AGGRESSORS SHALL NOT WRITE OUR HISTORY!
DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE HAGUE, NOV. 8TH 2003
In this message:
1. ICDSM Québec/ICDSM Canada in Solidarity with the Workers of Serbia
2. AGGRESSORS SHALL NOT WRITE OUR HISTORY!
International Demos of Serbian Diaspora and all progressive people -
THE HAGUE, 8 NOVEMBER 2003
3. AN OPEN LETTER which will be delivered by the demonstrators in The
Hague on November 8th
=== USEFUL LINKS ===
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
HagNov8-2.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - 8.11.2003
HagNov8-2LAT.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - latinicom - 8.11.2003
HagueNov8-2.doc
New leaflet for The Hague - Nov. 8th, 2003
===
Dutch TV documentary on the Hague process, in two parts
http://info.vpro.nl/info/tegenlicht/index.shtml?7738514+7738518+8048024
The broad tone of the documentary is the politized character of the
tribunal. The first part deals on how the prosecutions actions are
preliminary driven by the media picture develloped through the years. A
picture that was made and polished by PR firm to 'educate' the
American people. Several commentators say that the installation of the
ICTY was the result of an emotional reaction in the West to this
picture, so that it could be seen doing something. It asks the question
on how images and group thinking influence our perception of facts. The
ITN story features in the part were the demonisation of the serbs is
discussed and how this strategy developped. Thomas Deichmann is
interviewed on how he discovered the manipulation of the images (barb
wire on inside of poles, no barbed wire around the rest of the camp,
cars drving in and out the camp). The documentary shows unedited ITN
footage which supports the allegations of the manipulation. One of the
general conclusions is that the tribunal now has diffuclties in proving
the often over the top allegations and demonisations then made for
political purposes. Part 2 deals a large part with specific witnessess
and the troubles the prosecutions has making its case. It attacks the
use of protected witnessess and closed sessions. The documentary brings
into the open how witnessess (often war criminals) are promised money,
immunity and a new life in the West for their statement implicating
Milosevic. Captain Dragan gives an interesting interview from the golf
course. Even if you dont understand dutch large parts are in English,
German and Serbian.
Peter Varavejke, Belgium
(From: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/issue_milo_discuss.php
Monday September 29, 2003 at 12:36 pm)
===
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed 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)
=== 1 ===
ICDSM Québec/ICDSM Canada in Solidarity with the Workers of Serbia
The fight for people’s sovereignty: in The Hague Star Chamber and on
the streets of Belgrade, it is one struggle!
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC IS DEFENDING JUSTICE AND EQUALITY FOR ALL PEOPLE
President Milosevic warned of the loss of economic sovereignty,
privatization, and their consequences
In his address to the Yugoslav people on October 2nd, 2000, President
Slobodan Milosevic implored the citizens of Yugoslavia protect their
dignity and independence against the assault of foreign domination. He
said:
<<…All countries finding themselves with limited sovereignty and with
governments controlled by foreign powers, speedily become impoverished
in a way that destroys all hope for more just and humane social
relations.
A great division into a poor majority and a rich minority, this has
been the picture in Eastern Europe for some years now that we can all
see.
That picture would also include us. Under the control of the new owners
of our country we too would quickly have a tremendous majority of the
very poor, whose prospects of coming out of their poverty would be very
uncertain, very distant.
The rich minority would be made up of the black marketeering elite,
which would be allowed to stay rich only on condition that it was fully
loyal to the outside, controlling powers.
Public and social property would quickly be transformed into private
property, but its owners, as demonstrated by the experience of our
neighbors, would be foreigners. Among the few exceptions would be those
who would buy their right to own property by their loyalty and
submission, which would lead to the elimination of elementary national
and human dignity.
The greatest national assets in such circumstances become the property
of foreigners, and the people who used to manage them continue to do
so, but as employees of foreign companies in their own country. >>
National humiliation, state fragmentation and social misery would
necessarily lead to many forms of social pathology, of which crime
would be the first. This is not just a supposition, this is the
experience of all countries which have taken the path that we are
trying to avoid at any cost.
The capitals of European crime are no longer in the west, they were
moved to Eastern Europe a decade ago.
As the NATO powers pointed a gun to the heads of Yugoslavia’s
electorate, and drenched them with propaganda via their local
hirelings, President Milosevic appreciated that not everybody would
heed his warnings. He expressed the following hope: "Citizens, you
must make up your own minds whether to believe me or not. My only wish
is that they do not realize I am telling the truth when it is too late,
that they do not realize after it has become so much more difficult to
correct mistakes that some people have made, naively, superficially or
erroneously."
