( La prof.ssa Mira Markovic ha firmato recentemente una Delega
per rappresentanza legale all'avvocatessa canadese Tiphaine Dickson,
cosicchè si possa intraprendere una azione legale appropriata contro
il "Tribunale ad hoc" dell'Aia per la responsabilità della morte del
presidente Milosevic, avvenuta in circostanze oscure l'11 marzo 2006.
Il fatto che la signora Markovic abbia accordato la sua fiducia ad uno dei
membri più attivi dell'ICDSM impegna l'intero ICDSM in una rinnovata
attività di finanziamento allo scopo di coprire le spese di questo lavoro.
I versamenti vanno indirizzati a:

Vereinigung für Internationale Solidarität (VIS) e.V.
BIC (SWIFT): POFICHBE
Banca: Swiss Post Postfinance, CH-3030 Bern
IBAN: CH35 0900 0000 9198 2587 8

Per maggiori informazioni si possono contattare:

Vladimir Krsljanin, ICDSM Secretary, auroraplan@...
tel. +381 62 423 915
o
Cathrin Schuetz, ICDSM Alternate Secretary, cschuetz1@...
tel. +49 1788 656 159

Sulla ripresa delle attività dell'ICDSM si veda anche la:

Lettera Aperta a Tadic e Kostunica
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/icdsm-italia/message/275 )



**************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO DEFEND SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
ICDSM Sofia-New York-Moscow www.icdsm.org
**************************************************************
Velko Valkanov, Ramsey Clark, Sergei Baburin (Co-Chairmen),
Klaus Hartmann (Chairman of the Board), Vladimir Krsljanin (Secretary),
Christopher Black (Chair, Legal Committee), Tiphaine Dickson (Legal
Spokesperson), Cathrin Schuetz (Alternate Secretary)
**************************************************************
17 July 2007 Special Circular
**************************************************************
auroraplan@... tel. +381 62 423 915
**************************************************************
DEATH OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC IN THE ICTY CUSTODY WAS
THE PEAK OF CRIMINAL MISBEHAVIOUR OF THE ICTY.
THE SERBIAN AUTHORITIES DIDN'T TAKE ANY ACTION ON
THIS GROUND, BUT THE ICDSM WILL GO ON!
The current situation and the planned legal action are described in the
interview with Maitre Tiphaine Dickson below. This action will also
depend on your support!
V. Krsljanin


Tiphaine Dickson is a member of the Québec Bar, practicing primarily in
international criminal law. She was lead counsel in one of the first UN
genocide trials before the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania. Maitre Dickson was
also Legal Spokesperson of the International Committee to Defend
Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) and she currently represents Mira Markovic.


Question:
Maitre Dickson, you are representing the wife of former Yugoslav president
Slobodan Milosevic, Mira Markovic, in a legal investigation regarding the
circumstances of his death in custody while he was standing trial before
the ICTY. The official version is that he died of a natural cause, namely by
a heart attack. What gives reason to doubt this information?

Maitre Dickson:
President Milosevic's death in custody was a disgrace. At minimum, that
shocking outcome deserved a thorough, serious, scientifically sound, and
above all, independent and impartial investigation. Instead, the ICTY,
which does not even explicitly guarantee the right to a trial by an
independent court, assigned one of its own judges, Kevin Parker, to head
an "internal inquiry". Slobodan Milosevic died only two weeks after the
ICTY Trial Chamber denied his request for provisional release, with guarantees
from the Russian Federation - a permanent member of the Security Council,
need it be added - for medical care at the Bakoulev Scientific Centre for
Cardiovascular Surgery in Moscow.

Question:
And this ICTY report is the basis for the official cause of death?

Maitre Dickson:
Yes. This so-called "Parker Report", in broad strokes, exonerates the
ICTY, and blames President Milosevic for his death. It does so with
surprising lapses in logic and shaky reasoning, but in fairness, without
a truly independent investigation, and without the benefit of outside
experts, perhaps not much more could have been expected.
However, President Milosevic's family does expect, and is entitled to, a
full accounting of circumstances surrounding his death, which was denied
to it by the Parker Report. Marko Milosevic made plain to Mr. Parker, in an
open letter drafted a year ago, that the content and conclusions of the
report were "unacceptable", and pointedly remarked that "the autopsy was
conducted without the presence of the independent expert team sent by
our family, even though we insisted on it", "that the Russian doctors were
denied the access to the body and the tissue samples", and that the family
was denied access to the blood samples. The family's letter also raised
persuasive objections to the legitimacy, objectivity, and propriety of the
ICTY investigating itself.

Question:
So in other words the ICTY, the same institution that denied Slobodan
Milosevic the needed treatment, judged the circumstances of which he
died.

Maitre Dickson:
It is difficult to comprehend that not only was Slobodan Milosevic not
granted the adequate medical care he had repeatedly requested, but
that the cause of his death was not investigated objectively or transparently.
Not even the questions put to the ICTY by the Russian Federation were
adequately addressed, according to Ambassador Churkin, speaking at the
5453rd meeting of the Security Council. It is therefore impossible to accept
the findings of the ICTY's internal inquiry, since beyond defects that can
be discerned in a superficial reading of the report, the panel suffers from
the fatal flaw of-at the very least-the appearance of partiality. Nemo judex
in sua causa. One cannot be the judge of one's own case.
Justice and minimal decency demand full disclosure of information
obtained by the "internal enquiry" to President Milosevic's family. The
findings, as they now stand, are unpersuasive, and a bereaved family is
entitled to know-without institutional interests being brought to bear-the truth
about their loved one's death in custody.

