Informazione
COMUNISTI SALDI, O SALDI COMUNISTI ?
Fulvio Grimaldi
(da MONDOCANE FUORI LINEA del 29/10/03)
Lutrario Guido è un ragazzo minuto, nervoso, un po’ anziano e pelatino,
di modi soffici e persuasivi, che, personaggio-guida del giro
Disobbedienti di Roma, si potrebbe definire un Casarini dal volto umano
e, con Wilma Mazza, vociferante e irosa pasionaria del movimento e
padrona dell’emittente disobbediente Radio Sherwood di Padova, il Trio
Lescano della musica new-global italiana diretta dal maestro
(pseudo)cattivo Tony Negri. Sono quelli, per intenderci, che per vedere
il bosco Impero non vedono il taglialegna Imperialismo USA. Lutrario
Guido, dirigente senza elezioni di un gruppo di forse 500 militanti più
qualche migliaio di credenti semplici, costituisce insieme al parimenti
mai votato Casarini, (quando tentò di farsi votare dalla gente,
Casarini rimediò il classico prefisso telefonico) la leadership
carismatica veneto-romana del più chiassoso e virulento aparat
nonviolento della scena politica italiana. Ora, Lutrario Guido,
essendogli apparso in sogno una vetrina con la scritta “Saldi di
comunisti”, ha diffuso e scritto un “documento” intitolato “Movimento o
partito?”, nel quale sollecita i Giovani Comunisti, organizzazione
giovanile di Rifondazione Comunista, a sciogliersi per confluire nella
sua società di Disobbedienti, in apnea di consensi numerici e, ancor
più, sociali. Incurante, peraltro, del fatto, che il fior fiore
dirigenziale dei G.C. tale scelta aveva già fatto, esibendosi e
presentandosi come Disobbedienti al pubblico, e solo in camera
caritatis partitica come anche Giovani Comunisti, mentre gli altri
restavano dov’erano, anche perché gli pareva incongruo stare con un
piede in un partito comunista e con l’altro in un contenitore
anti-partito e anticomunista.
Lutrario Guido, un po’ più irsuto, lo avevo conosciuto in un viaggio in
Chiapas, alcuni anni fa, quando lui e i suoi amici si chiamavano
soltanto “Ya Basta” e “Centri sociali del Nord-Est”. Virgulti della
piccola e media borghesia romano-veneta, più qualche residuale
fricchettone e una spruzzata di borgatari, avevano invaso il Chiapas
per portare agli indios della Realidad il progetto di una turbina ad
acqua che avrebbe fornito corrente alla comunità. Gli indios, pazienti,
ci accolsero con fazzoletto zapatista d’ordinanza sulla faccia, si
fecero fotografare e intervistare e non dissero nulla di sconveniente
quando videro per l’ennesima volta gli ospiti rovistare tra le sponde
di un ruscelletto per stabilire come e dove installare il prodigio
tecnologico (che verrà inaugurato ancora varie volte, prima che
un mulinello venisse posato tra le acque e accendesse qualche
lampadina).
Mancammo il sospirato incontro con il Sub. Marcos, disegnato da un
esperto dell’età evolutiva nei panni di Zorro, rintanato nella foresta
Lacandona (?), doveva essere intento, dopo aver spento, con la sua
insurrezione del 1.gennaio 1994, i numerosi fuochi endemici di
guerriglia che ardevano da decenni, a preparare quella lunga marcia a
Città del Messico che lo avrebbe portato dal neo-presidente amerikano
Fox, davanti al quale, ottenuta una leggina a protezione delle piume
dei copricapo indios, depose le armi e proclamò la nonviolenza
zapatista universale e il totale disinteresse dei “ribelli” per il
potere. Disinteresse che a molti di noi parve parente stretto di quello
che Marcos, riferimento intergalattico dei no-global, riservava a tutti
i movimenti di lotta latinoamericani, armati o pacifici, dai piqueteros
argentini, agli insorti di Chavez, a Cuba assediata e vincente, ai
guerriglieri indios e ai movimenti di lotta operai e contadini che
sempre più scuotono il Messico e tutto il cortile di casa degli USA, ma
anche alla tragedia palestinese, allo squartamento della Jugoslavia,
alla polverizzazione dell’Afganistan. Borbottò qualcosa sull’ Iraq, ma
solo perché lì l’ONU aveva nicchiato. Si rispense subito e non mandò
neanche un fazzoletto zapatista al vertice WTO di Cancun.
