=== DA ICDSM ITALIA RICEVIAMO E DIFFONDIAMO ===
La Sezione Italiana dell'ICDSM ringrazia tutti quelli che hanno finora
contribuito alla campagna di finanziamento per la difesa di Milosevic.
La richiesta dell'ICDSM internazionale, tuttavia, e' che tali sforzi
vengano RADDOPPIATI nel prossimo futuro, poiche' le spese sono ingenti.
Non esistono altre fonti di finanziamento: la situazione a Belgrado e'
irrespirabile, i lavoratori ... non lavorano, chi ha i soldi per
mangiare li tiene stretti e non rischia certo la galera in attivita'
politiche o di solidarieta' a favore di Milosevic, che viene presentato
dai media laggiu' esattamente come da noi, cioe' come un dittatore
criminale e ferrovecchio. I nuovi ricchi votano i partiti
filo-occidentali e di destra e non appoggiano certo Milosevic. Per di
piu', alla campagna per
Milosevic l'SPS e' sostanzialmente ESTRANEO, poiche' la leadership
parlamentare di quel partito ha scelto una linea accomodante con
Kostunica ed e' in rotta di collisione con il gruppo organizzatosi
attorno a SLOBODA (sezione belgradese dell'ICDSM).
A tutti deve essere infine chiaro che non esiste alcun "tesoro
nascosto" di Milosevic e che il nostro impegno e' insostituibile ed
indispensabile.
Per contribuire dall'Italia:
Conto Corrente Postale numero 86557006
intestato ad Adolfo Amoroso, ROMA
causale: DIFESA MILOSEVIC
Per contatti:
ICDSM - Sezione Italiana
c/o GAMADI, Via L. Da Vinci 27
00043 Ciampino (Roma)
email: icdsm-italia@...
=== * ===
Da: ICDSM Italia
Data: Ven 27 Feb 2004 12:37:29 Europe/Rome
A: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Oggetto: [icdsm-italia] Interview with Tiphaine Dickson on resignation
of Richard May
[ Una intervista all'avvocato canadese Tiphaine Dickson, assistente
dell'ICDSM, sulle dimissioni inaspettatamente presentate pochi giorni
fa dal "giudice" del "processo" in corso, presso il tribunale speciale
della NATO, contro Slobodan Milosevic... ]
Da: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
Data: Mer 25 Feb 2004 16:35:36 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Inteview with Tiphaine Dickson on resignation of Richard May
Interview with Quebec ICDSM-lawyer Tiphaine Dickson on the resignation
of presiding judge in the Milosevic-case, Richard May
**********************************************************
Q: Late Sunday, the President of the ICTY, Theodor Meron, announced the
resignation of Richard May of the United Kingdom, the presiding judge
in the Milosevic trial. Officially, the resignation is due to the ill
health of judge May.
What was your first take on these developments?
Tiphaine Dickson: This is a spectacular development-- only days before
the end of the presentation of the prosecution's evidence-- which has
gone on for two years already. This resignation demonstrates that the
length and complexity of this process, not to mention the hundreds of
witnesses, 30,000 pages of transcripts, 500 videotapes, hundreds of
audiotapes, and huge quantity of other exhibits cannot be adequately
handled, let alone be meaningfully understood, by a person in ill
health. It is unfortunate that Slobodan Milosevic-- whose
health concerns similarly reduce his capacity properly to analyse and
challenge the voluminous record generated so far-- has not been treated
with the same deference accorded to Richard May. Much has been made in
the mainstream press
about President Milosevic's illness "wasting the court's time", yet
Richard May's undisclosed health problems are not treated with
contempt, but rather with compassion and concern. Slobodan Milosevic
cannot resign from the ICTY for health reasons, and on the contrary, he
has confronted this process while struggling against a life-threatening
illness, despite being denied provisional release or specialized
medical care to treat his condition.
Q: In recent days, the international press reported that the genocide
charge has not been proven.
Dickson: The press' assessment of the quality of evidence presented so
far is accurate to the extent that the evidence presented by the ICTY
prosecutor has been anemic, rife with hearsay, opinion, speculation and
irrelevancies. It is evident that counts should be dismissed, and in my
opinion, the prosecutor has not succeeded in presenting a coherent or
compelling case, in accordance with the standards of criminal justice.