Question:
In your capacity as legal spokesperson of the International Committee to
Defend Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) you have met Milosevic on several
occasions in detention. You addressed the media in The Hague on the
day the case was terminated due to Milosevic's death.

Maitre Dickson:
I was, in fact, that very day scheduled to hold a press conference
supporting President Milosevic's appeal against the decision to deny
him provisional release to Moscow for a number of tests and likely
interventions that had been requested by specialists who had found his
condition to be life-threatening in late 2005. We were very concerned
about the deterioration of President Milosevic's health, and hoped that he
would rapidly receive the treatment he required to pursue his defense in
The Hague, and perhaps, to save his life. Unfortunately, my attendance
at The Hague on March 14th, 2006, followed his death by a few days.
I could only emphasize to the press that all medical data should be made
public, and expressed the hope that the Secretary-General of the United
Nations would accept to waive the civil and criminal immunity of any and
all UN employees and subcontractors responsible for President Milosevic's
death. It was a gruesome, shameful trip, one that was meant to support his
medical provisional release, and certainly not to take stock of his death.

Question:
So if he would have been granted the therapy he may still live?

Maitre Dickson:
Permit me to put it this way: I strongly doubt that had President
Milosevic been allowed to receive treatment at the Bakoulev Center
in Moscow, he would have died in March 2006, as he did.

Question:
Milosevic's family openly calls it murder.

Maitre Dickson:
Last year, Marko Milosevic expressed his outrage with the findings of
the Parker Report, and made the following comment:

"The question isn't whether or not my father was murdered or
poisoned. The point is that a former head of state, being held in UN
custody, was gravely ill and constantly complaining of his medical
condition. His health condition was assessed many times by medical
experts as dire. He was denied adequate (if any) medical treatment, and
then he died. At the same time those who denied him treatment were
undeniably aware of what the consequences would be. He asked for
provisional release to receive medical treatment. Dr. Shumilina warned
on November 6th (2005) that his condition was so critical that he could
die at any moment."

He went on to state:

"The guaranties had been granted, and the ICTY ignored all of it.
Obviously deliberately for they were aware of all the facts, both general
and subtle. So he died.
The Tribunal, and everyone in charge, has committed a deliberate
murder. They condemned him to death on February 24th when they
rejected his request for provisional release, ignoring everything: his
health condition, his rights, and the warnings of his doctors, which unlike
the jail physician hired by the ICTY, had both - unquestionable
competence and expertise, as well as his confidence. Ignoring even the
guarantees of The Russian Federation (by the explanation that those
guarantees lacked credibility, it seems that the Tribunal has given itself
the mandate to evaluate the credibility of even the Security Council's
permanent member states). The ruling handed down on February 24th
came into effect on March 11th. That is the fact and the truth. Any other
speculation is just evasive political manoeuvring. "

This is to say that all the facts about Slobodan Milosevic's medical
condition were known, and yet, with deliberation, no steps were taken to
ensure that he not die. In fact, the ICTY Trial Chamber denied-- in spite
of unambiguous recommendations from highly reputable specialists and
security guarantees from the Russian Federation-- a motion to permit him
to obtain the treatment he urgently required in Moscow.
What is now needed is complete and transparent disclosure of all medical
evidence-- including blood and tissue samples-- to examine the facts
without concern for institutional reputation or appearances. I am not surprised
by the family's characterization of Slobodan Milosevic's utterly shameful death
in custody as "murder". They are well placed to know how serious his
condition was, and how his attempts to obtain appropriate treatment were
thwarted, leading to the most irreparable consequence: he was found dead.
And as it stands there remain, despite the findings of the Parker Report,
too many unanswered questions for any family in similar circumstances not
to affirm that their loved one was murdered.

Question:
While the health problems of Milosevic were well known and led to several
adjournments of his trial, the media often complained about Milosevic's
alleged "tactics" to "disrupt" the process when talking about his illness.

Maitre Dickson:
President Milosevic's health problems were widely discussed, and
interestingly, the facts were often twisted to suit angles adopted by the
press, even when contradictions were glaring. For example, it was often
alleged that President Milosevic was feigning illness when confronting
"damning evidence" by the Prosecutor, and yet it was precisely when he
was set to begin his own presentation of evidence that it was suggested
that he was "too ill" to represent himself. Presumably, in the latter case,
illness would not be a result of fear of evidence, or at least not from the
standpoint of President Milosevic.
I think it important to point out how-despite undeniably serious medical
issues-President Milosevic, though firmly and consistently demanding the
respect of his right to adequate medical treatment, complained little, and
how industriously and efficiently he worked during the entire period of his
detention in The Hague. He was focused and was determined to
demonstrate - as he had stated on many occasions - that there had been
one war: a war against Yugoslavia. That he maintained composure and
dignity throughout the proceedings only heightens the dismay that he was
left to die without adequate medical treatment, and that his death was blamed
on him. His family understandably refuses to accept such a shocking state
of affairs, and frankly, anything called justice deserves infinitely more than
what they were offered. We are determined to bring to light all the facts about
this disgraceful and pointless death, for the sake of truth, and for justice, two
ideas that have been perverted enough.

A shorter version of the interview was published in the German daily Junge
Welt on Monday, July 16, 2007


DONATIONS for this legal action are most urgently needed!

Transfers should be made to:

Vereinigung für Internationale Solidarität (VIS) e.V.

BIC (SWIFT): POFICHBE

Bank: Swiss Post Postfinance, CH-3030 Bern

IBAN: CH35 0900 0000 9198 2587 8

For more information please contact:

Vladimir Krsljanin, ICDSM Secretary, auroraplan@...
tel. +381 62 423 915
or
Cathrin Schuetz, ICDSM Alternate Secretary, cschuetz1@...
tel. +49 1788 656 159