Finimmo poi in un villaggio, Taniperlas, che le autorità ci avevano
inibito bloccandoci i pulmini. Affrontammo 40 km di marcia sotto 45° a
piedi, molti collassarono, ma poi riapparvero miracolosamente i pulmini
e ci portarono fin là. Là porgemmo fiori e sorrisi alle donne
cattoliche e zapatiste di una manesca comunità inquinata dagli
evangelici USA, facemmo cordoni a loro protezione per mezz’ora e
ripartimmo, vedendo tra nuvole di polvere gli uni avventarsi sulle
altre. Per questa nostra azione rivoluzionaria, il governo messicano ci
bandì per qualche tempo dal paese. Ma molti e elogiativi furono gli
echi sulla stampa italiana, del resto curiosamente sempre assai
ospitale verso le imprese disobbedienti, con tanto di telecamere e
taccuini tempestivamente sul posto. Sai, quando fai caciara, ma te ne
fotti del Potere…
Ritrovai questi dinamici globetrotter due anni dopo dall’altra parte
del mondo, a stringere legami con l’altro loro polo di riferimento:
l’opposizione serba. Rimasti in puntiglioso silenzio durante le stragi
ed espulsioni di mezza popolazione serba da Croazia e Bosnia (e, più
tardi, dal Kosovo), divennero rumorosissimi allorché la Nato si avventò
sulla Jugoslavia per l’ultimo banchetto. Inventarono la sofisticata
linea politica cui diedi una fortunata denominazione: “il partito del
né-né”, né con la Nato né con Milosevic. La cosa costò nulla alla Nato
e, ovviamente, parecchio alla Jugoslavia, ai serbi e a Milosevic, al
punto che tutti costoro sono scomparsi dal palcoscenico. Alcuni
compagni che recavano una bandiera jugoslava al corteo di Aviano furono
centrosocialmente bastonati e derubati della bandiera. E’un vizio
recentemente ribadito a Venezia con il pestaggio di compagni di
Rifondazione che protestavano contro la glorificazione di “martiri del
comunismo” da parte di un prosindaco loro amico. In una sosta nel
viaggio di ritorno da Aviano incrociai Lutrario Guido e gli feci
presente la sconvenienza del comportamento del Casarini e squadristi
associati. Lui si inalberò, nella misura della sua statura e, meno
affabile del solito, inveì che un “Grande Compagno come Luca non va
diffamato!” A Belgrado i nordestini, benedetti da un Don Vitaliano,
strinsero forte e duratura amicizia con Otpor, una versatile
formazione che strombazzava dalla radio del circuito CIA “B-92”,
aggrediva operai in corteo, schierò bande di squadristi per scorribande
nelle città e l’incendio del Parlamento, in quel 5 ottobre della
cosiddetta (da “sinistra”) “rivoluzione democratica” di Belgrado, ma,
fino alla caduta di Milosevic, esibiva nel suo logo un pugno nero alla
parigina. Uno sdoppiamento ripraticato oggi da non pochi, tra filosofi
torinesi ed elmetti da scontro scenico umbri. Risultò subito che questi
ragazzi-bene della Serbia si erano attivati, non solo per il
rovesciamento del governo jugoslavo, ma per un programma politico che
prevedeva la cessione agli “investitori” stranieri del patrimonio
nazionale, della forza- lavoro serba (definita di “modico costo”) e del
welfare. Protezioni sociali fin lì garantite da un “dittatore”
ripetutamente eletto e che, peraltro, se la doveva vedere con 16
partiti nemici su 18 e con il 92% dei media avversi, tutti, compreso
Otpor, largamente finanziati da Washington. All’uopo, i quadri di Otpor
erano stati addestrati da un generale della CIA a Budapest e a Sofia.
Lo dissero loro, lo provarono la BBC, il New York Times, il “Diario” di
De Aglio e il sottoscritto, che per questo fu castigato dal suo
giornale al quale Otpor risultava “compagno di strada del movimento
no-global” (la resa dei conti definitiva verrà poi con Cuba). Otpor
venne a banchettare, convegnare e trasmettere in Italia e lo stesso
fecero dall’altra parte i compagni italiani.