Q: Some media went even further, saying that even evidence of war
crimes in Bosnia and Croatia seems to be very shaky. If so, the
remaining part would be the Kosovo indictment. Is that a way for the
press to prepare the public for some charges being dropped or might
there be something else behind this? For Mr.
Milosevic it would not make any difference whether he gets one or five
life sentences. But for the Western governments it would make a
difference whether Milosevic's defense case covers all three
indictments or is reduced to just Kosovo. If reduced to Kosovo, would
Mr. Milosevic still be able to tell the
whole story that there was a plan to destroy Yugoslavia-something to
qualify the 'plan' not from his side but from the West, from Croatia
and Bosnia? Or could we consider it an attempt to destroy a successful
defense case?
Dickson: If the Chamber were to dismiss both the Bosnia and Croatia
indictments, it would still be possible for SM to present his defense
as announced in his opening statement. Kosovo was the West's-- NATO,
the EU, US and other powers-- pretext for a gruesome 78-day bombing
campaign, executed in
violation of international law, using weapons, targets, and tactics
which violate the laws and customs of war. This aggression marked the
culmination of the decade-long
effort to dismember Yugoslavia. As such, and in particular given the
fact that the Kosovo indictment was served in the course of the
bombing, to neutralize the Yugoslav leadership's potential to negotiate
peace-- which had always been
successfully achieved by President Milosevic in the past-- it is open
to him to contextualize this indictment
It is highly likely that Mr. Milosevic will present the defense he has
planned and will demonstrate that there was only one war: the war
against Yugoslavia. In any event, the Prosecutor has chosen to allege,
in the Kosovo indictment, that Slobodan Milosevic was the principal
interlocutor for the "international
community" since 1989, and "was the primary representative of the SFRY
and FRY: The Hague Conference in 1991; the Paris negotiations of March
1993; the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia in January
1993; the Vance-Owen peace plan negotiations between January and May
1993; the Geneva peace talks in the summer of 1993; the Contact Group
meeting in June 1994; the negotiations for a cease fire in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 9-14 September 1995; the
negotiations to end the bombing by the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 14-20 September 1995;
and the Dayton peace negotiations in November 1995."
The Prosecutor made the decision to stipulate President Milosevic's
primary role in these largely successful peace negotiations in order to
establish, astonishingly, his responsibility for the commission of
crimes, rather than for
having negotiated peace. Slobodan Milosevic is therefore entitled to
explore all issues relevant to these conferences and negotiations,
including the underlying conflicts that led to them. In doing this, he
will have the opportunity to identify the foreign interests which were
responsible for the dismemberment of
Yugoslavia, from the first unconstitutional secessions to the illegal
bombing of Yugoslavia.
Q: How will the trial continue?
The rules of procedure provide that a new judge cannot be assigned to a
trial-- and in this case, evidence has been heard for two years--
unless the accused consents to such a measure. However, the judges may
disregard the accused's
objection if the "interests of justice" so dictate. The accused's
consent appears illusory if the Chamber is entitled to ignore it, even
if they do so "in the interests of justice". If the remaining judges
choose to assign a new judge despite Mr. Milosevic's objections-- which
is very likely, as the President of the ICTY, Theodor Meron, has
essentially prejudged the issue in his press release announcing Richard
May's resignation, by stating that he is "confident that Judge May's
resignation will not have an unduly disruptive effect on any
proceedings before the Tribunal"-- President Milosevic is nonetheless
entitled to appeal their decision. Furthermore, any new judge assigned
must certify that he or she is familiar with the record before sitting
on the case. The evidence presented so far has generated over 33,000
pages of transcripts, not to mention tapes, both audio and video, maps,
and a variety of other exhibits. It would not be decent to suggest that
one could skim through-- let alone "familiarize"-- oneself with such a
voluminous record, in such an important trial, in less than a year.
It is important to point out that courts of appeal rarely overturn
trial judgments with respect to credibility. This is because trial
judges are deemed to have had a unique opportunity to assess the
witness' demeanor in a courtroom.
In this case, over 200 witnesses have testified so far, and matters of
credibility have been of crucial importance. How could a new judge
appreciate the eloquent body language of witnesses such as Rade
Markovic or Captain Dragan Vasilikovic without having seen them? It
would be necessary for any new judge, in addition to reading--and
understanding-- the record in its entirety, to carefully watch the
video footage from the beginning of the process. This requires at least
one year's time.
