-called “private session”
for the rest of the day.
President Milosevic strongly objected to the “private session.”
President Milosevic has nothing to hide, because he is totally
innocent, and therefore he considers that his so-called “trial” should
be held out in the open for the whole world to see.
One wonders how come the tribunal is so anxious to hide its brand of
so-called “justice” from the world. What are they ashamed of? Why
can’t the public see all of this “damning evidence” that they
supposedly have against President Milosevic? I know that justice is
supposed to be blind, but at the Hague Tribunal she is being bound and
gagged.
Secret witnesses, private sessions, limited cross-examination for some
witnesses, and no cross-examination of others, testimony written by
the prosecutor on behalf of the witness admitted as evidence under
Rule 89(F), and rumors and hearsay treated as evidence. These are only
some of the things that go on at that so-called “tribunal.”
Then we have the special treatment for the perfumed prince, Wesley
Clark. He gets to know the questions ahead of time. He gets to have
two U.S. Government lawyers with him on the witness stand. Of course
he will testify in private session, God forbid that the public should
be able to see what he said before the U.S. Government redacts the
transcript of his testimony.
The secrecy of this so-called “trial” is obscene. When President
Milosevic objected to the so-called “private session” today, the
so-called “judge” May responded that there would be no debate. The
so-called “evidence” would be heard in secret, and that was that, and
with his decree the broadcast was terminated and the public was locked
out.
PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL”
1. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 24, 2003
2. MIROSLAV DERONJIC - A SERBIAN TRAITOR - November 26, 2003
3. B-H PRESIDENCY MEMBER TIHIC TESTIFIES AGAINST MILOSEVIC - December
2, 2003
* TIHIC ON A COURTESY VISIT TO WAR CRIMINAL ORIC ?
* MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: THE RETURN OF TIHIC - December 3, 2003
4. PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL” – December 4, 2003
=== 1 ===
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: NOVEMBER 24, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 24, 2003
Three witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan
Milosevic today. The first witness was Mr. Ibro Osmanovic, a Muslim
from the northeastern Bosnian town of Vlasenica.
Mr. Osmanovic testified that on April 23-24, 1992 members the Novi Sad
Corps of the JNA came to Vlasenica. He said that the JNA troops who
were there were commanded by an Albanian lieutenant.
According to Osmanovic the JNA was in Vlasenica for approximately
three weeks. While the JNA was in town it collected weapons. According
to Osmanovic, the JNA didn’t mistreat people, it didn’t shoot at
anybody, and it didn’t hold any prisoners. In mid-May the JNA left
Bosnia-Herzegovina, and so it left Vlasnica too.
After the JNA left, Osmanovic was arrested and sent to prison.
Eventually he was shipped to the Susica camp and then to the Batkovic
camp, and while he was there he was mistreated by, among others, a trio
of Muslim soldiers.
According to Osmanovic this trio of Muslims doled out the most severe
beatings. It was unclear why this trio of Muslims was beating
prisoners at what he said was a Serb-run detention facility, but that
was Osmanovic’s story. They were Muslims. They wore uniforms. They had
their own car that they would come to the camp in, and they severely
beat the detainees.
Osmanovic was released from captivity when he was exchanged. What his
evidence, or any of the other evidence they heard today, has to do
with President Milosevic, I have no idea. I guess the prosecutor is
just trying to run out the clock.
The next witness was a secret witness codenamed “B-1746.” B-1746 was a
Muslim from the municipality of Doboj in Bosnia-Herzgovina.
B-1746 didn’t see any killings take place, but B-1746 had heard about
killings from other people. B-1746 had also heard from other people
that Russian and Romanian volunteer units were in town and fighting on
the Serb side.
According to B-1746’s witness statement “Arkan’s White Eagles” had
attacked Doboj. Unfortunately for the witness, there is has never been
any such thing as “Arkan’s White Eagles.” Arkan was the commander of
the Serbian Volunteer Guard, also known as the Tigers. Arkan never
commanded the White Eagles.
When President Milosevic confronted B-1746 with these facts, the
witness responded by saying that they couldn’t be expected to keep the
identities of all those paramilitaries straight. So in other words
B-1746 had no idea who had attacked Doboj.
