From: http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org
1. TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT
(June 2nd)
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060203.htm
2. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" JUNE 03 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060303.htm
3. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060403.htm
4. MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060503.htm
5. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061003.htm
6. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 11 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061103.htm
7. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061603.htm
=== 1 ===
TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT
June 2, 2003 - www.slobodan-milosevic.org
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Monday at the Hague Tribunal the prosecution called 2 more irrelevant
witnesses at the Milosevic trial. The two secret witnesses testified
under the pseudonyms "B-1455" and "B-1098." Neither of these witnesses
had anything to do with Milosevic.
Both men were Muslims who claimed to have survived execution by firing
squad in the vicinity of Zvornik in 1992. The only problem was that
they couldn't identify their would-be executioners. They tried to say
that it was the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who was trying to execute
them, but at the time they were testifying about the JNA had already
vacated Bosnia. Therefore, whoever was trying to kill them was not the
JNA because the JNA wasn't there to do it. So now we have a situation
at The Hague where unknown persons are the victims of crimes at the
hands of unknown criminals. How can one even allege that Milosevic
could be guilty of anything here? We don't even know who was
perpetrating the crimes, and so you certainly can't allege that the
unknown criminals were acting on orders from Milosevic.
In the case of "B-1098" there was no forensic evidence to prove that
any execution had taken place at all.
"B-1455" might have been telling what he thought was the truth, but
"B-1098" was obviously lying. "B-1098" claimed that himself and 63
other men were taken to a meat processing facility where they were
shot. How did they get there? All 64 men got there on a 2 TON TRUCK
the witness said. The only problem is that it is impossible to fit 64
men on a 2 ton truck. The witness fell into a very common trap for
people who tell lies. He gave a lot of details to prove that he was
telling the truth, and then he couldn't remember all of the details
later, so he said something that was quite impossible.
In a case related to the Milosevic trial. The former JSO commander,
Franko "Frenki" Simatovic, plead innocent to all five counts that the
Tribunal accused him on. Frenki is jointly indicted with Jovica
Stanisic. Both men are accused of being a member of the so-called
"joint criminal enterprise." Frenki's innocent plea should put an end
to the media speculation that he would testify against Milosevic in
exchange for a lighter sentence.
Meanwhile, Jovica Stanisic is undergoing medical treatment in
Belgrade. A decision on his extradition is possible this week.
=== 2 ===
SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
FOR JUNE 03 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 3, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Today at the Milosevic trial, President Milosevic concluded the
cross-examination of the secret witness “B-1098.”
In an attempt to be dramatic Mr. “B-1098” said that he was taken
prisoner along with 700 other Muslims and that “none of those people
were ever seen again.”
President Milosevic asked “B-1098” how many of those 700 people could
he identify. The witness responded that he could identify only 4 of
them.
President Milosevic then asked the next logical question. He asked the
witness how it was that he could say that these people were “never
seen again” when he didn’t even know who the people were to begin
with. How could the witness possibly know if the other people, whom he
couldn’t identify, were seen again or not?
Seeing that President Milosevic had captured this witness in a lie,
“Judge” May intervened to save the witness. Mr. May became indignant,
asking President Milosevic in a rather rude manner how he could
possibly think that this witness was making up stories. Then he accused
President Milosevic of attempting to provoke the witness and demanded
that he move on to another topic.
Following the conclusion of the cross-examination by President
Milosevic; the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the
witness. In his cross-examination Mr. Tapuskovic established a useful
fact. This witness had given two written statements he gave one
statement to the authorities in Tuzla on June 17, 1992 and he gave
another statement to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of The Hague
Tribunal on November 24, 1996.
In the first statement of June 17, 1992, just days after the alleged
executions by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) had allegedly taken
place; the witness never mentioned the JNA at all. Not once in his
1992 statement was the JNA even mentioned at all. It wasn’t until he
gave his statement to the OTP in 1996 that the JNA suddenly appeared.
Upon the conclusion of Mr. “B-1098’s” testimony another secret witness
was called by the prosecution. Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”
Mr. “C-47” was examined by Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff until the hearing
adjourned for the day. Mr. “C-47’s” examination in chief is expected
to take another hour, and conclude early in the day on June 4th.
Following his examination in chief, he will be cross-examined by
President Milosevic.
Mr. “C-47” professes to be a former member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS). He says that he was a policeman in Serbia, and he claims
to have been a Chetnik volunteer.
After the trial was adjourned for the day, a motion hearing was held.
President Milosevic was not present at the motion hearing.
At the motion hearing, the Prosecutor, Mr. Nice complained that the
government of Serbia-Montenegro (formerly known as FR Yugoslavia) was
not cooperating. Mr. Nice claimed that they were not providing the
documents, and the access to documents that was requested by the OTP.
Lawyers for the Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) government were present at the
hearing. The SCG’s lawyers denied the prosecutor’s allegations that
the government was not cooperating.
The SCG lawyers accused the prosecutor of wanting to go on a “grand
fishing expedition” through the state archives of Yugoslavia.
In my opinion, if the prosecution is granted unrestricted access to
the archives of FR Yugoslavia, then President Milosevic and his
associates should be granted the same unrestricted access to state
archives, not only in Belgrade and Podgorica, but also in Zagreb,
Sarajevo, Pristina, Skopje, and Ljubljana.
“If it’s good for the goose it’s good for the gander”
In my opinion, If the Tribunal should rule that access to the archives
of a state should be unrestricted and that a party should have
unfettered access to them, then that should apply equally to the
prosecution and the defense, and it should apply equally to all of the
states that this illegal Tribunal considers to be under it’s so-called
“jurisdiction.”
At the end of the motion hearing the so-called “Judges” announced that
they would rule in due course, and then the motion hearing was
adjourned.
---
Chronology of events:
1. Milosevic finished the cross-examination of secret witness
“B-1098”
2. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
3. The Prosecutor, Mr. Nice briefly re-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret witness
“C-47” his examination in chief is expected to last for another hour
on June 4th.
5. The trial adjourned at 1:45 PM (Hague Time).
6. A Motion Hearing was held at 3:00 PM and lasted until
approximately 4:30 PM
=== 3 ===
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 4, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
It seems to me that Mr. “C-47” is a secret witness simply because he
is not who and what he professes to be. He is one of many false
witnesses who have testified against Milosevic. As I said yesterday,
this secret witness claimed to be a member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS) and a Chetnik volunteer.
The first thing that Slobodan Milosevic did in the cross-examination
was set the record straight regarding the treatment of Croats and
Hungarians by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). This “C-47” person
tried to say that the SPS was collaborating with the SRS to intimidate
Croats and Hungarians in Vojovodina. Milosevic explained that this was
nonsense because the SPS had hundreds of Croat and Hungarian members
in Vojovodina and that the SPS chairperson in Vojovodina was a
Hungarian woman. It is quite illogical that the SPS would want to
threaten its own members.