It is not too late
For five consecutive days, Belgrade has been at the heart of an
extraordinary upheaval. Workers have descended upon the Parliament, by
tens of thousands, demanding an end to privatization, and the
dissolution of the so-called “pro-democracy” government which, while
committing constitutional breaches and making a repressive mockery of
democratic norms, has created unimaginably desperate living conditions
for the people of Serbia. With an unemployment rate of at least 30%, it
is galling to read the smug, condescending rebukes of the mainstream
press, who claim workers are unhappy or “impatient” with the "painful
process" of privatization, and would prefer a "radical" improvement of
their quality of life. The indignities suffered by the people of
Yugoslavia are too many to mention. Since 1990, every attempt has been
made by the US and Western powers to defeat Yugoslavia’s sovereignty:
from IMF blackmail to cluster bombs and depleted uranium, and along the
way the fomenting of civil war, unrest, poverty, the financing and
encouragement of terrorism, the sowing and exacerbation of hatred,
fear, and hopelessness.
Today, Serbian steel workers, now employed by the giant multinational
US Steel, who purchased the Smederevo steel company – which used to
belong to the workers – for a measly $23 million as part of the DOS’s
"pro-democracy" fire-sale, are striking for the right to make a bit
less than one dollar an hour. Workers all over the country now reject
the humiliation of foreign domination and the immiseration of their
compatriots in this looting spree brought by NATO bayonets and the IMF
and bearing the cynical euphemism of “reforms.” They are demanding
respect for their dignity and a return of their sovereign rights. How
poignantly this principled struggle points up the prescience and wisdom
of President Milosevic’s warnings.
President Milosevic Defends the Ideals of Yugoslavia from a cell in The
Hague
For the past seventeen months, President Slobodan Milosevic has
defended the dignity of his fellow citizens in an ever-increasingly
secretive, unfair and illegal process. The International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), born of political pressure
from the US administration – which has institutionalized legal impunity
for its own crimes – does not intend to conduct a trial that would meet
international standards of justice. The show-trial of President
Milosevic provides "legal" cover for the US/NATO policy of regime
change in Yugoslavia. President Milosevic has never wavered in his
characterization of the ICTY as an illegal, illegitimate tool of the US
and NATO powers against the sovereignty of a nation they destroyed. He
has taken every opportunity to defend the dignity of his nation, and
reveal the perfidy that broke up Yugoslavia.
An unfair process
As the process wears on, the Trial Chamber's effort to stifle the
defendant have gone from outrageous to pathetic. First, the major media
pulled out of The Hague, complicit in the browning-out of President
Milosevic's articulate and effective defense. Then, without complaint,
he has weathered successively more transparent attempts to exhaust him
and has maintained remarkable poise in life-threatening conditions.
In November of last year, the ICDSM requested standing before the
Chamber to argue that Slobodan Milosevic's medical condition required
immediate specialized medical attention, and that his state of health
required he be released from custody, given adequate time for his
convalescence, and be allowed to prepare his defence in a non-custodial
setting. The ICTY has not granted this request, nor has it denied it.
The "Tribunal" has simply ignored it.
Gag order
In brazen complicity with the ICTY, the Belgrade regime persecutes the
family of President Milosevic, preventing him even from receiving
visits from his wife and son.
Slobodan Milosevic cannot meet with his closest associates and friends,
as the Registrar has banned him from contact with members of his party,
the SPS, (Socialist Party of Serbia) and "associated entities".
Sloboda, the leading association in defence of President Milosevic has
been listed as a banned group. The Registrar applied this measure
based on the suspicion that two SPS members who had visited him had
spoken to the press. "Associated entities" could be anyone -it is left
to the discretion of the Registrar. This is an attempt to silence
President Milosevic and interfere with the preparation of his defence.
Sloboda has challenged the ban on legal grounds. It has yet to hear
from the ICTY.
A public trial?
Article 11 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the
presumption of innocence and the right of the accused to a public
trial. But the "trial" of Slobodan Milosevic is often not public, and
shielded from international public scrutiny. Security concerns are
systematically invoked to justify the numerous closed sessions,
pseudonymous witnesses, and ex parte motions filed by the Prosecutor,
motions whose content Mr. Milosevic is not entitled to review. In the
past six months, the Chamber has handed down several decisions
following ex parte motions. Another fundamental right is to be present
for one's own trial. If Mr. Milosevic cannot read Prosecution
submissions to the judges, let alone respond to them, can it be said
that he is actually present at his trial?
Unintelligible
The ICTY has now authorized the admission into evidence of written
witness statements. It has become impossible to follow the trial.
Witnesses declare that their statements are true, and President
Milosevic is afforded a mere hour to cross-examine them. The public can
only try to speculate as to the content of the witness' evidence. At
least we can now say that this is no longer a "Show Trial", but
rather a strictly closed-circuit event.
Less time, fewer questions!
So effective has been Slobodan Milosevic in hammering home the message
of NATO's aggression against his nation, and the conspiracy to
dismember Yugoslavia, with consequences now being felt – and
courageously challenged – by the people of Serbia, that the ICTY is
determined to prevent him from continuing. Cross-examination has been
severely curtailed and he has been barred, with respect to certain
witnesses, from asking questions with respect to their credibility.