Seguirono, nella storia di questo segmento del “popolo di Seattle”,
tutta una serie di tumulti, spesso concordati con la polizia, come da
loro ammesso, una caterva di botte a compagni di organizzazioni
antirazziste, di sinistra, antagoniste varie, che osavano invadere il
territorio loro sovrano, un discreto stipendio al sub-sub nazionale,
impegnatissimo nella difesa degli immigrati, da parte del ministro
autore di una odiosa legge anti-immigrati, nerborute scalate al
controllo del Movimento dei movimenti. Un episodio emblematico e che
più di altri mi colpì fu quello che vide Ya Basta lanciare contro
l’Intifada palestinese, il 9 novembre 2001, manifestazione nazionale
per la Palestina, una dura reprimenda per aver chiesto anche il popolo
palestinese uno Stato come tutti gli altri, con la conseguente
dissociazione dalla manifestazione di solidarietà. Forse, quella volta,
si accorsero dell’errore, perché rimasero soli come pitbull sotto
Sirchia. E allora ripararono avventandosi in massa sulla Palestina, ne
trassero un video nel quale si vedevano più casarini che kefieh e
presero a collocare poster di lanciasassi nei loro ambienti. Fu moto
breve, forse un altro errore uguale e contrario. Tant’è vero che se ora
chiedi a un Disobbediente cosa ne è della Palestina, o magari
dell’Iraq, ti risponderà di farla finita con questi nazionalismi e di
occuparti del WTO (mai di FMI, Banca Mondiale, Nato, o Bush, che hanno
l’attenuante di essere del tutto amerikani), tanto lì è facile
rivendicare vittorie conseguite piuttosto dai paesi poveri guidati da
Cina, Sudafrica, Brasile e Venezuela. E’ che gli espulsi ai
Disobbedienti piacciono in quanto individui in barca. Come nazioni sono
detestabili.
Tutto questa festa di colori, esodi, moltitudini, muncipalismi e
imperi, bilanci partecipativi ha fatto sì che il movimento e perfino
partiti vezzeggianti seppure schifati – ma mai votati – se ne siano
andati da un’altra parte e abbiano lasciato l’ideale municipalista e
antistatalista alla riserva teorica dei Disobbedienti, in ciò ormai
soli, seppure colmati di comprensione da Bossi e da Bush, che se ne
servono per disintegrare possibili blocchi di contrasto
antimperialista. Da questa profonda solitudine, si sprigiona il grido
di Lutrario Guido. Si chiede, Guido, “a che serve Rifondazione
Comunista?” E la domanda, in verità, potrebbe avere un qualche
fondamento, alla luce di certe ombre che avanzano alle spalle di un
D’Alema-Amato-Rutelli in congiunzione elittica con gli unici che
annoverano tra di loro ancora dei comunisti. Vedremo chi avrà più filo…
Ma, stia pur certo Lutrario, a tutto pensano i comunisti, con la loro
storia di oltre un secolo di battaglie contro il padrone e i suoi
collateralisti, fuorché rintanarsi nei buchi dell’autogestione
spinellara e birraiola, compatita dal potere finchè vi si rimane
invischiati,. Si chiede qual è il “contributo in avanti sul piano
dell’elaborazione teorica e quindi dell’innovazione delle pratiche che
i giovani comunisti hanno portato tra i disobbedienti, quale il
contributo che la loro tradizione di provenienza ha portato nel
movimento?” E ha ragione a rispondersi implicitamente: zero, se pensa a
coloro che hanno calzato sulla falce e sul martello la tutina dei
Disobbedienti, o la camicia nera di Otpor. Ma se invece si riferisce ai
giovani e comunisti che lottano con quelli nel mondo che, come Ebe de
Bonafini a Porto Alegre, a voraci ONG e a ambigui nonviolenti
partecipazionisti del campanile sbattono la porta in faccia e vanno a
fare la rivoluzione, Lutrario si è picconato i piedi. Vedi, Guido, per
psicologi e antropologi l’infanzia è giustamente l’età in cui si
disobbedisce e si ruba la marmellata; da ragazzi, poi, ci si ribella e
si marina la scuola. Se si riesce a crescere ancora – non è da tutti –
si diventa rivoluzionari e si cambia il mondo.
Dai, ancora uno sforzo, chè ce la fate, prima che vi cadano tutti i
capelli. Quanto ai saldi, quella vetrina ti aveva preso per il culo.