The prosecutor went into damage control mode. She explained that the
witness had not had the opportunity to see the witness statement. Well
then that puts it in a neat package; the witness isn’t responsible for
what is contained in their statement for the simple reason that
they’ve never seen it!
Regardless of the prosecutor’s efforts, the fact still remains that
the witness said that they couldn’t keep the identities straight.
The term “red berets” was thrown around a lot. The idea was to imply
that the JSO from Serbia had been involved. Because White Eagles wore
red berets, President Milosevic asked the witness to describe the
differences in the red berets that the JSO wore and the red berets
that the White Eagles wore. The witness couldn’t. The simple fact of
the matter is that this witness had no idea what they were talking
about.
Seeing that things weren’t going well B-1746 began to get hysterical
and say all sorts of dumb things. B-1746 claimed that the Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina was totally unarmed. President Milosevic, in
apparent disbelief that anybody could say something so stupid, asked
the question again. He asked, “Are you claiming that the Army of
Bosnia-Herzegovina had no weapons?” The witness answered, “Yes that is
what I claim.”
B-1746 also claimed that Serbs in Doboj had been forced to fight
against their will. According to B-1746 Serb military commanders took
Serb men to the front lines and forced them to fight in the trenches,
and to keep them from running away they were tied up.
An astonished Milosevic asked the witness, how they could fight if
they were tied up? The witness answered him that they were not actually
tied up, but that they were tied together. That’s much better! I’m
sure that all of these men being tied to one another were an effective
fighting force. I would also like to know when the witness had access
to the Serbian trenches to see such a spectacle. Oh well, maybe this
is another one of those things that the witness heard from someone.
B-1746 explained a couple of things. B-1746 knew that Croats and
Muslims didn’t respond to JNA call-ups and B-1746 knew that the JNA
took over weapons from the T.O. throughout Yugoslavia. Although, B-1746
was convinced that the take over of weapons was some sort of JNA plot
against Croats and Muslims, and so President Milosevic asked if B-1746
was aware that the JNA took over the T.O.’s weapons in Serbia as well.
B-1746 was aware of that fact but it didn’t change their mind.
B-1746 eventually escaped the war in Bosnia, and where do you think
B-1746 went? B-1746 went to Milosevic’s Serbia and guess what
happened. B-1746 was able to live freely, and B-1746 received
assistance from the FRY authorities. B-1746 was issued proper
documents and a passport. One would think that B-1746 would be
grateful for the help, but one would be wrong.
The next witness was Esed Belic, a member of the SDA from Bosanska
Krupa. He was at the “tribunal” to testify about the activities of the
SDS. He testified under his own name, but the “tribunal” put the facial
distortion on the video anyway. Maybe the “tribunal” did this because
the witness is so hideously ugly that they didn’t want anybody to see
his face, or maybe they did this because this guy isn’t really who
they say he is. I don’t know, but it doesn’t make any sense to hide
the face and still use his name.
Belic is a 92-bis witness and so President Milosevic only gets 1 hour
to cross-examine him. He got 20 minutes today, and will get the
remaining 40 minutes on Wednesday. The “tribunal” won’t be in session
tomorrow because it is a UN holiday.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg112603.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: MIROSLAV DERONJIC - A SERBIAN TRAITOR
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - November 26, 2003
Esed Belic finished his testimony at the “tribunal” today. He was the
president of the SDA in Bosanska Krupa from September 1991 onwards.
Belic testified that the SDA wanted to increase the number of Muslims
in the reserve police force in Bosanska Krupa so that they could
acquire more weapons.
Belic explained that the fighting started in Bosanska Krupa when two
young Serb men were shot by this same police at a checkpoint.
Belic considered that the killing of these two Serbs, by the Muslim
police officers, was a provocation that had been staged by the SDS.
President Milosevic didn’t buy that version of events, he mocked the
notion that the SDS told those Muslim police to shoot those two young
Serbs.
Belic’s statement had some inaccuracies in it, which highlight the
fact that admitting entire witness statements as evidence is a flawed
practice. Belic swore that his statement was truthful and accurate, and
the statement was admitted as evidence under Rule 89(F).