This is unheard of in any adversarial legal system, such as the ICTY
purports to be.
When President Milosevic attempted to question the Deputy Prosecutor
(who appeared as a witness!) about their position – namely, supine –
with respect to NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, whether the Prosecutor
had acted "objectively" and "without bias" in summarily dismissing a
request to investigate a large number of egregious violations of
International Law, including the Geneva Conventions, Mr. Milosevic was
told by the President of the Chamber that it was "irrelevant". He was
told that if he did not ask questions "as ordered" he would not have
the right to ask questions at all. A question pointing up the
protection of Al Qaeda-supported terrorism in Kosovo by the ICTY and
its NATO sponsors met with a similar reaction. The "amicus curiae,"
friend of the court, appointed against President's Milosevic's will,
attempted to intervene but was browbeaten by a visibly angry President
of the Chamber.
What comes next?
President Milosevic has been afforded a mere three months to prepare
his defence, while the Prosecution has been accumulating evidence since
the ICTY was established in 1993. The Prosecution has stalled
throughout this case, and is still adding witnesses to its list, as
well as changing, at the last minute, the order in which they are to
appear. But the ICTY has ordered President Milosevic to provide a
witness list only six weeks after the close of the seemingly endless
Prosecution case. All the while, the Prosecution blames President
Milosevic for the delays. They blame his ill health – for which they
are responsible – and they blame him for "wasting the court's time" by
asking embarrassing questions.
He has received millions of pages of documents, as well as thousands of
tapes, exhibits and photos. Isolated from his closest associates, his
preparation of the defence phase – and the crucial matter of defence
witnesses – is severely impaired.
After twenty-one months of this process, nothing has been proven
against President Milosevic, and thanks to his unerring determination,
much has been proven about the ICTY's purely political nature. He could
very well invite the Chamber to take notice of the Prosecution's
failure to establish a single count of the Prosecution's fantastic
indictments. Only one indictment, the so-called "Kosovo" indictment,
has shown itself to be of any use – it served to isolate the leadership
and people of Serbia, to demonize them, and to justify a gruesome
78-day bombing campaign that barely lifted an eyebrow in the West, even
among so many who claim to be progressive.
What is more, it is not clear that this institution has the power to
compel witnesses to testify. The ICTY has claimed it is bound by
respect for the sovereignty of states – perhaps not that of Yugoslavia
– in that they respect the idea that states may decide whether or not
they choose to cooperate. In contrast, consequences are severe for
non-cooperation when requests are made to surrender those indicted.
It is true that sovereignty is the cornerstone of international law.
How can one explain the scores of decisions rendered by the
International Court of Justice – a truly legitimate UN body – against
the US that have never been complied with? Including the judgments
having found that US death sentences had been pronounced against
foreign nationals in violation of international law. The President of
the ICTY, Theodor Meron, represented the US in one such case, brought
by Germany, who won its suit before the world court. But the German
prisoners were executed nonetheless.
It is not clear that Slobodan Milosevic could call Bill Clinton as a
witness. The ICTY has left open the question as to whether there are
certain categories of State officials for whom immunity would
apply. Perhaps former Presidents will be protected by immunity from
testifying, to prevent other former Presidents from defending
themselves and their people. And this in contrast to the United States
itself, where Bill Clinton was compelled to provide a deposition when
accused of sexual harassment.
This concept of sovereignty, now threatening to prevent President
Milosevic from questioning those who destroyed Yugoslavia, is key. Loss
of sovereignty created the ICTY, as well as the miserable conditions
against which Serbia’s people are now rising, thus recalling President
Milosevic’s words: "All countries finding themselves with limited
sovereignty and with governments controlled by foreign powers, speedily
become impoverished in a way that destroys all hope for more just and
humane social relations."
This is the same struggle!
The large-scale protests in Belgrade demonstrate that the will of the
people to fight for their dignity will not be defeated. This has been
President Milosevic's struggle as well. A Committee of the Serbian
Diaspora, ICDSM, Sloboda and other progressive forces and individuals
are calling upon all honest and principled people to participate in the
international demonstration at The Hague on November 8th.
United for freedom in the same struggle, we shall all rise for freedom,
life and for the fundamental rights of the Serbian people and of their
defender, President Slobodan Milosevic. This kind of battle a united
people always wins. This fight against tyranny is a fight for the
dignity and prosperity of all peoples.
=== 2 ===
AGGRESSORS SHALL NOT WRITE OUR HISTORY!
FREEDOM FOR PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC!