Fulvio Grimaldi
(da MONDOCANE FUORI LINEA del 29/10/03)
Lutrario Guido è un ragazzo minuto, nervoso, un po’ anziano e pelatino,
di modi soffici e persuasivi, che, personaggio-guida del giro
Disobbedienti di Roma, si potrebbe definire un Casarini dal volto umano
e, con Wilma Mazza, vociferante e irosa pasionaria del movimento e
padrona dell’emittente disobbediente Radio Sherwood di Padova, il Trio
Lescano della musica new-global italiana diretta dal maestro
(pseudo)cattivo Tony Negri. Sono quelli, per intenderci, che per vedere
il bosco Impero non vedono il taglialegna Imperialismo USA. Lutrario
Guido, dirigente senza elezioni di un gruppo di forse 500 militanti più
qualche migliaio di credenti semplici, costituisce insieme al parimenti
mai votato Casarini, (quando tentò di farsi votare dalla gente,
Casarini rimediò il classico prefisso telefonico) la leadership
carismatica veneto-romana del più chiassoso e virulento aparat
nonviolento della scena politica italiana. Ora, Lutrario Guido,
essendogli apparso in sogno una vetrina con la scritta “Saldi di
comunisti”, ha diffuso e scritto un “documento” intitolato “Movimento o
partito?”, nel quale sollecita i Giovani Comunisti, organizzazione
giovanile di Rifondazione Comunista, a sciogliersi per confluire nella
sua società di Disobbedienti, in apnea di consensi numerici e, ancor
più, sociali. Incurante, peraltro, del fatto, che il fior fiore
dirigenziale dei G.C. tale scelta aveva già fatto, esibendosi e
presentandosi come Disobbedienti al pubblico, e solo in camera
caritatis partitica come anche Giovani Comunisti, mentre gli altri
restavano dov’erano, anche perché gli pareva incongruo stare con un
piede in un partito comunista e con l’altro in un contenitore
anti-partito e anticomunista.
Lutrario Guido, un po’ più irsuto, lo avevo conosciuto in un viaggio in
Chiapas, alcuni anni fa, quando lui e i suoi amici si chiamavano
soltanto “Ya Basta” e “Centri sociali del Nord-Est”. Virgulti della
piccola e media borghesia romano-veneta, più qualche residuale
fricchettone e una spruzzata di borgatari, avevano invaso il Chiapas
per portare agli indios della Realidad il progetto di una turbina ad
acqua che avrebbe fornito corrente alla comunità. Gli indios, pazienti,
ci accolsero con fazzoletto zapatista d’ordinanza sulla faccia, si
fecero fotografare e intervistare e non dissero nulla di sconveniente
quando videro per l’ennesima volta gli ospiti rovistare tra le sponde
di un ruscelletto per stabilire come e dove installare il prodigio
tecnologico (che verrà inaugurato ancora varie volte, prima che
un mulinello venisse posato tra le acque e accendesse qualche
lampadina).
Mancammo il sospirato incontro con il Sub. Marcos, disegnato da un
esperto dell’età evolutiva nei panni di Zorro, rintanato nella foresta
Lacandona (?), doveva essere intento, dopo aver spento, con la sua
insurrezione del 1.gennaio 1994, i numerosi fuochi endemici di
guerriglia che ardevano da decenni, a preparare quella lunga marcia a
Città del Messico che lo avrebbe portato dal neo-presidente amerikano
Fox, davanti al quale, ottenuta una leggina a protezione delle piume
dei copricapo indios, depose le armi e proclamò la nonviolenza
zapatista universale e il totale disinteresse dei “ribelli” per il
potere. Disinteresse che a molti di noi parve parente stretto di quello
che Marcos, riferimento intergalattico dei no-global, riservava a tutti
i movimenti di lotta latinoamericani, armati o pacifici, dai piqueteros
argentini, agli insorti di Chavez, a Cuba assediata e vincente, ai
guerriglieri indios e ai movimenti di lotta operai e contadini che
sempre più scuotono il Messico e tutto il cortile di casa degli USA, ma
anche alla tragedia palestinese, allo squartamento della Jugoslavia,
alla polverizzazione dell’Afganistan. Borbottò qualcosa sull’ Iraq, ma
solo perché lì l’ONU aveva nicchiato. Si rispense subito e non mandò
neanche un fazzoletto zapatista al vertice WTO di Cancun.