The only problem is that Belic’s statement was not truthful and
accurate. Belic attributed the inaccuracies to the fact that he didn’t
write his witness statement. At The Hague “tribunal” none of the
witnesses write their own witness statement. The prosecution
interviews the witness before they testify, and on the basis of the
interview the prosecutor writes the statement for the witness.
So what we have is the prosecutor writing a document and then having
their own document that they wrote themselves treated as evidence
against an accused.
With Belic his statement said one thing, but his live testimony said
something different. In his statement he spoke of the front lines in
Bosanska Krupa and talked about how the Muslim forces managed to hold
the frontlines. In his live testimony he said no front lines existed
in Bosanska Krupa at all. He recited the same old story that the
Muslims had no armed forces (which makes it all the more amazing that
they managed to fight a war for three years).
In his statement he said that he went to Zagreb to work in the war
presidency, but in his live testimony his story was different. He said
that he was sent to Zagreb by the war presidency, not that the war
presidency was located in Zagreb, and that he went there so that he
could work for them. He had been working for them all along.
This illustrates the fact that witnesses, either by accident or
intentionally, are not pointing-out inaccuracies in their 89(F)
statements. If the tribunal wanted to have even the appearance of a
real court of law they would abandon this practice of admitting
statements written by the prosecutor as evidence. Moreover, this
illustrates that evidence admitted under Rule 89(F) is suspect.
After Belic withdrew, Miroslav Deronjic took the witness stand.
Deronjic is involved in a plea bargain with the prosecution. He has
agreed to plead guilty to crimes in Glogova in exchange for a light
sentence, but he has not been sentenced as of yet.
In point 11(A) of Deronjic’s plea agreement it says “based on Miroslav
Deronjic’s full and substantial co-operation with the Office of the
Prosecutor, the Prosecutor will recommend to the Trial Chamber that it
impose a term of 10 years imprisonment.”
So the prosecutor needs to consider that Deronjic is fully and
substantially cooperating in order to recommend the 10 year
imprisonment. If they don’t consider that there is adequate
cooperation from Deronjic they are not bound to recommend anything.
In point 11(B) of the plea agreement it says, “the Prosecutor will
take necessary and reasonable steps to ensure the safety and
protection of Miroslav Deronjic and members of his family;”
In exchange for a light prison sentence, the protection of his family,
and immunity from further prosecution for the crimes that he plead
guilty to. Deronjic agrees in point 12 of his plea agreement “to meet
as often as necessary with members of the Office of the Prosecutor and
to co-operate with and provide them with truthful and complete
information that is known to him regarding individuals and events in
the former Yugoslavia. He agrees to be truthful and candid and to
freely answer all questions put to him by members of the Office of the
Prosecutor. Miroslav Deronjic agrees to testify truthfully in any
trials, hearings, and proceedings before the Tribunal where the
Prosecutor deems his evidence may be relevant, whether those matters
are presently before the Tribunal or may be in the future.”
So Deronjic only gets his sweet deal if he testifies against others.
He hasn’t been sentenced yet and if he fails to impress the prosecutor
he loses his deal. The last part of point 11(A) of his plea agreement
says “Miroslav Deronjic understands that the Trial Chamber is not bound
to accept the Prosecutor’s recommendation and may impose a sentence
above or below the Prosecutor’s recommended sentence. The imposition
of such a sentence will not vitiate the plea of guilty;”
In other words, the plea agreement doesn’t mean that they can’t still
screw him anyway, so he’d better play ball if he ever wants to be a
free man again. In looking at the plea agreement one can really see
that Deronjic’s testimony is the result of extortion by the prosecutor.
Deronjc testified under the now infamous Rule 89(F). His 232 paragraph
statement was admitted into evidence, and Slobodan Milosevic was only
allotted 2½ hours to cross-examine him.
The cross-examination started with the transcript of an allegedly
intercepted conversation between Radovan Karadzic and the witness. It
is interesting to note that the source of this transcript is unknown
and that no tape recording exists of this so-called intercept.
Deronjic nonetheless, confirmed that the transcript was of an
authentic telephone conversation.
Deronjic, who was the President of the Bratunac Municipal Board of the
SDS claimed that he frequently spoke with Radovan Karadzic. He claimed
that Karadzic told him at a meeting in Zvornik that he should prepare
Bratunac for VRS operations around Srebrenica.