Although it appears that the ICTY will push to continue the matter
despite Richard May's resignation, it is important to note that in
common law proceedings, this situation would normally constitute a
mistrial, and require that proceedings start anew. Unfortunately, the
political pressure is such that on this issue-- like so many others--
the rights of the defendant will likely take a back seat to political
expedience. The ICTY judges could even modify the rules in order to
facilitate the continuation of the process, as they have now amended
their rules 28 times in a little over a decade. Such a development
would be an unfortunate precedent for the future of international law.
Thank you, Maitre Dickson, for answering those questions.
Interviewer: Cathrin Schütz
A shortened version of this interview was published in the German daily
"junge Welt", February 25, 2004
*******************************************************
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND TRUTH ABOUT THE SERBIAN PEOPLE
AND YUGOSLAVIA IS IN THE CRUCIAL PHASE. NATO AND ITS SERVICES
IN BELGRADE AND THE HAGUE HAVE NO INTEREST TO SUPPORT IT.
*******************************************************
SO IT TOTALLY DEPENDS ON YOU!
*******************************************************
A SMALL TEAM OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC'S ASSISTANTS, WHICH IS
BECOMING INTERNATIONAL, HAS TO HAVE CONDITIONS TO WORK
AT THE HAGUE IN THE TIME OF INTENSIVE PREPARATIONS FOR THE
FINAL PRESENTATION OF TRUTH AND DURING THAT
PRESENTATION.
*******************************************************
TO DONATE, PLEASE CONTACT SLOBODA OR THE NEAREST ICDSM
BRANCH, OR
find the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
================================================
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
================================================
==========================
ICDSM - Sezione Italiana
c/o GAMADI, Via L. Da Vinci 27
00043 Ciampino (Roma)
email: icdsm-italia@...
Conto Corrente Postale numero 86557006
intestato ad Adolfo Amoroso, ROMA
causale: DIFESA MILOSEVIC
La Sezione Italiana dell'ICDSM ringrazia tutti quelli che hanno finora
contribuito alla campagna di finanziamento per la difesa di Milosevic.
La richiesta dell'ICDSM internazionale, tuttavia, e' che tali sforzi
vengano RADDOPPIATI nel prossimo futuro, poiche' le spese sono ingenti.
Non esistono altre fonti di finanziamento: la situazione a Belgrado e'
irrespirabile, i lavoratori ... non lavorano, chi ha i soldi per
mangiare li tiene stretti e non rischia certo la galera in attivita'
politiche o di solidarieta' a favore di Milosevic, che viene presentato
dai media laggiu' esattamente come da noi, cioe' come un dittatore
criminale e ferrovecchio. I nuovi ricchi votano i partiti
filo-occidentali e di destra e non appoggiano certo Milosevic. Per di
piu', alla campagna per
Milosevic l'SPS e' sostanzialmente ESTRANEO, poiche' la leadership
parlamentare di quel partito ha scelto una linea accomodante con
Kostunica ed e' in rotta di collisione con il gruppo organizzatosi
attorno a SLOBODA (sezione belgradese dell'ICDSM).
A tutti deve essere infine chiaro che non esiste alcun "tesoro
nascosto" di Milosevic e che il nostro impegno e' insostituibile ed
indispensabile.
Per contribuire dall'Italia:
Conto Corrente Postale numero 86557006
intestato ad Adolfo Amoroso, ROMA
causale: DIFESA MILOSEVIC
Per contatti:
ICDSM - Sezione Italiana
c/o GAMADI, Via L. Da Vinci 27
00043 Ciampino (Roma)
email: icdsm-italia@...
=== * ===
Da: ICDSM Italia
Data: Ven 27 Feb 2004 12:37:29 Europe/Rome
A: This email address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it.