For a member of the SRS this “C-47” seemed to know remarkably little
about the party. For example this so-called “C-47” claimed that he had
joined the SRS in 1990, and that he had even spoken with Vojislav
Seselj in the autumn of 1990 about matters pertaining to the party on
an occasion when Mr. Seselj came to his village.
As Slobodan Milosevic pointed out there are 2 problems here. The first
problem is that the SRS was not founded until 1991, and so there was
no Serbian Radical Party for the witness to join in 1990. The second
problem is that Vojislav Seselj was in jail when this secret witness
claims to have talked to him about the still nonexistent SRS.
When President Milosevic confronted the witness on these points this
secret witness asked to go into closed session.
The next point is that the witness spoke about the SRS presidency in
Vojovodina. President Milosevic pointed out that the problem here was
that there is no SRS presidency in Vojovodina, because (unlike the
SPS) the SRS opposes the existence of provinces and favors one unified
Serbia with no provinces. Therefore, the SRS has only one presidency
for all of Serbia. So it is impossible for this witness to have had
anything to do with the SRS Presidency in Vojovodina because that is
something that doesn’t exist.
Another false claim from this secret witness was that the SUP
controlled the SRS. The witness arrived at this conclusion, because he
said that certain members of the SUP were members of the SRS.
Milosevic pointed out that a problem here was that all of the people
whom this secret witness had enumerated in the SUP were not members of
the SRS at all. Another problem is that it doesn’t matter what the
political orientation that some members of the SUP had was. Just
because one holds a position and at the same time has a political
leaning doesn’t mean that one is using their position to control their
political party. That is an absurdity. Upon being confronted with this
information the secret witness asked to go into closed session again.
Another falsehood was when the witness claimed that he had seen
Vojislav Seselj at a rally, on September 13, 1991, in which 5,000
people took part, where Mr. Seselj was allegedly threatening to “gouge
out the eyes of Croats with rusty spoons.”
Milosevic began to explain that Seselj had never said this. Milosevic
was explaining that this so-called “quote from Seselj” came from a
parody done on a Minimax comedy TV show -- at that point for some
unknown reason the Tribunal abruptly cut off the audio/video feed.
As far as the Chetniks were concerned “C-47” said that one of their
aims was to overthrow Milosevic. It is interesting to note here that
many witnesses have testified at Milosevic’s trial about crimes
committed by so-called "Chetniks." Does it seem logical that Slobodan
Milosevic would be in command of this group whose stated purpose was to
overthrow him?
In fact, as far as the command of volunteers is concerned it was all
done by the local commanders in the combat theatre. If for example,
the Army of Republika Srpska, or the Army of the Republic of Serbian
Krajina, or if some units of the TO needed help; they would call on
these groups of volunteers, and these volunteers would go to the
combat theatre, where they would receive their weapons, and their
orders from the local commanders in the field.
Whatever some volunteer unit did or didn’t do has absolutely nothing
at all to do with Slobodan Milosevic. He had nothing to do with any of
that – he didn’t issue any orders, and he didn’t issue any weapons.
Those volunteers went to the combat front on their own free will, and
helped the local Serb units in the field.
Even this secret witness testified when he left the theatre of combat
that him and all of the volunteers were searched at the border by the
Serbian authorities of Bosnia and Croatia to ensure that they weren’t
keeping any of the weapons that they had been given.
A number of manipulations were perpetrated by the Tribunal today. The
use of closed sessions was abused. The majority of the
cross-examination took place in closed session in spite of the
objections made by President Milosevic.
Because President Milosevic is innocent, and therefore has nothing to
hide, he wants this so-called “trial” to be held out in the open for
the public to see. The Tribunal, on the other hand knows full well
that this is a show trial, and therefore it wants to hold the “trial”
in secret.
The prosecutor changed the order of witnesses around again today,
which makes it difficult for Milosevic to prepare for
cross-examinations. Then the prosecutor requested that the hearing for
tomorrow be extended. The problem here is that President Milosevic can
only meet with his associates from 3 PM until 4:45 PM after the
hearings, and as it stands now even with the hearings adjourning at
1:45 PM he still can’t always get to the prison by 3 PM. His
associates do his research for him and when his access to them is
limited his defense is hampered.
---
Sequence of events for 4 June 2003:
1. The Prosecutor, MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF - Concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness “C-47”
2. President, SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC - Cross-examined the secret witness
“C-47” NOTE: “C-47’s” cross-examination is not yet complete.
=== 4 ===
MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 5, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The secret witness “B-24” claimed to have been a member of the crisis
staff in the Serb Municipality of Zvornik from the inception of the
crisis staff until 12 April 1992, while serving in the crisis staff
“B-24” says that he was the commander of the police station. “B-24”
also claimed that he was a member of the SDS, and president of the
local government in Zvornik (i.e. he was the Mayor) from February 1993
until September 1993.
"B-24" provided some useful information, but it was also apparent that
he was testifying under threat.
We will start with the useful information that Mr. “B-24” provided.
First and foremost, under cross-examination from President Milosevic,
“B-24” explained the sequence of events that lead up to the Serbian
counterinsurgency operation that took place on 8 April 1992 in Zvornik.
“B-24” explained that the Muslims began to form armed paramilitary
formations of the so-called “Patriotic League” in 1991 before the
outbreak of any hostilities in Bosnia. He said that the Muslims had
substantial man power, and that they were well armed.
“B-24” explained how the Muslim paramilitaries would recruit
criminals, arm the criminals, and then make the criminals into the
police, and that they did this with a view to intimidating the Serbs.
“B-24” explained how the Serb population fled from Zvornik and how the
counterinsurgency operation of 8 April 1992 enabled them to return,
along with some 15,000 Serb refugees who had fled from central Bosnia.
“B-24” explained that the Muslim paramilitaries seized control of
Zvornik on 5 April 1992.
“B-24” explained that on 6 April 1992 five soldiers of the Yugoslav
People’s Army (JNA) were massacred in Zvornik by the Muslim armed
extremists. 6 April 1992 was the 2nd day of Muslim control over
Zvornik. 6 April 1992 was also the day that Bosnia was recognized as
an independent state, and in addition to that 6 April is the
anniversary of Hitler’s first attacks on Yugoslavia.
On 8 April 1992 the Territorial Defense (T.O.) of the Serb
Municipality of Zvornik, along with, various volunteers, and Arkan’s
Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) launched a counterinsurgency operation
and took control of Zvornik away from the Muslim paramilitaries.