Deronjic, whose memory was so precise about the alleged telephone
conversation, found that his memory failed him when he was asked to
say when the military operations actually began.
Deronjic said that he met with Gen. Krstic, but he didn’t know how
long he spoke with Krstic, what he spoke to Krstic about, or even what
day he met Krstic. Deronjic thought that he might have had some coffee
with Krstic, but he didn’t remember.
Deronjic, in spite of the fact that he claimed to have spoken with the
VRS commanders in the area, said that he didn’t know what objective
the VRS was trying to achieve in the area of Srebrenica. Deronjic said
that he didn’t know because he didn't ask.
In spite of the fact that Deronjic says he didn’t know what the VRS
was up to, he contacted Radovan Karadzic and advised him to send a
special unit of the R.S. MUP to assist with the situation in Srebrenica.
Deronjic said that because he didn’t know what was going on with
regard to Srebrenica that he traveled to Pale to meet with Radovan
Karadzic so that he could ask him.
Deronjic said that he went to Pale unannounced. He didn’t tell anybody
in Pale or Bratunac that he was going off to meet with President
Karadzic.
Deronjic had no idea when he left Bratunac to go to Pale, and he had
no idea when he got there. In his statement he got there on July 9,
1995, but when he was on the witness stand he didn’t know with any
certainty what day it was that he was there.
Deronjic claimed that when he got to Pale he just by luck happened
upon Radovan Karadzic, Momcilo Krajisnik, and Jovica Stanisic while
they were out taking a nice leisurely stroll.
Then Deronjic said that Karadzic introduced him to Krajisnik and
Stanisic as “our man in the field” and on the basis of that Deronjic
concluded that the three of them had been speaking about Srebrenica. He
didn’t hear them saying anything about it, but he none the less
concluded based on Karadzic’s reference to him as the “man in the
field” that the subject of this meeting was in Srebrenica.
Deronjic excluded the possibility that he had been referred to as “man
in the field” because he was the president of a local board of the
SDS. But that isn’t as important as Deronjic’s next ludicrous claim.
Deronjic claimed that Karadzic took him off to the side and told him
to kill as many Srebrenica Muslims as he could manage to kill.
President Milosevic ripped Deronjic’s lies to pieces. President
Milosevic produced the VRS orders regarding Srebrenica. The orders had
been issued by Maj. Gen. Jovanovic on July 2, 1995 – one week before
Deronjic went to Pale to ask Karadzic what the military’s objective
was.
The orders explicitly stated the objective and it was to sever links
between Srebrenica and Gorazde and reduce the enclaves to just the
urban areas. The orders also explicitly stated that the Geneva
conventions had to be observed.
Apparently our witness, who was the leading political figure in the
area, was the only one who didn’t know what the plan was.
President Milosevic asked Deronjic if he was part of the military
chain of command. Deronjic of course said that he wasn’t, and so
President Milosevic asked him why Karadzic would tell him that the
Muslims should be killed? If Deronjic couldn’t have them killed so why
would Karadzic even bring up the topic? The witness had no real answer
to speak of.
President Milosevic then produced orders issued to the VRS by Radovan
Karadzic himself. These orders were issued on July 9th, the same day
as Deronjic claims that Karadzic told him to kill all the Muslims. The
orders explicitly said that civilians, POWs and UNPROFOR soldiers
should be protected.
The witness got flustered and explained that he didn’t think that
accuracy was so critical in his statement. He admitted that the dates
were wrong and that the quotation marks were misplaced in his
statement. So what if quotes are being attributed to people who never
said something, this is the Hague Tribunal! Here we have a 232
paragraph witness statement that isn’t even written by the witness and
the witness says that the dates are wrong and the quotes aren’t that
exact, but he swears that the statement is true and it is admitted as
some sort of so-called “evidence” nonetheless.
Deronjic, in addition to being the SDS president in Bratunac, had been
appointed as the Civilian Commissioner for Srebrenica. He said that
Karadzic told him to meet with Muslim representatives and offer them 3
options. The first option was for them to remain in Srebrenica, the
second option was for them to go to an area that was under control of
the ABiH, and the third option was for them to go to a third country.