Oggetto: [icdsm-italia] Interview with Tiphaine Dickson on resignation
of Richard May
[ Una intervista all'avvocato canadese Tiphaine Dickson, assistente
dell'ICDSM, sulle dimissioni inaspettatamente presentate pochi giorni
fa dal "giudice" del "processo" in corso, presso il tribunale speciale
della NATO, contro Slobodan Milosevic... ]
Da: "Vladimir Krsljanin"
Data: Mer 25 Feb 2004 16:35:36 Europe/Rome
Oggetto: Inteview with Tiphaine Dickson on resignation of Richard May
Interview with Quebec ICDSM-lawyer Tiphaine Dickson on the resignation
of presiding judge in the Milosevic-case, Richard May
**********************************************************
Q: Late Sunday, the President of the ICTY, Theodor Meron, announced the
resignation of Richard May of the United Kingdom, the presiding judge
in the Milosevic trial. Officially, the resignation is due to the ill
health of judge May.
What was your first take on these developments?
Tiphaine Dickson: This is a spectacular development-- only days before
the end of the presentation of the prosecution's evidence-- which has
gone on for two years already. This resignation demonstrates that the
length and complexity of this process, not to mention the hundreds of
witnesses, 30,000 pages of transcripts, 500 videotapes, hundreds of
audiotapes, and huge quantity of other exhibits cannot be adequately
handled, let alone be meaningfully understood, by a person in ill
health. It is unfortunate that Slobodan Milosevic-- whose
health concerns similarly reduce his capacity properly to analyse and
challenge the voluminous record generated so far-- has not been treated
with the same deference accorded to Richard May. Much has been made in
the mainstream press
about President Milosevic's illness "wasting the court's time", yet
Richard May's undisclosed health problems are not treated with
contempt, but rather with compassion and concern. Slobodan Milosevic
cannot resign from the ICTY for health reasons, and on the contrary, he
has confronted this process while struggling against a life-threatening
illness, despite being denied provisional release or specialized
medical care to treat his condition.
Q: In recent days, the international press reported that the genocide
charge has not been proven.
Dickson: The press' assessment of the quality of evidence presented so
far is accurate to the extent that the evidence presented by the ICTY
prosecutor has been anemic, rife with hearsay, opinion, speculation and
irrelevancies. It is evident that counts should be dismissed, and in my
opinion, the prosecutor has not succeeded in presenting a coherent or
compelling case, in accordance with the standards of criminal justice.
Q: Some media went even further, saying that even evidence of war
crimes in Bosnia and Croatia seems to be very shaky. If so, the
remaining part would be the Kosovo indictment. Is that a way for the
press to prepare the public for some charges being dropped or might
there be something else behind this? For Mr.
Milosevic it would not make any difference whether he gets one or five
life sentences. But for the Western governments it would make a
difference whether Milosevic's defense case covers all three
indictments or is reduced to just Kosovo. If reduced to Kosovo, would
Mr. Milosevic still be able to tell the
whole story that there was a plan to destroy Yugoslavia-something to
qualify the 'plan' not from his side but from the West, from Croatia
and Bosnia? Or could we consider it an attempt to destroy a successful
defense case?
Dickson: If the Chamber were to dismiss both the Bosnia and Croatia
indictments, it would still be possible for SM to present his defense
as announced in his opening statement. Kosovo was the West's-- NATO,
the EU, US and other powers-- pretext for a gruesome 78-day bombing
campaign, executed in
violation of international law, using weapons, targets, and tactics
which violate the laws and customs of war. This aggression marked the
culmination of the decade-long
effort to dismember Yugoslavia. As such, and in particular given the
fact that the Kosovo indictment was served in the course of the
bombing, to neutralize the Yugoslav leadership's potential to negotiate
peace-- which had always been
successfully achieved by President Milosevic in the past-- it is open
to him to contextualize this indictment
It is highly likely that Mr. Milosevic will present the defense he has
planned and will demonstrate that there was only one war: the war
against Yugoslavia. In any event, the Prosecutor has chosen to allege,
in the Kosovo indictment, that Slobodan Milosevic was the principal
interlocutor for the "international
community" since 1989, and "was the primary representative of the SFRY
and FRY: The Hague Conference in 1991; the Paris negotiations of March
1993; the International Conference on the Former Yugoslavia in January
1993; the Vance-Owen peace plan negotiations between January and May
1993; the Geneva peace talks in the summer of 1993; the Contact Group
meeting in June 1994; the negotiations for a cease fire in Bosnia and
Herzegovina, 9-14 September 1995; the
negotiations to end the bombing by the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization (NATO) in Bosnia and Herzegovina, 14-20 September 1995;
and the Dayton peace negotiations in November 1995."