INTERNATIONAL DEMOS OF SERBIAN DIASPORA AND ALL PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE
THE HAGUE, 8 NOVEMBER 2003
14:00 – 15:00 Protest Rally at The Plein (City Center)
15:00 – 16:00 Protest March from The Plein to the Scheveningen Prison
16:00 – 17:00 Protest Rally in front of the Scheveningen Prison
During the demonstrations, our delegations will deliver protest letters
to the Tribunal, Dutch Foreign Ministry and the Embassies of the UN
Security Council permanent members: USA, UK, France, Russia and China.
A letter of support will be delivered to President Milosevic.
FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN,
FOR SURVIVAL OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE,
FOR FREEDOM, TRUTH AND JUSTICE!
In the demonstrations for freedom and dignity of the Serbian people,
against the occupation and colonization of the Balkans, against the
aggression and enslaving of the peoples of the World, against the
attempt of the aggressor to try freedom fighters and victims, up to now
the participation has been confirmed by the groups of Serbs, Yugoslavs,
Greeks and other honest people from Germany, France, Switzerland,
Austria, Italy, UK, Holland, Serbia, among them Klaus Hartmann
(Germany), Fulvio Grimaldi (Italy), Louis Dalmas (France), John
Catalinotto (USA), Michel Collon (Belgium), Ian Johnson (UK), John
Jefferies (Ireland), Professor Aldo Bernardini (Italy), Wil van der
Klift (Holland), Misha Gavrilovich (UK), Dr Ljiljana Verner (Germany),
dr Sima Mraovitch (France), Vladimir Krsljanin (Yugoslavia) and many
others.
SAVE THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC!
S T O P THE HAGUE INQUISITION!
Useful files at:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
HagNov8-2.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - 8.11.2003
HagNov8-2LAT.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - latinicom - 8.11.2003
HagueNov8-2.doc
New leaflet for The Hague - Nov. 8th, 2003
=== 3 ===
To the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
To the Governments of the French Republic, People’s Republic of China,
Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, United States of America (via their Embassies at The Hague);
To the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
The people of Serbia and Yugoslavia have been victimized by the
criminal and irresponsible actions of foreign powers, primarily the
U.S. and other leading NATO governments. These powers provoked the
break-up of Yugoslavia and, in alliance with terrorists and
neo-fascists, waged the first war of aggression on European soil since
1945, against Yugoslavia. Until now no one responsible from these
countries has been held accountable for these crimes.
Instead, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and almost all
political and military leaders of the Serbian people who resisted the
destruction of their country have been forced to appear before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, established
in violation of the UN Charter. Not being a legitimate court of law,
the ICTY has also proven to be no court of justice. Directly or
indirectly, the ICTY is responsible for the loss of seven human lives.
Its unfairness, bias and violation of both universal and European
conventions on the protection of human-rights, as well as of generally
accepted juridical principles, oblige all the most responsible members
of the World Organization to dismiss this malignant and failed attempt
to create an ad hoc court, which was done on a purely political basis.
The ICTY is not solving, but is deepening problems in the Balkans.
The rules and procedures of the ICTY favor the Prosecution and presume
the guilt of the defendants. The trials are being conducted so as to
allow the falsification of history, charging the entire Serbian nation
for alleged crimes, which is a kind of racism we believed was buried
forever in Europe. The Serbs and all other honest people of Europe
refuse to allow the aggressors to write history!
A terrifying panorama of distorted and perverse views on the history
of the Balkans was presented in the three indictments against President
Milosevic, who has been kept in illegal detention for more than two
years in spite of the three judgments of the Yugoslav Constitutional
Court. Supported by the freedom loving people in his country and
abroad, President Milosevic has heroically and successfully defended
the truth, in spite of his ill health, the bias of the judges and his
isolation from his family, associates and the media.
President Milosevic has been deprived of the basic conditions
necessary to prepare his case – time and facilities. To prepare to
confront what the tribunal has fabricated or collected in ten years,
while spending 700 million dollars from the UN budget alone, and what
took two years and millions of pages of disclosure for the Prosecution
to present, President Milosevic has been granted only six weeks, and he
must remain in his prison cell! At the same time, should this sort of
pressure on him continue, his malignant hypertension and damaged heart,
exacerbated by the way the trial is conducted, by the harsh prison
conditions and the absence of specialized medical care, can cause an
infarct or stroke any moment. Only in freedom is it possible to
diminish the threat to his life and allow the relative recuperation of
his health.
For all the above reasons, we
DEMAND:
1. The immediate release of President Milosevic and an adjournment of
the process against him for at least two years;
2. Abolition of the ICTY, as it is a criminal tool against Yugoslavia
and Serbian people and an insult to law and justice.