Deronjic said that the result was that the Muslims decided that they
wanted to leave Srebrenica.
According to Deronjic, Karadzic also ordered that war criminals be
apprehended and dealt with in accordance with the laws and customs of
war. Specifically the orders from Karadzic were that the POW’s should
be sent to the military prison, not that they should be killed or
anything of that sort.
At this point President Milosevic asked Deronjic if he thought that
these orders coming from Karadzic conflicted with his earlier
assertion that Karadzic wanted those people killed. Deronjic had no
choice but to admit that his testimony was contradictory here.
Deronjic said that the POWs weren’t properly guarded, and that he had
heard second-hand that some of them were being killed at the
cooperative farm in Bratunac but that he didn’t know, even to this day,
who was killing them; although, Deronjic did testify that civilians
had been carrying out revenge killings in the area.
Deronjic also testified that 15,000 – 20,000 Muslims soldiers in
Srebrenica were carrying out an operation to break-out towards Tuzla,
and he confirmed that they took large casualties in the process.
Deronjic, since he claimed prisoners were being killed, was asked how
many people were killed in combat and how many were killed while
imprisoned. Deronjic didn’t know, or else he didn’t want to answer
because he didn’t answer.
Deronjic claimed that Radovan Karadzic called him and asked him how
the evacuations were progressing and how the fighting was going. When
Karadzic called him, Deronjic had already heard about killings taking
place, but he says he didn’t tell Karadzic about them, because he
thought that Karadzic knew about it.
Then Deronjic says that a drunk man called “Beara” came to his office.
Of course nobody but Deronjic saw this, he had already sent his
assistant away.
Deronjic said that this drunk “Beara” person wanted to take over the
prisoners and kill them. President Milosevic asked Deronjic who sent
this “Beara” and Deronjic didn’t know for sure because he didn’t ask,
but he just assumed that Karadzic must have sent this drunk man to him.
Deronjic says he told “Beara” that he couldn’t kill the prisoners
because Karadzic had issued orders that the POWs should be sent to the
military prison, so that it could be established if they were war
criminals or not.
The morning after this “Beara” allegedly came staggering drunk into
Deronjic’s office, Deronjic says that he was woken up by news that
“Beara” was taking a group of POWs to the brick factory to kill them.
Deronjic says that he caught-up with “Beara” on the road to the brick
factory, but that he didn’t see any POWs with him.
By this time it is July 14th and Deronjic, who says he already thought
that Karadzic knew about the alleged killings, went to Pale to see
Radovan Karadzic so that he could tell him about the killings.
Deronjic says that he met with Karadzic alone, and that Karadzic was
concerned about what to do with the bodies. What Deronjic didn’t know
was that President Milosevic had acquired a copy of President
Karadzic’s daily agenda book, and in the book it can be seen that
Deronjic never met with Karadzic alone on July 14th. Deronjic saw
Karadzic, but as part of a whole delegation from Srebrenica. Deronjic
didn’t see Karadzic alone. He was caught in a lie, and there are
witnesses from that delegation who can bear this out.
The “trial’s” broadcast feed abruptly ended today. Video technicians
put-up the slate for Milan Babic’s initial appearance before the
Milosevic “trial” had adjourned.
All I have to say to Deronjic is that he should take a good look at
Milan Babic. Babic prostituted himself for the OTP and look what it got
him. Deronjic should also take a harder look at his plea agreement
since it only refers to Glogova. The OTP could still indict him for
something else; perhaps they would indict him for Srebrenica since he
talks like he was up to his elbows in that mess.
At any rate, being a whore never pays. I don’t know what sort of
pathetic excuse of a man would betray his people in such a shameful
fashion as Mr. Deronjic is doing. If the “tribunal” doesn’t get
Deronjic then God will.
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120203.htm
B-H PRESIDENCY MEMBER TIHIC TESTIFIES AGAINST MILOSEVIC
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - December 2, 2003
Two witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic
today. The first witness was a secret witness codenamed “C-57.” He
concluded his testimony after testifying last Thursday.
C-57 was an officer in the JNA. Apparently he or his unit was serving
in Borovo Selo, Dalj, and Erdut in Croatia.