“B-24” explained that no JNA personnel and no government personnel
from Serbia took part in the counterinsurgency operation.
“B-24” explained that the Serbian authorities in Zvornik did all they
could to protect the Muslim civilian population of Zvornik, but as the
war raged on they couldn’t maintain control over the municipality, and
illegal paramilitaries, criminals out to exploit the situation, and
civilians angry at the whole situation made it so there was virtually
no government in Zvornik from roughly May to June of 1992. And that in
this chaotic situation Muslims were victimized, their mosques were
destroyed, and they fled.
Contrast this with the situation in just across the Drina River in
Mali Zvornik (in Serbia). As President Milosevic pointed out, passions
were high there too, but the authorities of Serbia managed to keep
order and nobody harmed that town’s 20% Muslim population, or laid a
finger on their Mosque, which was being guarded around the clock by
the MUP of Serbia.
It was also noted by Milosevic, and confirmed by “B-24” that members
of an illegal paramilitary formation that victimized Muslims at the
Chelopek Cultural Center were arrested and prosecuted by the
Government of Serbia on the basis of information provided by the
authorities of the Republika Srpska.
In spite of these useful things that “B-24” explained it was apparent
that he was at the Tribunal under threat of an indictment against
himself.
As I stated above “B-24” was a member of the crisis staff and served
as the commander of the police station in the Serb Municipality of
Zvornik. He held this position during the counterinsurgency operation.
“B-24’s” story about how the counterinsurgency operation came about is
a little odd. “B-24” claimed that Arkan and 24 of his men beat-up the
members of the Zvornik crisis staff and forced the T.O., which
numbered over 500, to launch the operation against their will. So are
we are to believe that Arkan and 24 members of the SDG were able to
force the 500 member T.O. to do something that it didn’t want to do?
“B-24” systematically avoided taking any responsibility even though he
was in a command position. Instead he blamed Arkan, in an effort to
remove command responsibility from himself.
“B-24’s” story doesn’t make sense here, because he told Milosevic in
the cross-examination that he was the one who personally went and got
Arkan and his men, brought them back, and arranged for their
accommodations. So it looks as if the plan was already made when Arkan
was brought in.
“B-24” tried to link Arkan to Milosevic by saying that he saw Arkan
getting out of a vehicle that had a license plate that indicated that
it belonged to the federal SUP, and that he had acquired Arkan’s
services on the advice of * a friend of his * who just happened to be
a member of the Serbian MUP.
The part about Arkan using the federal SUP’s vehicle is as much of a
lie as the part about Arkan and his 24 men beating-up the whole crisis
staff and forcing the 500 man T.O. to launch an operation against
their will. Arkan had his own vehicles, why on Earth would he use the
vehicle of the federal SUP? It doesn’t make sense.
I believe that “B-24” said this stuff about Arkan because the Tribunal
made a deal with him. I think that they sat “B-24” down and said,
“Testify against Milosevic or else we will slap a war crimes
indictment on you.”
The last question Mr. Groome asked “B-24” in his examination in chief
was: “Are you getting anything in exchange for your testimony?” To
which B-24 said, “No.” The real question is what B-24 was * not *
getting in exchange for his testimony? Was he * not * getting indicted
for war crimes perhaps?
---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR 5 JUNE 2003:
1. Prosecutor Mr. Groome finished the examination in chief of the
secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
2. Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness testifying
under the pseudonym “B-24”
3. The Amicus Curiae Mr. Kay cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
4. The secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-1098” was
recalled and gave secret testimony in a closed session.
===
There were no proceedings scheduled between June 6 and June 9.
Proceedings resumed on June 10.
=== 5 ===
SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 10, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
After a four day weekend the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic
resumed at The Hague Tribunal. President Milosevic finished the
cross-examination of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym
of “C-47.” Then the prosecution called another secret witness who
testified under the pseudonym of “C-17.”
“C-47” continued to make an ass of himself. It is no wonder that he is
a secret witness. If I was saying the things that he was saying I’d be
embarrassed to show my face too.
“C-47” explained that nobody ordered the Chetnik volunteers to kill
and loot, but that they allegedly did simply because they didn’t have
anything better to do. “C-47” went on to say that his unit didn’t do
such things, but that he saw others doing it.
President Milosevic asked “C-47” if he ever reported any of the crimes
that he says the Chetniks were committing, and “C-47” replied that he
didn’t report anything to anybody.
After “C-47” finished, the prosecutor called another secret witness.
They call this one “C-17.” “C-17” testified about events around
Mostar. In particular “C-17” was talking about a camp that was being
used as a base for Chetnik volunteer units and the Krajina Red Berets.
The prosecutor kept on referring to a volunteer unit from the SAO
Krajina, known as the Krajina Red Berets as simply the “Red Berets.”
It is obvious that the prosecutor was attempting to confuse people
into thinking that the Serbian JSO (also known as the Red Berets) was
at this camp in Mostar.
The commander of the Krajina Red Berets, one Dragan Vasiljkovic, has
already come to the Hague Tribunal and testified that they were not
under the command of Slobodan Milosevic, and that the Serbian JSO had
nothing to with the Krajina Red Berets – these two totally separate
units just had the same name that’s all.
“C-17’s” testimony consisted of what the Krajina Red Berets and the
Chetniks, based at this camp, allegedly did around Mostar.
Seeing as how “C-47” testified that the Chetniks wanted to overthrow
Milosevic, and seeing as how the commander of the Krajina Red Berets
has already denied that they were under Milosevic’s command; I fail to
see what either one of these witnesses has to do with Milosevic.
The Tribunal recently gave the prosecution an additional 100 days to
present its case against Milosevic, because the original deadline for
them to finish their case had expired. Seeing such worthless witnesses
makes me wonder what the point of giving them more time was.
The only thing that the prosecution has proven beyond any doubt is
that they don’t have a case.
After the indictment against him was read-out at the beginning of the
“trial” President Milosevic said that it was written at the
intellectual level of a “retarded seven-year-old child.” After seeing
the prosecution, for nearly 2 years now, trying to prove this false
indictment, I’m afraid that I have to disagree with President
Milosevic. I think that a retarded seven-year-old could have done
better than the prosecution.
---
Sequence of Events for June 10, 2003
1. Judge Kwon was late because he got stuck in traffic.
2. Slobodan Milosevic concluded the cross-examination of the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”
3. The prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “C-17.”
=== 6 ===
SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 11, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Today at the Hague Tribunal the secret witness testifying under the
pseudonym of “C-17” concluded his testimony.
During the conclusion of his examination-in-chief this so-called
“C-17” told Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff about an incident where a Canadian
volunteer took members of UNPROFOR hostage, and attempted to use them
as human shields during the NATO bombing.