SERBS AND OTHER HONEST CITIZENS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA GATHERED IN
THE INTERNATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS AT THE HAGUE ON 8 NOVEMBER 2003
DEMONSTRATIONS IN THE HAGUE, NOV. 8TH 2003
In this message:
1. ICDSM Québec/ICDSM Canada in Solidarity with the Workers of Serbia
2. AGGRESSORS SHALL NOT WRITE OUR HISTORY!
International Demos of Serbian Diaspora and all progressive people -
THE HAGUE, 8 NOVEMBER 2003
3. AN OPEN LETTER which will be delivered by the demonstrators in The
Hague on November 8th
=== USEFUL LINKS ===
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
HagNov8-2.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - 8.11.2003
HagNov8-2LAT.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - latinicom - 8.11.2003
HagueNov8-2.doc
New leaflet for The Hague - Nov. 8th, 2003
===
Dutch TV documentary on the Hague process, in two parts
http://info.vpro.nl/info/tegenlicht/index.shtml?7738514+7738518+8048024
The broad tone of the documentary is the politized character of the
tribunal. The first part deals on how the prosecutions actions are
preliminary driven by the media picture develloped through the years. A
picture that was made and polished by PR firm to 'educate' the
American people. Several commentators say that the installation of the
ICTY was the result of an emotional reaction in the West to this
picture, so that it could be seen doing something. It asks the question
on how images and group thinking influence our perception of facts. The
ITN story features in the part were the demonisation of the serbs is
discussed and how this strategy developped. Thomas Deichmann is
interviewed on how he discovered the manipulation of the images (barb
wire on inside of poles, no barbed wire around the rest of the camp,
cars drving in and out the camp). The documentary shows unedited ITN
footage which supports the allegations of the manipulation. One of the
general conclusions is that the tribunal now has diffuclties in proving
the often over the top allegations and demonisations then made for
political purposes. Part 2 deals a large part with specific witnessess
and the troubles the prosecutions has making its case. It attacks the
use of protected witnessess and closed sessions. The documentary brings
into the open how witnessess (often war criminals) are promised money,
immunity and a new life in the West for their statement implicating
Milosevic. Captain Dragan gives an interesting interview from the golf
course. Even if you dont understand dutch large parts are in English,
German and Serbian.
Peter Varavejke, Belgium
(From: http://jurist.law.pitt.edu/issue_milo_discuss.php
Monday September 29, 2003 at 12:36 pm)
===
SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed 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)
=== 1 ===
ICDSM Québec/ICDSM Canada in Solidarity with the Workers of Serbia
The fight for people’s sovereignty: in The Hague Star Chamber and on
the streets of Belgrade, it is one struggle!
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC IS DEFENDING JUSTICE AND EQUALITY FOR ALL PEOPLE
President Milosevic warned of the loss of economic sovereignty,
privatization, and their consequences
In his address to the Yugoslav people on October 2nd, 2000, President
Slobodan Milosevic implored the citizens of Yugoslavia protect their
dignity and independence against the assault of foreign domination. He
said:
<<…All countries finding themselves with limited sovereignty and with
governments controlled by foreign powers, speedily become impoverished
in a way that destroys all hope for more just and humane social
relations.
A great division into a poor majority and a rich minority, this has
been the picture in Eastern Europe for some years now that we can all
see.
That picture would also include us. Under the control of the new owners
of our country we too would quickly have a tremendous majority of the
very poor, whose prospects of coming out of their poverty would be very
uncertain, very distant.
The rich minority would be made up of the black marketeering elite,
which would be allowed to stay rich only on condition that it was fully
loyal to the outside, controlling powers.
Public and social property would quickly be transformed into private
property, but its owners, as demonstrated by the experience of our
neighbors, would be foreigners. Among the few exceptions would be those
who would buy their right to own property by their loyalty and
submission, which would lead to the elimination of elementary national
and human dignity.
The greatest national assets in such circumstances become the property
of foreigners, and the people who used to manage them continue to do
so, but as employees of foreign companies in their own country. >>
National humiliation, state fragmentation and social misery would
necessarily lead to many forms of social pathology, of which crime
would be the first. This is not just a supposition, this is the
experience of all countries which have taken the path that we are
trying to avoid at any cost.
The capitals of European crime are no longer in the west, they were
moved to Eastern Europe a decade ago.
As the NATO powers pointed a gun to the heads of Yugoslavia’s
electorate, and drenched them with propaganda via their local
hirelings, President Milosevic appreciated that not everybody would
heed his warnings. He expressed the following hope: "Citizens, you
must make up your own minds whether to believe me or not. My only wish
is that they do not realize I am telling the truth when it is too late,
that they do not realize after it has become so much more difficult to
correct mistakes that some people have made, naively, superficially or
erroneously."