C-57 testified that the JNA’s orders were to separate the warring
factions in Croatia. C-57 defined the warring factions as the Croatian
MUP and the Serbian population and T.O. Units.
According to C-57 members of the JNA swore an oath to defend
Yugoslavia’s territorial integrity and its constitutional order from
internal and external attack. On Thursday the prosecution made a big
deal about the term “internal enemy” appearing in orders issued to the
JNA. Today under cross-examination C-57 defined an “internal enemy” as
anybody who was attempting to overthrow the constitutional order or
damage the territorial integrity of Yugoslavia.
C-57 said that looting was prohibited by the JNA, but that it occurred
in spite of efforts to stop it. C-57 also said that the JNA had orders
to respect the Geneva Conventions, and that nobody issued the JNA
orders not to respect them.
C-57 described one incident when a member of the JNA cut the ears off
of a Croatian POW. The problem here is that C-57 never reported the
incident and so the JNA leadership never had a chance to punish the
perpetrator, because quite simply they didn’t know about the incident.
C-57 also said a couple of words about volunteers. C-57 said that the
Serbian Radical Party sent volunteers to Croatia and that those
volunteers were suborned to the local T.O., and that they had nothing
to do with the Government of Serbia.
After C-57 withdrew, B-H Presidency member Sulejman Tihic testified.
Tihic claimed that he had been captured and beaten by paramilitaries,
after which he was turned over to the JNA and allegedly beaten by them
in a JNA prison facility in Serbia.
The drama was high when Mr. Groome played a video tape of President
Milosevic shaking hands with a JNA soldier named Jovanovic, since
according to Tihic one of the men who beat him was named Jovanovic.
Amazing! The man who allegedly beat Tihic and the man on the tape both
had one of the most common Serbian surnames that there is. What
amazing proof!
Mr. Groome’s next question proved to be rather anti-climactic. Groome
asked Tihic if this was the same Jovanovic who had beaten him, and
Tihic couldn’t tell if it was him or not.
Tihic has a gift for denying the obvious. For example, Tihic says that
he supports the cantonization of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the abolition
of the entities, which he says is in accordance with Annex 4 of the
Dayton Accords. The only problem is that Annex 4 of the Dayton Accords
says “Bosnia and Herzegovina shall consist of the two Entities, the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Republika Srpska.” No
mention is made of cantonization, and the entities that Tihic wants to
abolish are the whole basis behind the Dayton Accords.
Tihic says that that he supports the Dayton Accords, but in reality he
wants to do away with them in order to abolish the Republika Srpska.
Tihic is not a truthful person. He even denies concrete facts that
anybody can verify in order to advance his own agenda, but then again
he is a politician.
Tihic claimed that he was forced to make false statements to the media
by the JNA. He says that they forced him to say that nobody was
beating him, that there was proper food, medical care, that he was
allowed to take walks, and that he wanted to stay in Serbia so as to
escape the war.
Transcripts of Tihic’s interviews were produced and he made no mention
about any of those things. He said nothing about the food, the medical
care, the beatings, or wanting to remain in Serbia. On the contrary,
in the interview he said that he wanted to go back to Bosnia.
Shortly after the JNA withdrew from Bosnia, Tihic got his wish and was
sent back to Bosnia. It should be noted here that previous prosecution
witnesses have testified that the JNA was under the command of the
SFRY presidency and not under the control of Slobodan Milosevic.
The fact that the JNA had a facility in Serbia is nothing unusual
since Serbia, like Bosnia, was part of Yugoslavia. Tihic could just
have easily been in a JNA prison in Bosnia as Serbia.
Because of the untruthful nature of Tihic’s testimony President
Milosevic expressed doubt that the JNA had beaten Tihic at all.
Tihic was at a loss for proof, he was a lawyer before the war, but
when he showed-up in “court” today he had no proof that his ribs were
broken or that his teeth were knocked out. He said that X-rays were
made and that the OTP might have them, but that he didn’t have them
with him, and indeed the prosecutor never produced them. I don’t know
about you, but I wouldn’t want this clown for my lawyer.