The secret witness, together with that woman from the other side,
proceeded to present that shameful taking of hostages as some sort of
act organized by Slobodan Milosevic’s envoy, Jovica Stanisic. They
explained that Jovica Stanisic came to Bosnia and wanted to take over
the hostages, but they didn’t explain why.
In the cross-examination Slobodan Milosevic cleared this whole thing
up. It was explained that the Government of Serbia had actually
negotiated the release of the hostages, and that Jovica Stanisic was
sent to Bosnia by President Milosevic in order to take over the
hostages so that they could be brought back to Serbia and set free.
This typical for that so-called “prosecution.” They took a
humanitarian act where the Government of Serbia secured the release of
hostages, and then tried to make it look like evidence of some sort of
crime.
This secret witness gave a statement to the tribunal consisting almost
exclusively of things that he says he heard from other people. A
typical example was when he said that the Government of Serbia was
providing weapons to the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).
The witness said that he saw civilian trucks from Serbia and that
somebody told him that the trucks contained weapons. “C-17” never
actually saw the weapons, he only heard about them from other people.
There was so much hearsay in “C-17’s” statement that President
Milosevic came right out and asked him what the point of his so-called
“evidence” was. “C-17” explained that he couldn’t answer that question
because didn’t work for the tribunal, and that he was only testifying
because they asked him to. In other words, this secret witness was so
useless that he didn’t even know what the point of his own testimony
was.
This witness was so ill-informed that it was pathetic. Yesterday I
accused the prosecution of trying to manipulate public perception by
calling the Krajina Red Berets, simply the “Red Berets.” I thought
that they were trying to create a misleading perception that the
Serbian JSO was involved in Bosnia.
Apparently, the witness really was talking about the Serbian JSO. The
problem here, as President Milosevic pointed out, is that the Serbian
JSO didn’t even exist during the time that the witness was talking
about, so the witness couldn’t have seen the Serbian JSO in Mostar or
anywhere else, because they didn’t exist.
More evidence that this secret witness was ill-informed came when he
was speaking about the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) being in Mostar as
late as the middle of June 1992.
As President Milosevic pointed out, the JNA didn’t exist in Bosnia
after May 19, 1992. The JNA was ordered to withdraw from Bosnia,
however Bosnian-Serb JNA members remained on their homeland, and the
JNA equipment which they had in their possession remained in Bosnia
with them and that is how the VRS was formed. So it is obvious that
“C-17” was either lying or seeing things that weren’t there when he
says that he saw the JNA in the middle of June. Either way whether he
was hallucinating or lying; the repeated references that this secret
witness made to the JNA being in Mostar in June of 1992 calls his
credibility into question.
All in all this was just another worthless witness in this shameful
political circus that they call a “trial.”
---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003
1. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17.”
2. President Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
3. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff re-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
=== 7 ===
SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 16, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The prosecution called Osman Selak. Selak tried to say that the VJ
(FRY Army) was in direct command over the VRS (Army of Republika
Srpska).
During cross-examination, President Milosevic asked Mr. Selak if he
could cite any order that the VJ ever issued to the VRS. Selak
couldn't produce any orders or examples or anything like that, but he
did have a diagram that he drew where he drew a line between a box
marked "VJ" and another box marked "VRS." I guess that this line drawn
between the 2 boxes is what passes for "evidence" at the Hague
Tribunal.
To top off the absurdity of this whole thing, Mr. Selak hates Serbs.
Mr. Kay was talking about the history of the JNA, and he mentioned the
Second World War. Mr. Selak couldn't restrain himself he had to take a
shot at the Serbs and so he lied and said that the Chetniks supported
the Nazis.
Serb Chetniks saved the lives of more than 500 U.S. Airmen during the
2nd world war. Those Americans were saved from the Nazis by the
Chetniks. Draza Mihailovich is a hero in the fight against fascism and
this witness tried to call those honorable men Nazis! As an American I
am deeply offended by that remark.
The prosecutor must be scraping the bottom of the barrel, because
after calling the racist Selak to testify, they resorted to calling
Dr. Budimir Babovic, a political scientist from Montenegro, to testify
about the Serbian police.
This guy's claim to fame was that he wrote a book, which was paid for
by the Soros Foundation. In the book he talks about how Milosevic
"abused the police." He gets all of his information in his book from
"the international and domestic media" and through his own "personal
analysis of the laws and constitution of Serbia," even though he isn't
a lawyer or anything like that. He's just, as Mr. Kwon put it, "a
layman."
Dr. Babovic had no direct knowledge of anything. The only thing that
the so-called "expert witness" managed to prove was his own ignorance
of the Serbian Constitution and the Serbian penal code. President
Milosevic would ask the so-called "expert" questions about the law and
this dummy didn't have a clue what he was talking about. If it wasn't
so funny to watch it would be sad.
Following Babovic was "B-1047." Allegedly, Arkan's men unsuccessfully
tried to execute "B-1047."
After the alleged attempted execution, "B-1047" made his way to a VRS
base and the VRS arranged for him to be transported to a hospital in
Banja Luka for medical treatment. It is important to note that Banja
Luka was always held by the Serbs.
"B-1047" is an invalid because of his wounds, and he tells a very
harrowing story, but he has nothing to do with Milosevic. I would
really like to see the prosecution explain why he should be brought in
to testify against Milosevic.
What does "B-1047's" plight prove against Milosevic? They aren't
saying that Milosevic ordered that "B-1047" should be shot, and so I
really don't see what the point here is.
This isn't unique. Witnesses who aren't relevant to anything Milosevic
is accused of testify against him all the time. All I can see is that
the prosecution is wasting time.
The prosecution doesn't need extra time for presenting their case.
They don't have a case. The more they try to prove their false
indictment the dumber it makes them look.
Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting. The Former Yugoslav President,
Zoran Lilic will be testifying.
---
ORDER OF WITNESSES
1. Former JNA colonel / Logistics Base Commander, Osman Selak
2. Political scientist from Montenegro, Dr. Budimir Babovic
3. A secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1047"
All witnesses were examined by the Prosecution, cross-examined by
President Milosevic, cross-examined by the Amicus Curiae, and finally
re-examined by the Prosecution.
1. TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT
(June 2nd)
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060203.htm
2. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" JUNE 03 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060303.htm
3. MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060403.htm
4. MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg060503.htm
5. SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061003.htm
6. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 11 2003
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061103.htm
7. SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg061603.htm
=== 1 ===
TWO SECRET WITNESSES ALLEGE THAT THEY SURVIVED EXECUTION ATTEMPT
June 2, 2003 - www.slobodan-milosevic.org
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Monday at the Hague Tribunal the prosecution called 2 more irrelevant
witnesses at the Milosevic trial. The two secret witnesses testified
under the pseudonyms "B-1455" and "B-1098." Neither of these witnesses
had anything to do with Milosevic.