It is not too late
For five consecutive days, Belgrade has been at the heart of an
extraordinary upheaval. Workers have descended upon the Parliament, by
tens of thousands, demanding an end to privatization, and the
dissolution of the so-called “pro-democracy” government which, while
committing constitutional breaches and making a repressive mockery of
democratic norms, has created unimaginably desperate living conditions
for the people of Serbia. With an unemployment rate of at least 30%, it
is galling to read the smug, condescending rebukes of the mainstream
press, who claim workers are unhappy or “impatient” with the "painful
process" of privatization, and would prefer a "radical" improvement of
their quality of life. The indignities suffered by the people of
Yugoslavia are too many to mention. Since 1990, every attempt has been
made by the US and Western powers to defeat Yugoslavia’s sovereignty:
from IMF blackmail to cluster bombs and depleted uranium, and along the
way the fomenting of civil war, unrest, poverty, the financing and
encouragement of terrorism, the sowing and exacerbation of hatred,
fear, and hopelessness.
Today, Serbian steel workers, now employed by the giant multinational
US Steel, who purchased the Smederevo steel company – which used to
belong to the workers – for a measly $23 million as part of the DOS’s
"pro-democracy" fire-sale, are striking for the right to make a bit
less than one dollar an hour. Workers all over the country now reject
the humiliation of foreign domination and the immiseration of their
compatriots in this looting spree brought by NATO bayonets and the IMF
and bearing the cynical euphemism of “reforms.” They are demanding
respect for their dignity and a return of their sovereign rights. How
poignantly this principled struggle points up the prescience and wisdom
of President Milosevic’s warnings.
President Milosevic Defends the Ideals of Yugoslavia from a cell in The
Hague
For the past seventeen months, President Slobodan Milosevic has
defended the dignity of his fellow citizens in an ever-increasingly
secretive, unfair and illegal process. The International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), born of political pressure
from the US administration – which has institutionalized legal impunity
for its own crimes – does not intend to conduct a trial that would meet
international standards of justice. The show-trial of President
Milosevic provides "legal" cover for the US/NATO policy of regime
change in Yugoslavia. President Milosevic has never wavered in his
characterization of the ICTY as an illegal, illegitimate tool of the US
and NATO powers against the sovereignty of a nation they destroyed. He
has taken every opportunity to defend the dignity of his nation, and
reveal the perfidy that broke up Yugoslavia.
An unfair process
As the process wears on, the Trial Chamber's effort to stifle the
defendant have gone from outrageous to pathetic. First, the major media
pulled out of The Hague, complicit in the browning-out of President
Milosevic's articulate and effective defense. Then, without complaint,
he has weathered successively more transparent attempts to exhaust him
and has maintained remarkable poise in life-threatening conditions.
In November of last year, the ICDSM requested standing before the
Chamber to argue that Slobodan Milosevic's medical condition required
immediate specialized medical attention, and that his state of health
required he be released from custody, given adequate time for his
convalescence, and be allowed to prepare his defence in a non-custodial
setting. The ICTY has not granted this request, nor has it denied it.
The "Tribunal" has simply ignored it.
Gag order
In brazen complicity with the ICTY, the Belgrade regime persecutes the
family of President Milosevic, preventing him even from receiving
visits from his wife and son.
Slobodan Milosevic cannot meet with his closest associates and friends,
as the Registrar has banned him from contact with members of his party,
the SPS, (Socialist Party of Serbia) and "associated entities".
Sloboda, the leading association in defence of President Milosevic has
been listed as a banned group. The Registrar applied this measure
based on the suspicion that two SPS members who had visited him had
spoken to the press. "Associated entities" could be anyone -it is left
to the discretion of the Registrar. This is an attempt to silence
President Milosevic and interfere with the preparation of his defence.
Sloboda has challenged the ban on legal grounds. It has yet to hear
from the ICTY.
A public trial?
Article 11 of the UN Universal Declaration of Human Rights affirms the
presumption of innocence and the right of the accused to a public
trial. But the "trial" of Slobodan Milosevic is often not public, and
shielded from international public scrutiny. Security concerns are
systematically invoked to justify the numerous closed sessions,
pseudonymous witnesses, and ex parte motions filed by the Prosecutor,
motions whose content Mr. Milosevic is not entitled to review. In the
past six months, the Chamber has handed down several decisions
following ex parte motions. Another fundamental right is to be present
for one's own trial. If Mr. Milosevic cannot read Prosecution
submissions to the judges, let alone respond to them, can it be said
that he is actually present at his trial?
Unintelligible
The ICTY has now authorized the admission into evidence of written
witness statements. It has become impossible to follow the trial.
Witnesses declare that their statements are true, and President
Milosevic is afforded a mere hour to cross-examine them. The public can
only try to speculate as to the content of the witness' evidence. At
least we can now say that this is no longer a "Show Trial", but
rather a strictly closed-circuit event.
Less time, fewer questions!
So effective has been Slobodan Milosevic in hammering home the message
of NATO's aggression against his nation, and the conspiracy to
dismember Yugoslavia, with consequences now being felt – and
courageously challenged – by the people of Serbia, that the ICTY is
determined to prevent him from continuing. Cross-examination has been
severely curtailed and he has been barred, with respect to certain
witnesses, from asking questions with respect to their credibility.