The Prosecutor made the decision to stipulate President Milosevic's
primary role in these largely successful peace negotiations in order to
establish, astonishingly, his responsibility for the commission of
crimes, rather than for
having negotiated peace. Slobodan Milosevic is therefore entitled to
explore all issues relevant to these conferences and negotiations,
including the underlying conflicts that led to them. In doing this, he
will have the opportunity to identify the foreign interests which were
responsible for the dismemberment of
Yugoslavia, from the first unconstitutional secessions to the illegal
bombing of Yugoslavia.
Q: How will the trial continue?
The rules of procedure provide that a new judge cannot be assigned to a
trial-- and in this case, evidence has been heard for two years--
unless the accused consents to such a measure. However, the judges may
disregard the accused's
objection if the "interests of justice" so dictate. The accused's
consent appears illusory if the Chamber is entitled to ignore it, even
if they do so "in the interests of justice". If the remaining judges
choose to assign a new judge despite Mr. Milosevic's objections-- which
is very likely, as the President of the ICTY, Theodor Meron, has
essentially prejudged the issue in his press release announcing Richard
May's resignation, by stating that he is "confident that Judge May's
resignation will not have an unduly disruptive effect on any
proceedings before the Tribunal"-- President Milosevic is nonetheless
entitled to appeal their decision. Furthermore, any new judge assigned
must certify that he or she is familiar with the record before sitting
on the case. The evidence presented so far has generated over 33,000
pages of transcripts, not to mention tapes, both audio and video, maps,
and a variety of other exhibits. It would not be decent to suggest that
one could skim through-- let alone "familiarize"-- oneself with such a
voluminous record, in such an important trial, in less than a year.
It is important to point out that courts of appeal rarely overturn
trial judgments with respect to credibility. This is because trial
judges are deemed to have had a unique opportunity to assess the
witness' demeanor in a courtroom.
In this case, over 200 witnesses have testified so far, and matters of
credibility have been of crucial importance. How could a new judge
appreciate the eloquent body language of witnesses such as Rade
Markovic or Captain Dragan Vasilikovic without having seen them? It
would be necessary for any new judge, in addition to reading--and
understanding-- the record in its entirety, to carefully watch the
video footage from the beginning of the process. This requires at least
one year's time.
Although it appears that the ICTY will push to continue the matter
despite Richard May's resignation, it is important to note that in
common law proceedings, this situation would normally constitute a
mistrial, and require that proceedings start anew. Unfortunately, the
political pressure is such that on this issue-- like so many others--
the rights of the defendant will likely take a back seat to political
expedience. The ICTY judges could even modify the rules in order to
facilitate the continuation of the process, as they have now amended
their rules 28 times in a little over a decade. Such a development
would be an unfortunate precedent for the future of international law.
Thank you, Maitre Dickson, for answering those questions.
Interviewer: Cathrin Schütz
A shortened version of this interview was published in the German daily
"junge Welt", February 25, 2004
*******************************************************
STRUGGLE FOR FREEDOM AND TRUTH ABOUT THE SERBIAN PEOPLE
AND YUGOSLAVIA IS IN THE CRUCIAL PHASE. NATO AND ITS SERVICES
IN BELGRADE AND THE HAGUE HAVE NO INTEREST TO SUPPORT IT.
*******************************************************
SO IT TOTALLY DEPENDS ON YOU!
*******************************************************
A SMALL TEAM OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC'S ASSISTANTS, WHICH IS
BECOMING INTERNATIONAL, HAS TO HAVE CONDITIONS TO WORK
AT THE HAGUE IN THE TIME OF INTENSIVE PREPARATIONS FOR THE
FINAL PRESENTATION OF TRUTH AND DURING THAT
PRESENTATION.
*******************************************************
TO DONATE, PLEASE CONTACT SLOBODA OR THE NEAREST ICDSM
BRANCH, OR
find the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm
================================================
To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
================================================
==========================
ICDSM - Sezione Italiana
c/o GAMADI, Via L. Da Vinci 27
00043 Ciampino (Roma)
email: icdsm-italia@...
Conto Corrente Postale numero 86557006
intestato ad Adolfo Amoroso, ROMA
causale: DIFESA MILOSEVIC