Both men were Muslims who claimed to have survived execution by firing
squad in the vicinity of Zvornik in 1992. The only problem was that
they couldn't identify their would-be executioners. They tried to say
that it was the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) who was trying to execute
them, but at the time they were testifying about the JNA had already
vacated Bosnia. Therefore, whoever was trying to kill them was not the
JNA because the JNA wasn't there to do it. So now we have a situation
at The Hague where unknown persons are the victims of crimes at the
hands of unknown criminals. How can one even allege that Milosevic
could be guilty of anything here? We don't even know who was
perpetrating the crimes, and so you certainly can't allege that the
unknown criminals were acting on orders from Milosevic.
In the case of "B-1098" there was no forensic evidence to prove that
any execution had taken place at all.
"B-1455" might have been telling what he thought was the truth, but
"B-1098" was obviously lying. "B-1098" claimed that himself and 63
other men were taken to a meat processing facility where they were
shot. How did they get there? All 64 men got there on a 2 TON TRUCK
the witness said. The only problem is that it is impossible to fit 64
men on a 2 ton truck. The witness fell into a very common trap for
people who tell lies. He gave a lot of details to prove that he was
telling the truth, and then he couldn't remember all of the details
later, so he said something that was quite impossible.
In a case related to the Milosevic trial. The former JSO commander,
Franko "Frenki" Simatovic, plead innocent to all five counts that the
Tribunal accused him on. Frenki is jointly indicted with Jovica
Stanisic. Both men are accused of being a member of the so-called
"joint criminal enterprise." Frenki's innocent plea should put an end
to the media speculation that he would testify against Milosevic in
exchange for a lighter sentence.
Meanwhile, Jovica Stanisic is undergoing medical treatment in
Belgrade. A decision on his extradition is possible this week.
=== 2 ===
SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC "TRIAL"
FOR JUNE 03 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 3, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Today at the Milosevic trial, President Milosevic concluded the
cross-examination of the secret witness “B-1098.”
In an attempt to be dramatic Mr. “B-1098” said that he was taken
prisoner along with 700 other Muslims and that “none of those people
were ever seen again.”
President Milosevic asked “B-1098” how many of those 700 people could
he identify. The witness responded that he could identify only 4 of
them.
President Milosevic then asked the next logical question. He asked the
witness how it was that he could say that these people were “never
seen again” when he didn’t even know who the people were to begin
with. How could the witness possibly know if the other people, whom he
couldn’t identify, were seen again or not?
Seeing that President Milosevic had captured this witness in a lie,
“Judge” May intervened to save the witness. Mr. May became indignant,
asking President Milosevic in a rather rude manner how he could
possibly think that this witness was making up stories. Then he accused
President Milosevic of attempting to provoke the witness and demanded
that he move on to another topic.
Following the conclusion of the cross-examination by President
Milosevic; the Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the
witness. In his cross-examination Mr. Tapuskovic established a useful
fact. This witness had given two written statements he gave one
statement to the authorities in Tuzla on June 17, 1992 and he gave
another statement to the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of The Hague
Tribunal on November 24, 1996.
In the first statement of June 17, 1992, just days after the alleged
executions by the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) had allegedly taken
place; the witness never mentioned the JNA at all. Not once in his
1992 statement was the JNA even mentioned at all. It wasn’t until he
gave his statement to the OTP in 1996 that the JNA suddenly appeared.
Upon the conclusion of Mr. “B-1098’s” testimony another secret witness
was called by the prosecution. Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”
Mr. “C-47” was examined by Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff until the hearing
adjourned for the day. Mr. “C-47’s” examination in chief is expected
to take another hour, and conclude early in the day on June 4th.
Following his examination in chief, he will be cross-examined by
President Milosevic.
Mr. “C-47” professes to be a former member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS). He says that he was a policeman in Serbia, and he claims
to have been a Chetnik volunteer.
After the trial was adjourned for the day, a motion hearing was held.
President Milosevic was not present at the motion hearing.
At the motion hearing, the Prosecutor, Mr. Nice complained that the
government of Serbia-Montenegro (formerly known as FR Yugoslavia) was
not cooperating. Mr. Nice claimed that they were not providing the
documents, and the access to documents that was requested by the OTP.
Lawyers for the Serbia-Montenegro (SCG) government were present at the
hearing. The SCG’s lawyers denied the prosecutor’s allegations that
the government was not cooperating.
The SCG lawyers accused the prosecutor of wanting to go on a “grand
fishing expedition” through the state archives of Yugoslavia.
In my opinion, if the prosecution is granted unrestricted access to
the archives of FR Yugoslavia, then President Milosevic and his
associates should be granted the same unrestricted access to state
archives, not only in Belgrade and Podgorica, but also in Zagreb,
Sarajevo, Pristina, Skopje, and Ljubljana.
“If it’s good for the goose it’s good for the gander”
In my opinion, If the Tribunal should rule that access to the archives
of a state should be unrestricted and that a party should have
unfettered access to them, then that should apply equally to the
prosecution and the defense, and it should apply equally to all of the
states that this illegal Tribunal considers to be under it’s so-called
“jurisdiction.”
At the end of the motion hearing the so-called “Judges” announced that
they would rule in due course, and then the motion hearing was
adjourned.
---
Chronology of events:
1. Milosevic finished the cross-examination of secret witness
“B-1098”
2. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
3. The Prosecutor, Mr. Nice briefly re-examined secret witness
“B-1098”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff called the secret witness
“C-47” his examination in chief is expected to last for another hour
on June 4th.
5. The trial adjourned at 1:45 PM (Hague Time).
6. A Motion Hearing was held at 3:00 PM and lasted until
approximately 4:30 PM
=== 3 ===
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 04 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 4, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
It seems to me that Mr. “C-47” is a secret witness simply because he
is not who and what he professes to be. He is one of many false
witnesses who have testified against Milosevic. As I said yesterday,
this secret witness claimed to be a member of the Serbian Radical
Party (SRS) and a Chetnik volunteer.
The first thing that Slobodan Milosevic did in the cross-examination
was set the record straight regarding the treatment of Croats and
Hungarians by the Socialist Party of Serbia (SPS). This “C-47” person
tried to say that the SPS was collaborating with the SRS to intimidate
Croats and Hungarians in Vojovodina. Milosevic explained that this was
nonsense because the SPS had hundreds of Croat and Hungarian members
in Vojovodina and that the SPS chairperson in Vojovodina was a
Hungarian woman. It is quite illogical that the SPS would want to
threaten its own members.