Finimmo poi in un villaggio, Taniperlas, che le autorità ci avevano
inibito bloccandoci i pulmini. Affrontammo 40 km di marcia sotto 45° a
piedi, molti collassarono, ma poi riapparvero miracolosamente i pulmini
e ci portarono fin là. Là porgemmo fiori e sorrisi alle donne
cattoliche e zapatiste di una manesca comunità inquinata dagli
evangelici USA, facemmo cordoni a loro protezione per mezz’ora e
ripartimmo, vedendo tra nuvole di polvere gli uni avventarsi sulle
altre. Per questa nostra azione rivoluzionaria, il governo messicano ci
bandì per qualche tempo dal paese. Ma molti e elogiativi furono gli
echi sulla stampa italiana, del resto curiosamente sempre assai
ospitale verso le imprese disobbedienti, con tanto di telecamere e
taccuini tempestivamente sul posto. Sai, quando fai caciara, ma te ne
fotti del Potere…
Ritrovai questi dinamici globetrotter due anni dopo dall’altra parte
del mondo, a stringere legami con l’altro loro polo di riferimento:
l’opposizione serba. Rimasti in puntiglioso silenzio durante le stragi
ed espulsioni di mezza popolazione serba da Croazia e Bosnia (e, più
tardi, dal Kosovo), divennero rumorosissimi allorché la Nato si avventò
sulla Jugoslavia per l’ultimo banchetto. Inventarono la sofisticata
linea politica cui diedi una fortunata denominazione: “il partito del
né-né”, né con la Nato né con Milosevic. La cosa costò nulla alla Nato
e, ovviamente, parecchio alla Jugoslavia, ai serbi e a Milosevic, al
punto che tutti costoro sono scomparsi dal palcoscenico. Alcuni
compagni che recavano una bandiera jugoslava al corteo di Aviano furono
centrosocialmente bastonati e derubati della bandiera. E’un vizio
recentemente ribadito a Venezia con il pestaggio di compagni di
Rifondazione che protestavano contro la glorificazione di “martiri del
comunismo” da parte di un prosindaco loro amico. In una sosta nel
viaggio di ritorno da Aviano incrociai Lutrario Guido e gli feci
presente la sconvenienza del comportamento del Casarini e squadristi
associati. Lui si inalberò, nella misura della sua statura e, meno
affabile del solito, inveì che un “Grande Compagno come Luca non va
diffamato!” A Belgrado i nordestini, benedetti da un Don Vitaliano,
strinsero forte e duratura amicizia con Otpor, una versatile
formazione che strombazzava dalla radio del circuito CIA “B-92”,
aggrediva operai in corteo, schierò bande di squadristi per scorribande
nelle città e l’incendio del Parlamento, in quel 5 ottobre della
cosiddetta (da “sinistra”) “rivoluzione democratica” di Belgrado, ma,
fino alla caduta di Milosevic, esibiva nel suo logo un pugno nero alla
parigina. Uno sdoppiamento ripraticato oggi da non pochi, tra filosofi
torinesi ed elmetti da scontro scenico umbri. Risultò subito che questi
ragazzi-bene della Serbia si erano attivati, non solo per il
rovesciamento del governo jugoslavo, ma per un programma politico che
prevedeva la cessione agli “investitori” stranieri del patrimonio
nazionale, della forza- lavoro serba (definita di “modico costo”) e del
welfare. Protezioni sociali fin lì garantite da un “dittatore”
ripetutamente eletto e che, peraltro, se la doveva vedere con 16
partiti nemici su 18 e con il 92% dei media avversi, tutti, compreso
Otpor, largamente finanziati da Washington. All’uopo, i quadri di Otpor
erano stati addestrati da un generale della CIA a Budapest e a Sofia.
Lo dissero loro, lo provarono la BBC, il New York Times, il “Diario” di
De Aglio e il sottoscritto, che per questo fu castigato dal suo
giornale al quale Otpor risultava “compagno di strada del movimento
no-global” (la resa dei conti definitiva verrà poi con Cuba). Otpor
venne a banchettare, convegnare e trasmettere in Italia e lo stesso
fecero dall’altra parte i compagni italiani.