Tihic was given to making outlandish claims. He claimed that the JNA
would bus prisoners through villages in Serbia, and stop the busses in
the villages so that the local Serbs could get onto the busses and
beat the prisoners. Tihic had the claimed that this was all done in
front of UNPROFOR, the Red Cross, and the media. Apparently, nobody
made any reports about this therefore the so-called "joint criminal
enterprise" must be bigger than we thought.
Before the war Tihic was the president of the SDA in Bosanski Samac.
Under cross-examination from President Milosevic Tihic admitted that
Muslims there were arming themselves for months before the war ever
started, he also admitted that Muslims who joined the JNA were branded
as traitors by other Muslims.
Of course the fact that Muslims didn’t join the JNA lest they be
branded as traitors by other Muslims didn’t stop Tihic from being
critical of the JNA’s ethnic composition.
It turns out that the prosecution had a copy of a diary that Tihic
kept. The prosecution claims that it provided this diary to President
Milosevic back in March, but that they just didn’t put Tihic’s name on
it. At any rate, President Milosevic might recall Tihic tomorrow to
cross-examine him on questions that arise from this diary that he just
today, during the witness’s testimony, learned had come from the Tihic.
The proceedings ended today with some interesting administrative
matters. The U.S. Government wants to know what questions Wesley Clark
will be asked before he testifies. It appears as though they are
busily primping the perfumed prince for his big debut.
Wesley Clark will testify behind closed doors, the U.S. Government has
been given the right to redact the transcripts and edit the video
tapes, and now they want to know the questions in advance. This
so-called “trial” is a pathetic joke; the ICTY is a travesty of
justice. It is a worthless puppet court whose sole objective is to
provide retroactive justification for NATO and the U.S. Government’s
criminal aggression against Yugoslavia.
---
TIHIC ON A COURTESY VISIT TO WAR CRIMINAL ORIC ?
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/srna113003.htm
Bosnian Presidency's Muslim member to testify against Milosevic
SRNA - November 30, 2003
Sarajevo - Sulejman Tihic, a member of the Presidency of
Bosnia-Hercegovina, will leave for The Hague today where he is due to
testify against former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan
Milosevic on 2 December, Sarajevo papers report today.
Citing Tihic's office, Dnevni avaz Sarajevo-based Muslim daily said
that Tihic was expected to meet the chief prosecutor of the Hague
tribunal, Carla Del Ponte, and her deputy Graham Blewitt.
Tihic also plans to visit Naser Oric, Srebrenica wartime commander
indicted for war crimes, in the detention unit of the Hague tribunal.
SOURCE: SRNA news agency, Bijeljina, in Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian 0951
gmt 30 Nov 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120303.htm
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: THE RETURN OF TIHIC
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - December 3, 2003
Three witnesses testified at the so-called “trial” of Slobodan
Milosevic today. Sulejman Tihic was recalled today. Tihic was recalled
because President Milosevic had questions about his diary, which was
not properly disclosed to him until after the witness was already
giving his testimony yesterday. President Milosevic was given only 20
minutes to go over the 65 page diary, and he made good use of the 20
minutes he had.
From Tihic’s diary it emerged that Tihic himself was engaged in the
developing war plans and arming the Muslims before the war. According
to Tihic’s diary the SDA formed a crisis command and developed war
plans before the war ever started. It also emerged that Tihic himself
was sending Muslims for sabotage training. Tihic’s diary described 6
separate instances of arms smuggling by the Muslims before the war.
The SDA’s plans to destroy the multiethnic structure of the JNA also
emerged from Tihic’s diary. According to Tihic’s diary, the SDA spread
rumors and distributed leaflets with the goal of identifying Muslim JNA
members and branding them as traitors. This scheme worked in tandem
with appeals from Alija Izetbegovic that Muslims should not join the
JNA either as reservists or to perform their military service.
Tihic described Muslim members of the 4th detachment of the T.O. in
derogatory terms. He called them “traitors”, “criminals”, and “people
from mixed marriages”.
It also turns out that Tihic was not with the SDA from the beginning
as he had previously stated. Apparently he had reservations about
joining the party because he felt that the membership were illiterate
hardliners.
I’m sure that more interesting tidbits could be found in Tihic’s
diary, but President Milosevic only got 20 minutes.