For a member of the SRS this “C-47” seemed to know remarkably little
about the party. For example this so-called “C-47” claimed that he had
joined the SRS in 1990, and that he had even spoken with Vojislav
Seselj in the autumn of 1990 about matters pertaining to the party on
an occasion when Mr. Seselj came to his village.
As Slobodan Milosevic pointed out there are 2 problems here. The first
problem is that the SRS was not founded until 1991, and so there was
no Serbian Radical Party for the witness to join in 1990. The second
problem is that Vojislav Seselj was in jail when this secret witness
claims to have talked to him about the still nonexistent SRS.
When President Milosevic confronted the witness on these points this
secret witness asked to go into closed session.
The next point is that the witness spoke about the SRS presidency in
Vojovodina. President Milosevic pointed out that the problem here was
that there is no SRS presidency in Vojovodina, because (unlike the
SPS) the SRS opposes the existence of provinces and favors one unified
Serbia with no provinces. Therefore, the SRS has only one presidency
for all of Serbia. So it is impossible for this witness to have had
anything to do with the SRS Presidency in Vojovodina because that is
something that doesn’t exist.
Another false claim from this secret witness was that the SUP
controlled the SRS. The witness arrived at this conclusion, because he
said that certain members of the SUP were members of the SRS.
Milosevic pointed out that a problem here was that all of the people
whom this secret witness had enumerated in the SUP were not members of
the SRS at all. Another problem is that it doesn’t matter what the
political orientation that some members of the SUP had was. Just
because one holds a position and at the same time has a political
leaning doesn’t mean that one is using their position to control their
political party. That is an absurdity. Upon being confronted with this
information the secret witness asked to go into closed session again.
Another falsehood was when the witness claimed that he had seen
Vojislav Seselj at a rally, on September 13, 1991, in which 5,000
people took part, where Mr. Seselj was allegedly threatening to “gouge
out the eyes of Croats with rusty spoons.”
Milosevic began to explain that Seselj had never said this. Milosevic
was explaining that this so-called “quote from Seselj” came from a
parody done on a Minimax comedy TV show -- at that point for some
unknown reason the Tribunal abruptly cut off the audio/video feed.
As far as the Chetniks were concerned “C-47” said that one of their
aims was to overthrow Milosevic. It is interesting to note here that
many witnesses have testified at Milosevic’s trial about crimes
committed by so-called "Chetniks." Does it seem logical that Slobodan
Milosevic would be in command of this group whose stated purpose was to
overthrow him?
In fact, as far as the command of volunteers is concerned it was all
done by the local commanders in the combat theatre. If for example,
the Army of Republika Srpska, or the Army of the Republic of Serbian
Krajina, or if some units of the TO needed help; they would call on
these groups of volunteers, and these volunteers would go to the
combat theatre, where they would receive their weapons, and their
orders from the local commanders in the field.
Whatever some volunteer unit did or didn’t do has absolutely nothing
at all to do with Slobodan Milosevic. He had nothing to do with any of
that – he didn’t issue any orders, and he didn’t issue any weapons.
Those volunteers went to the combat front on their own free will, and
helped the local Serb units in the field.
Even this secret witness testified when he left the theatre of combat
that him and all of the volunteers were searched at the border by the
Serbian authorities of Bosnia and Croatia to ensure that they weren’t
keeping any of the weapons that they had been given.
A number of manipulations were perpetrated by the Tribunal today. The
use of closed sessions was abused. The majority of the
cross-examination took place in closed session in spite of the
objections made by President Milosevic.
Because President Milosevic is innocent, and therefore has nothing to
hide, he wants this so-called “trial” to be held out in the open for
the public to see. The Tribunal, on the other hand knows full well
that this is a show trial, and therefore it wants to hold the “trial”
in secret.
The prosecutor changed the order of witnesses around again today,
which makes it difficult for Milosevic to prepare for
cross-examinations. Then the prosecutor requested that the hearing for
tomorrow be extended. The problem here is that President Milosevic can
only meet with his associates from 3 PM until 4:45 PM after the
hearings, and as it stands now even with the hearings adjourning at
1:45 PM he still can’t always get to the prison by 3 PM. His
associates do his research for him and when his access to them is
limited his defense is hampered.
---
Sequence of events for 4 June 2003:
1. The Prosecutor, MS. UERTZ-RETZLAFF - Concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness “C-47”
2. President, SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC - Cross-examined the secret witness
“C-47” NOTE: “C-47’s” cross-examination is not yet complete.
=== 4 ===
MILOSEVIC TRIAL SYNOPSIS FOR JUNE 05 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 5, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The secret witness “B-24” claimed to have been a member of the crisis
staff in the Serb Municipality of Zvornik from the inception of the
crisis staff until 12 April 1992, while serving in the crisis staff
“B-24” says that he was the commander of the police station. “B-24”
also claimed that he was a member of the SDS, and president of the
local government in Zvornik (i.e. he was the Mayor) from February 1993
until September 1993.
"B-24" provided some useful information, but it was also apparent that
he was testifying under threat.
We will start with the useful information that Mr. “B-24” provided.
First and foremost, under cross-examination from President Milosevic,
“B-24” explained the sequence of events that lead up to the Serbian
counterinsurgency operation that took place on 8 April 1992 in Zvornik.
“B-24” explained that the Muslims began to form armed paramilitary
formations of the so-called “Patriotic League” in 1991 before the
outbreak of any hostilities in Bosnia. He said that the Muslims had
substantial man power, and that they were well armed.
“B-24” explained how the Muslim paramilitaries would recruit
criminals, arm the criminals, and then make the criminals into the
police, and that they did this with a view to intimidating the Serbs.
“B-24” explained how the Serb population fled from Zvornik and how the
counterinsurgency operation of 8 April 1992 enabled them to return,
along with some 15,000 Serb refugees who had fled from central Bosnia.
“B-24” explained that the Muslim paramilitaries seized control of
Zvornik on 5 April 1992.
“B-24” explained that on 6 April 1992 five soldiers of the Yugoslav
People’s Army (JNA) were massacred in Zvornik by the Muslim armed
extremists. 6 April 1992 was the 2nd day of Muslim control over
Zvornik. 6 April 1992 was also the day that Bosnia was recognized as
an independent state, and in addition to that 6 April is the
anniversary of Hitler’s first attacks on Yugoslavia.
On 8 April 1992 the Territorial Defense (T.O.) of the Serb
Municipality of Zvornik, along with, various volunteers, and Arkan’s
Serbian Volunteer Guard (SDG) launched a counterinsurgency operation
and took control of Zvornik away from the Muslim paramilitaries.
“B-24” explained that no JNA personnel and no government personnel
from Serbia took part in the counterinsurgency operation.