Seguirono, nella storia di questo segmento del “popolo di Seattle”,
tutta una serie di tumulti, spesso concordati con la polizia, come da
loro ammesso, una caterva di botte a compagni di organizzazioni
antirazziste, di sinistra, antagoniste varie, che osavano invadere il
territorio loro sovrano, un discreto stipendio al sub-sub nazionale,
impegnatissimo nella difesa degli immigrati, da parte del ministro
autore di una odiosa legge anti-immigrati, nerborute scalate al
controllo del Movimento dei movimenti. Un episodio emblematico e che
più di altri mi colpì fu quello che vide Ya Basta lanciare contro
l’Intifada palestinese, il 9 novembre 2001, manifestazione nazionale
per la Palestina, una dura reprimenda per aver chiesto anche il popolo
palestinese uno Stato come tutti gli altri, con la conseguente
dissociazione dalla manifestazione di solidarietà. Forse, quella volta,
si accorsero dell’errore, perché rimasero soli come pitbull sotto
Sirchia. E allora ripararono avventandosi in massa sulla Palestina, ne
trassero un video nel quale si vedevano più casarini che kefieh e
presero a collocare poster di lanciasassi nei loro ambienti. Fu moto
breve, forse un altro errore uguale e contrario. Tant’è vero che se ora
chiedi a un Disobbediente cosa ne è della Palestina, o magari
dell’Iraq, ti risponderà di farla finita con questi nazionalismi e di
occuparti del WTO (mai di FMI, Banca Mondiale, Nato, o Bush, che hanno
l’attenuante di essere del tutto amerikani), tanto lì è facile
rivendicare vittorie conseguite piuttosto dai paesi poveri guidati da
Cina, Sudafrica, Brasile e Venezuela. E’ che gli espulsi ai
Disobbedienti piacciono in quanto individui in barca. Come nazioni sono
detestabili.
Tutto questa festa di colori, esodi, moltitudini, muncipalismi e
imperi, bilanci partecipativi ha fatto sì che il movimento e perfino
partiti vezzeggianti seppure schifati – ma mai votati – se ne siano
andati da un’altra parte e abbiano lasciato l’ideale municipalista e
antistatalista alla riserva teorica dei Disobbedienti, in ciò ormai
soli, seppure colmati di comprensione da Bossi e da Bush, che se ne
servono per disintegrare possibili blocchi di contrasto
antimperialista. Da questa profonda solitudine, si sprigiona il grido
di Lutrario Guido. Si chiede, Guido, “a che serve Rifondazione
Comunista?” E la domanda, in verità, potrebbe avere un qualche
fondamento, alla luce di certe ombre che avanzano alle spalle di un
D’Alema-Amato-Rutelli in congiunzione elittica con gli unici che
annoverano tra di loro ancora dei comunisti. Vedremo chi avrà più filo…
Ma, stia pur certo Lutrario, a tutto pensano i comunisti, con la loro
storia di oltre un secolo di battaglie contro il padrone e i suoi
collateralisti, fuorché rintanarsi nei buchi dell’autogestione
spinellara e birraiola, compatita dal potere finchè vi si rimane
invischiati,. Si chiede qual è il “contributo in avanti sul piano
dell’elaborazione teorica e quindi dell’innovazione delle pratiche che
i giovani comunisti hanno portato tra i disobbedienti, quale il
contributo che la loro tradizione di provenienza ha portato nel
movimento?” E ha ragione a rispondersi implicitamente: zero, se pensa a
coloro che hanno calzato sulla falce e sul martello la tutina dei
Disobbedienti, o la camicia nera di Otpor. Ma se invece si riferisce ai
giovani e comunisti che lottano con quelli nel mondo che, come Ebe de
Bonafini a Porto Alegre, a voraci ONG e a ambigui nonviolenti
partecipazionisti del campanile sbattono la porta in faccia e vanno a
fare la rivoluzione, Lutrario si è picconato i piedi. Vedi, Guido, per
psicologi e antropologi l’infanzia è giustamente l’età in cui si
disobbedisce e si ruba la marmellata; da ragazzi, poi, ci si ribella e
si marina la scuola. Se si riesce a crescere ancora – non è da tutti –
si diventa rivoluzionari e si cambia il mondo.
Dai, ancora uno sforzo, chè ce la fate, prima che vi cadano tutti i
capelli. Quanto ai saldi, quella vetrina ti aveva preso per il culo.