The next witness to testify was Ahmet Zulic, a Muslim from Sanski
Most. Mr. Zulic is a self-confessed liar. He gave one statement to the
B-H authorities in 1994 and another statement to the ICTY in June of
2001. President Milosevic asked him if the statements were both true
and Zulic said that neither one of the statements was true.
Matters concerning the untruthful nature of the statements were dealt
with by the so-called “tribunal” in private session. At one point Mr.
Kwon indicated that the witness had admitted to lying to ICTY
investigators in one of the private sessions.
The fact that the witness clearly admitted to lying in the statements
did not stop the prosecutor from trying to assert that the ICTY
witness statement was true. And after the prosecutor claimed that the
ICTY statement was true; this self-confessed liar who was occupying
the witness stand agreed with the prosecutor that the statement was
true, even though on two previous occasions he clearly said that it
was not true.
Zulic’s explanation to Mr. Kwon was that he had made a mistake, when
earlier on the same day, he clearly said on two separate occasions
that he was not telling the truth in either of his witness statements.
Zulic claimed to be the victim of some mistreatment. But he had 3
different versions of the same mistreatment. In one version people’s
throats were being slashed and then a pistol was put into his mouth, in
another version the pistol was placed in his mouth and then people’s
throats were slashed, and in a third version the pistol was in his
mouth while the throats were being slashed. The sequence of events
changes in each instance. His diary had one version, his statement
another, and there was another version still in his testimony in the
Brdjanin and Talic case.
Another interesting point that came up was that Seselj’s men and the
White Eagles were not one in the same unit. This is a common
misconception. Seselj’s men joined the Army and the T.O. as volunteers;
they did not have their own units. The White Eagles were a totally
separate group. President Milosevic brought up this point, but the
Zulic couldn’t differentiate between any groups he said that they were
all the same to him. Therefore who mistreated him?
In the Talic case he said the following about the people who allegedly
mistreated him “They wore olive-grey uniforms” and when asked what
unit they belonged to he said “I really am unable to tell which unit
they belonged to, whether they were Chetniks or the regular army,
regular troops, because they were behind some willow trees, so that we
just saw some soldiers. I couldn't see them properly.”
All of this happened in Bosnia, so what is this testimony about some
unidentified unit, accused of this alleged massacre, supposed to prove
against Milosevic? Apparently nothing.
After Zulic left, a secret witness codenamed “B-1021” took the stand.
B-1021’s testimony was a big secret since it all took place in closed
session.
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg120403.htm
PUBLIC ACCUSATIONS; SECRET “TRIAL”
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – December 4, 2003
The so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic was held in secret today.
A secret witness testified about God only knows what. None of the
testimony was public it’s all a big secret.
The so-called “tribunal” dealt with some administrative matters and
then it announced that it would go into a so-called “private session”
for the rest of the day.
President Milosevic strongly objected to the “private session.”
President Milosevic has nothing to hide, because he is totally
innocent, and therefore he considers that his so-called “trial” should
be held out in the open for the whole world to see.
One wonders how come the tribunal is so anxious to hide its brand of
so-called “justice” from the world. What are they ashamed of? Why
can’t the public see all of this “damning evidence” that they
supposedly have against President Milosevic? I know that justice is
supposed to be blind, but at the Hague Tribunal she is being bound and
gagged.
Secret witnesses, private sessions, limited cross-examination for some
witnesses, and no cross-examination of others, testimony written by
the prosecutor on behalf of the witness admitted as evidence under
Rule 89(F), and rumors and hearsay treated as evidence. These are only
some of the things that go on at that so-called “tribunal.”
Then we have the special treatment for the perfumed prince, Wesley
Clark. He gets to know the questions ahead of time. He gets to have
two U.S. Government lawyers with him on the witness stand. Of course
he will testify in private session, God forbid that the public should
be able to see what he said before the U.S. Government redacts the
transcript of his testimony.
The secrecy of this so-called “trial” is obscene. When President
Milosevic objected to the so-called “private session” today, the
so-called “judge” May responded that there would be no debate. The
so-called “evidence” would be heard in secret, and that was that, and
with his decree the broadcast was terminated and the public was locked
out.