“B-24” explained that the Serbian authorities in Zvornik did all they
could to protect the Muslim civilian population of Zvornik, but as the
war raged on they couldn’t maintain control over the municipality, and
illegal paramilitaries, criminals out to exploit the situation, and
civilians angry at the whole situation made it so there was virtually
no government in Zvornik from roughly May to June of 1992. And that in
this chaotic situation Muslims were victimized, their mosques were
destroyed, and they fled.
Contrast this with the situation in just across the Drina River in
Mali Zvornik (in Serbia). As President Milosevic pointed out, passions
were high there too, but the authorities of Serbia managed to keep
order and nobody harmed that town’s 20% Muslim population, or laid a
finger on their Mosque, which was being guarded around the clock by
the MUP of Serbia.
It was also noted by Milosevic, and confirmed by “B-24” that members
of an illegal paramilitary formation that victimized Muslims at the
Chelopek Cultural Center were arrested and prosecuted by the
Government of Serbia on the basis of information provided by the
authorities of the Republika Srpska.
In spite of these useful things that “B-24” explained it was apparent
that he was at the Tribunal under threat of an indictment against
himself.
As I stated above “B-24” was a member of the crisis staff and served
as the commander of the police station in the Serb Municipality of
Zvornik. He held this position during the counterinsurgency operation.
“B-24’s” story about how the counterinsurgency operation came about is
a little odd. “B-24” claimed that Arkan and 24 of his men beat-up the
members of the Zvornik crisis staff and forced the T.O., which
numbered over 500, to launch the operation against their will. So are
we are to believe that Arkan and 24 members of the SDG were able to
force the 500 member T.O. to do something that it didn’t want to do?
“B-24” systematically avoided taking any responsibility even though he
was in a command position. Instead he blamed Arkan, in an effort to
remove command responsibility from himself.
“B-24’s” story doesn’t make sense here, because he told Milosevic in
the cross-examination that he was the one who personally went and got
Arkan and his men, brought them back, and arranged for their
accommodations. So it looks as if the plan was already made when Arkan
was brought in.
“B-24” tried to link Arkan to Milosevic by saying that he saw Arkan
getting out of a vehicle that had a license plate that indicated that
it belonged to the federal SUP, and that he had acquired Arkan’s
services on the advice of * a friend of his * who just happened to be
a member of the Serbian MUP.
The part about Arkan using the federal SUP’s vehicle is as much of a
lie as the part about Arkan and his 24 men beating-up the whole crisis
staff and forcing the 500 man T.O. to launch an operation against
their will. Arkan had his own vehicles, why on Earth would he use the
vehicle of the federal SUP? It doesn’t make sense.
I believe that “B-24” said this stuff about Arkan because the Tribunal
made a deal with him. I think that they sat “B-24” down and said,
“Testify against Milosevic or else we will slap a war crimes
indictment on you.”
The last question Mr. Groome asked “B-24” in his examination in chief
was: “Are you getting anything in exchange for your testimony?” To
which B-24 said, “No.” The real question is what B-24 was * not *
getting in exchange for his testimony? Was he * not * getting indicted
for war crimes perhaps?
---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR 5 JUNE 2003:
1. Prosecutor Mr. Groome finished the examination in chief of the
secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
2. Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness testifying
under the pseudonym “B-24”
3. The Amicus Curiae Mr. Kay cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “B-24”
4. The secret witness testifying under the pseudonym “B-1098” was
recalled and gave secret testimony in a closed session.
===
There were no proceedings scheduled between June 6 and June 9.
Proceedings resumed on June 10.
=== 5 ===
SYNOPSIS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” JUNE 10 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 10, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
After a four day weekend the so-called “trial” of Slobodan Milosevic
resumed at The Hague Tribunal. President Milosevic finished the
cross-examination of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym
of “C-47.” Then the prosecution called another secret witness who
testified under the pseudonym of “C-17.”
“C-47” continued to make an ass of himself. It is no wonder that he is
a secret witness. If I was saying the things that he was saying I’d be
embarrassed to show my face too.
“C-47” explained that nobody ordered the Chetnik volunteers to kill
and loot, but that they allegedly did simply because they didn’t have
anything better to do. “C-47” went on to say that his unit didn’t do
such things, but that he saw others doing it.
President Milosevic asked “C-47” if he ever reported any of the crimes
that he says the Chetniks were committing, and “C-47” replied that he
didn’t report anything to anybody.
After “C-47” finished, the prosecutor called another secret witness.
They call this one “C-17.” “C-17” testified about events around
Mostar. In particular “C-17” was talking about a camp that was being
used as a base for Chetnik volunteer units and the Krajina Red Berets.
The prosecutor kept on referring to a volunteer unit from the SAO
Krajina, known as the Krajina Red Berets as simply the “Red Berets.”
It is obvious that the prosecutor was attempting to confuse people
into thinking that the Serbian JSO (also known as the Red Berets) was
at this camp in Mostar.
The commander of the Krajina Red Berets, one Dragan Vasiljkovic, has
already come to the Hague Tribunal and testified that they were not
under the command of Slobodan Milosevic, and that the Serbian JSO had
nothing to with the Krajina Red Berets – these two totally separate
units just had the same name that’s all.
“C-17’s” testimony consisted of what the Krajina Red Berets and the
Chetniks, based at this camp, allegedly did around Mostar.
Seeing as how “C-47” testified that the Chetniks wanted to overthrow
Milosevic, and seeing as how the commander of the Krajina Red Berets
has already denied that they were under Milosevic’s command; I fail to
see what either one of these witnesses has to do with Milosevic.
The Tribunal recently gave the prosecution an additional 100 days to
present its case against Milosevic, because the original deadline for
them to finish their case had expired. Seeing such worthless witnesses
makes me wonder what the point of giving them more time was.
The only thing that the prosecution has proven beyond any doubt is
that they don’t have a case.
After the indictment against him was read-out at the beginning of the
“trial” President Milosevic said that it was written at the
intellectual level of a “retarded seven-year-old child.” After seeing
the prosecution, for nearly 2 years now, trying to prove this false
indictment, I’m afraid that I have to disagree with President
Milosevic. I think that a retarded seven-year-old could have done
better than the prosecution.
---
Sequence of Events for June 10, 2003
1. Judge Kwon was late because he got stuck in traffic.
2. Slobodan Milosevic concluded the cross-examination of the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym “C-47.”
3. The prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym “C-17.”
=== 6 ===
SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org – June 11, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
Today at the Hague Tribunal the secret witness testifying under the
pseudonym of “C-17” concluded his testimony.
During the conclusion of his examination-in-chief this so-called
“C-17” told Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff about an incident where a Canadian
volunteer took members of UNPROFOR hostage, and attempted to use them
as human shields during the NATO bombing.