This is unheard of in any adversarial legal system, such as the ICTY
purports to be.
When President Milosevic attempted to question the Deputy Prosecutor
(who appeared as a witness!) about their position – namely, supine –
with respect to NATO's bombing of Yugoslavia, whether the Prosecutor
had acted "objectively" and "without bias" in summarily dismissing a
request to investigate a large number of egregious violations of
International Law, including the Geneva Conventions, Mr. Milosevic was
told by the President of the Chamber that it was "irrelevant". He was
told that if he did not ask questions "as ordered" he would not have
the right to ask questions at all. A question pointing up the
protection of Al Qaeda-supported terrorism in Kosovo by the ICTY and
its NATO sponsors met with a similar reaction. The "amicus curiae,"
friend of the court, appointed against President's Milosevic's will,
attempted to intervene but was browbeaten by a visibly angry President
of the Chamber.
What comes next?
President Milosevic has been afforded a mere three months to prepare
his defence, while the Prosecution has been accumulating evidence since
the ICTY was established in 1993. The Prosecution has stalled
throughout this case, and is still adding witnesses to its list, as
well as changing, at the last minute, the order in which they are to
appear. But the ICTY has ordered President Milosevic to provide a
witness list only six weeks after the close of the seemingly endless
Prosecution case. All the while, the Prosecution blames President
Milosevic for the delays. They blame his ill health – for which they
are responsible – and they blame him for "wasting the court's time" by
asking embarrassing questions.
He has received millions of pages of documents, as well as thousands of
tapes, exhibits and photos. Isolated from his closest associates, his
preparation of the defence phase – and the crucial matter of defence
witnesses – is severely impaired.
After twenty-one months of this process, nothing has been proven
against President Milosevic, and thanks to his unerring determination,
much has been proven about the ICTY's purely political nature. He could
very well invite the Chamber to take notice of the Prosecution's
failure to establish a single count of the Prosecution's fantastic
indictments. Only one indictment, the so-called "Kosovo" indictment,
has shown itself to be of any use – it served to isolate the leadership
and people of Serbia, to demonize them, and to justify a gruesome
78-day bombing campaign that barely lifted an eyebrow in the West, even
among so many who claim to be progressive.
What is more, it is not clear that this institution has the power to
compel witnesses to testify. The ICTY has claimed it is bound by
respect for the sovereignty of states – perhaps not that of Yugoslavia
– in that they respect the idea that states may decide whether or not
they choose to cooperate. In contrast, consequences are severe for
non-cooperation when requests are made to surrender those indicted.
It is true that sovereignty is the cornerstone of international law.
How can one explain the scores of decisions rendered by the
International Court of Justice – a truly legitimate UN body – against
the US that have never been complied with? Including the judgments
having found that US death sentences had been pronounced against
foreign nationals in violation of international law. The President of
the ICTY, Theodor Meron, represented the US in one such case, brought
by Germany, who won its suit before the world court. But the German
prisoners were executed nonetheless.
It is not clear that Slobodan Milosevic could call Bill Clinton as a
witness. The ICTY has left open the question as to whether there are
certain categories of State officials for whom immunity would
apply. Perhaps former Presidents will be protected by immunity from
testifying, to prevent other former Presidents from defending
themselves and their people. And this in contrast to the United States
itself, where Bill Clinton was compelled to provide a deposition when
accused of sexual harassment.
This concept of sovereignty, now threatening to prevent President
Milosevic from questioning those who destroyed Yugoslavia, is key. Loss
of sovereignty created the ICTY, as well as the miserable conditions
against which Serbia’s people are now rising, thus recalling President
Milosevic’s words: "All countries finding themselves with limited
sovereignty and with governments controlled by foreign powers, speedily
become impoverished in a way that destroys all hope for more just and
humane social relations."
This is the same struggle!
The large-scale protests in Belgrade demonstrate that the will of the
people to fight for their dignity will not be defeated. This has been
President Milosevic's struggle as well. A Committee of the Serbian
Diaspora, ICDSM, Sloboda and other progressive forces and individuals
are calling upon all honest and principled people to participate in the
international demonstration at The Hague on November 8th.
United for freedom in the same struggle, we shall all rise for freedom,
life and for the fundamental rights of the Serbian people and of their
defender, President Slobodan Milosevic. This kind of battle a united
people always wins. This fight against tyranny is a fight for the
dignity and prosperity of all peoples.
=== 2 ===
AGGRESSORS SHALL NOT WRITE OUR HISTORY!
FREEDOM FOR PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC!
INTERNATIONAL DEMOS OF SERBIAN DIASPORA AND ALL PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE
THE HAGUE, 8 NOVEMBER 2003
14:00 – 15:00 Protest Rally at The Plein (City Center)
15:00 – 16:00 Protest March from The Plein to the Scheveningen Prison
16:00 – 17:00 Protest Rally in front of the Scheveningen Prison
During the demonstrations, our delegations will deliver protest letters
to the Tribunal, Dutch Foreign Ministry and the Embassies of the UN
Security Council permanent members: USA, UK, France, Russia and China.
A letter of support will be delivered to President Milosevic.
FOR THE FUTURE OF OUR CHILDREN,
FOR SURVIVAL OF THE SERBIAN PEOPLE,
FOR FREEDOM, TRUTH AND JUSTICE!
In the demonstrations for freedom and dignity of the Serbian people,
against the occupation and colonization of the Balkans, against the
aggression and enslaving of the peoples of the World, against the
attempt of the aggressor to try freedom fighters and victims, up to now
the participation has been confirmed by the groups of Serbs, Yugoslavs,
Greeks and other honest people from Germany, France, Switzerland,
Austria, Italy, UK, Holland, Serbia, among them Klaus Hartmann
(Germany), Fulvio Grimaldi (Italy), Louis Dalmas (France), John
Catalinotto (USA), Michel Collon (Belgium), Ian Johnson (UK), John
Jefferies (Ireland), Professor Aldo Bernardini (Italy), Wil van der
Klift (Holland), Misha Gavrilovich (UK), Dr Ljiljana Verner (Germany),
dr Sima Mraovitch (France), Vladimir Krsljanin (Yugoslavia) and many
others.
SAVE THE LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC!
S T O P THE HAGUE INQUISITION!
Useful files at:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
HagNov8-2.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - 8.11.2003
HagNov8-2LAT.doc
Drugi Poziv za Hag - latinicom - 8.11.2003
HagueNov8-2.doc
New leaflet for The Hague - Nov. 8th, 2003
=== 3 ===
To the Government of the Kingdom of the Netherlands;
To the Governments of the French Republic, People’s Republic of China,
Russian Federation, United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern
Ireland, United States of America (via their Embassies at The Hague);
To the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
The people of Serbia and Yugoslavia have been victimized by the
criminal and irresponsible actions of foreign powers, primarily the
U.S. and other leading NATO governments. These powers provoked the
break-up of Yugoslavia and, in alliance with terrorists and
neo-fascists, waged the first war of aggression on European soil since
1945, against Yugoslavia. Until now no one responsible from these
countries has been held accountable for these crimes.
Instead, Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic and almost all
political and military leaders of the Serbian people who resisted the
destruction of their country have been forced to appear before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, established
in violation of the UN Charter. Not being a legitimate court of law,
the ICTY has also proven to be no court of justice. Directly or
indirectly, the ICTY is responsible for the loss of seven human lives.
Its unfairness, bias and violation of both universal and European
conventions on the protection of human-rights, as well as of generally
accepted juridical principles, oblige all the most responsible members
of the World Organization to dismiss this malignant and failed attempt
to create an ad hoc court, which was done on a purely political basis.
The ICTY is not solving, but is deepening problems in the Balkans.
The rules and procedures of the ICTY favor the Prosecution and presume
the guilt of the defendants. The trials are being conducted so as to
allow the falsification of history, charging the entire Serbian nation
for alleged crimes, which is a kind of racism we believed was buried
forever in Europe. The Serbs and all other honest people of Europe
refuse to allow the aggressors to write history!
A terrifying panorama of distorted and perverse views on the history
of the Balkans was presented in the three indictments against President
Milosevic, who has been kept in illegal detention for more than two
years in spite of the three judgments of the Yugoslav Constitutional
Court. Supported by the freedom loving people in his country and
abroad, President Milosevic has heroically and successfully defended
the truth, in spite of his ill health, the bias of the judges and his
isolation from his family, associates and the media.
President Milosevic has been deprived of the basic conditions
necessary to prepare his case – time and facilities. To prepare to
confront what the tribunal has fabricated or collected in ten years,
while spending 700 million dollars from the UN budget alone, and what
took two years and millions of pages of disclosure for the Prosecution
to present, President Milosevic has been granted only six weeks, and he
must remain in his prison cell! At the same time, should this sort of
pressure on him continue, his malignant hypertension and damaged heart,
exacerbated by the way the trial is conducted, by the harsh prison
conditions and the absence of specialized medical care, can cause an
infarct or stroke any moment. Only in freedom is it possible to
diminish the threat to his life and allow the relative recuperation of
his health.
For all the above reasons, we
DEMAND:
1. The immediate release of President Milosevic and an adjournment of
the process against him for at least two years;
2. Abolition of the ICTY, as it is a criminal tool against Yugoslavia
and Serbian people and an insult to law and justice.
SERBS AND OTHER HONEST CITIZENS OF EUROPE AND NORTH AMERICA GATHERED IN
THE INTERNATIONAL DEMONSTRATIONS AT THE HAGUE ON 8 NOVEMBER 2003