The secret witness, together with that woman from the other side,
proceeded to present that shameful taking of hostages as some sort of
act organized by Slobodan Milosevic’s envoy, Jovica Stanisic. They
explained that Jovica Stanisic came to Bosnia and wanted to take over
the hostages, but they didn’t explain why.
In the cross-examination Slobodan Milosevic cleared this whole thing
up. It was explained that the Government of Serbia had actually
negotiated the release of the hostages, and that Jovica Stanisic was
sent to Bosnia by President Milosevic in order to take over the
hostages so that they could be brought back to Serbia and set free.
This typical for that so-called “prosecution.” They took a
humanitarian act where the Government of Serbia secured the release of
hostages, and then tried to make it look like evidence of some sort of
crime.
This secret witness gave a statement to the tribunal consisting almost
exclusively of things that he says he heard from other people. A
typical example was when he said that the Government of Serbia was
providing weapons to the Army of Republika Srpska (VRS).
The witness said that he saw civilian trucks from Serbia and that
somebody told him that the trucks contained weapons. “C-17” never
actually saw the weapons, he only heard about them from other people.
There was so much hearsay in “C-17’s” statement that President
Milosevic came right out and asked him what the point of his so-called
“evidence” was. “C-17” explained that he couldn’t answer that question
because didn’t work for the tribunal, and that he was only testifying
because they asked him to. In other words, this secret witness was so
useless that he didn’t even know what the point of his own testimony
was.
This witness was so ill-informed that it was pathetic. Yesterday I
accused the prosecution of trying to manipulate public perception by
calling the Krajina Red Berets, simply the “Red Berets.” I thought
that they were trying to create a misleading perception that the
Serbian JSO was involved in Bosnia.
Apparently, the witness really was talking about the Serbian JSO. The
problem here, as President Milosevic pointed out, is that the Serbian
JSO didn’t even exist during the time that the witness was talking
about, so the witness couldn’t have seen the Serbian JSO in Mostar or
anywhere else, because they didn’t exist.
More evidence that this secret witness was ill-informed came when he
was speaking about the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) being in Mostar as
late as the middle of June 1992.
As President Milosevic pointed out, the JNA didn’t exist in Bosnia
after May 19, 1992. The JNA was ordered to withdraw from Bosnia,
however Bosnian-Serb JNA members remained on their homeland, and the
JNA equipment which they had in their possession remained in Bosnia
with them and that is how the VRS was formed. So it is obvious that
“C-17” was either lying or seeing things that weren’t there when he
says that he saw the JNA in the middle of June. Either way whether he
was hallucinating or lying; the repeated references that this secret
witness made to the JNA being in Mostar in June of 1992 calls his
credibility into question.
All in all this was just another worthless witness in this shameful
political circus that they call a “trial.”
---
SEQUENCE OF EVENTS FOR THE MILOSEVIC “TRIAL” FOR 11 JUNE 2003
1. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff concluded the examination in
chief of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17.”
2. President Slobodan Milosevic cross-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
3. The Amicus Curiae, Mr. Tapuskovic cross-examined the secret
witness testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
4. The Prosecutor, Ms. Uertz-Retzlaff re-examined the secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of “C-17”
=== 7 ===
SYNOPSIS OF THE MILOSEVIC TRIAL JUNE 12 - 16
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - June 16, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The prosecution called Osman Selak. Selak tried to say that the VJ
(FRY Army) was in direct command over the VRS (Army of Republika
Srpska).
During cross-examination, President Milosevic asked Mr. Selak if he
could cite any order that the VJ ever issued to the VRS. Selak
couldn't produce any orders or examples or anything like that, but he
did have a diagram that he drew where he drew a line between a box
marked "VJ" and another box marked "VRS." I guess that this line drawn
between the 2 boxes is what passes for "evidence" at the Hague
Tribunal.
To top off the absurdity of this whole thing, Mr. Selak hates Serbs.
Mr. Kay was talking about the history of the JNA, and he mentioned the
Second World War. Mr. Selak couldn't restrain himself he had to take a
shot at the Serbs and so he lied and said that the Chetniks supported
the Nazis.
Serb Chetniks saved the lives of more than 500 U.S. Airmen during the
2nd world war. Those Americans were saved from the Nazis by the
Chetniks. Draza Mihailovich is a hero in the fight against fascism and
this witness tried to call those honorable men Nazis! As an American I
am deeply offended by that remark.
The prosecutor must be scraping the bottom of the barrel, because
after calling the racist Selak to testify, they resorted to calling
Dr. Budimir Babovic, a political scientist from Montenegro, to testify
about the Serbian police.
This guy's claim to fame was that he wrote a book, which was paid for
by the Soros Foundation. In the book he talks about how Milosevic
"abused the police." He gets all of his information in his book from
"the international and domestic media" and through his own "personal
analysis of the laws and constitution of Serbia," even though he isn't
a lawyer or anything like that. He's just, as Mr. Kwon put it, "a
layman."
Dr. Babovic had no direct knowledge of anything. The only thing that
the so-called "expert witness" managed to prove was his own ignorance
of the Serbian Constitution and the Serbian penal code. President
Milosevic would ask the so-called "expert" questions about the law and
this dummy didn't have a clue what he was talking about. If it wasn't
so funny to watch it would be sad.
Following Babovic was "B-1047." Allegedly, Arkan's men unsuccessfully
tried to execute "B-1047."
After the alleged attempted execution, "B-1047" made his way to a VRS
base and the VRS arranged for him to be transported to a hospital in
Banja Luka for medical treatment. It is important to note that Banja
Luka was always held by the Serbs.
"B-1047" is an invalid because of his wounds, and he tells a very
harrowing story, but he has nothing to do with Milosevic. I would
really like to see the prosecution explain why he should be brought in
to testify against Milosevic.
What does "B-1047's" plight prove against Milosevic? They aren't
saying that Milosevic ordered that "B-1047" should be shot, and so I
really don't see what the point here is.
This isn't unique. Witnesses who aren't relevant to anything Milosevic
is accused of testify against him all the time. All I can see is that
the prosecution is wasting time.
The prosecution doesn't need extra time for presenting their case.
They don't have a case. The more they try to prove their false
indictment the dumber it makes them look.
Anyway, tomorrow should be interesting. The Former Yugoslav President,
Zoran Lilic will be testifying.
---
ORDER OF WITNESSES
1. Former JNA colonel / Logistics Base Commander, Osman Selak
2. Political scientist from Montenegro, Dr. Budimir Babovic
3. A secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1047"
All witnesses were examined by the Prosecution, cross-examined by
President Milosevic, cross-examined by the Amicus Curiae, and finally
re-examined by the Prosecution.