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
Slovenia/SFRJ (italiano / english)
SLOVENIA: PARLAMENTO APPROVA REINTEGRO 18.000 'CANCELLATI'
(ANSA) - LUBIANA, 30 OTT - Il parlamento sloveno ha approvato oggi il
reintegro dei cosiddetti 'cancellati', quelle 18.000 persone
originarie di altre repubbliche ex jugoslave che, seppur residenti a
tutti gli effetti in Slovenia al momento dell'indipendenza, nel 1991,
vennero eliminate dai registri anagrafici perche' non avevano chiesto
la cittadinanza o regolato il proprio status nei tempi e nei modi
richiesti. La norma votata dal parlamento prevede anche il
riconoscimento retroattivo della residenza dei 'cancellati', come
stabilito da una sentenza della Corte costituzionale, che nell'aprile
scorso ha dichiarato ileggittima la cancellazione imponendo il
ripristino dei diritti perduti. La sanatoria dara' modo di
regolarizzare la propria posizione solo a coloro che potranno
dimostrare di aver risieduto ininterrottamente in Slovenia dal 1992 ad
oggi. Per gli altri, circa 4.000 persone, e' in preparazione una nuova
legge. Contro l'approvazione della norma si e' espressa
l'opposizione di centro destra che giudica il reintegro pericoloso dal
punto di vista sociale e finanziario, a causa in particolare degli
indenizzi miliardari rivendicati dai cittadini cancellati. (ANSA)
COR*VD
30/10/2003 14:05
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/slovenia/20031030140532738772.html
---
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=1512&u=/afp/20031030/wl_afp/
slovenia_minorities_031030180249&printer=1
Slovenian parliament passes law on "erased" former Yugoslav citizens
Thu Oct 30, 1:02 PM ET
LJUBLJANA (AFP) - The Slovenian parliament has granted permanent
residency to thousands of so-called "erased" citizens from other former
Yugoslav republics who lost the right to reside in Slovenia 11 years
ago.
The legislation was passed by 45 votes to 19, weathering strong
objections from the right-wing opposition.
It pledged "to give back permanent residency to all those citizens who
were illegally erased from the state registers in 1992, depriving them
of their rights," according to the draft text.
The legislative move followed a ruling by the Constitutional Court,
which in April declared that taking several thousand former Yugoslav
citizens living in Slovenia in 1991 and 1992 off the the registers of
permanent residents in the tiny Alpine state was illegal.
Slovenia, the most prosperous former constituent republic of
Yugoslavia, declared independence in June 1991 and hopes to join the
European Union (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites) next year.
The breakup of Yugoslavia, from which five new states emerged
(Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro), left
many citizens stateless, among them many Serbs, Bosnians and Kosovo
Albanians who had come to work to Slovenia.
Over 30,000 former Yugoslav citizens living in Slovenia were "erased"
from the registers of permanent residents in year 1992, according to
the Slovenian Interior ministry.
About 11,000 left the country but over 18,000 remained in Slovenia,
among them some 2,500 who obtained temporary residency and 4,200 who
remained without status, leaving them without identity cards or any
legal Slovenian documents, according to the ministry.
Slovenia's influential newspaper Delo said Thursday that the new law
was a belated acknowledgment of the damage the state had caused some of
its citizens during the process of breaking from the former Yugoslav
federation and building an independent state.
"Then our only goal and only concern was getting a state of our own. We
had no time to think about the fundamental rights of the individuals...
and that hurt many," Delo said.
Opposition parties criticized the bill, saying it would lead to a
number of compensation lawsuits from those affected.
"We are passing a law without having any knowledge of the financial
consequences it will have for the state," said Saso Pece of the
right-wing Slovenian National Party during the debate in parliament.
"Every society has scum and usually society tries to reduce the
percentage (of scum). This law will only increase that number, which is
horrible," Pece said.
The law was also criticized by the center-right Slovenian Democratic
Party as "an attack against the Slovenian taxpayers' pockets."
But former constitutional judge Mateuz Krivic, who is a member of a
group that works to protect the rights of the "erased," denied that
compensation claims would be high.
He told AFP there would be only a few claims from people who had lost
their rights to pensions.
Krivic said the law against foreigners passed at the time of
independence was largely based on anti-Serb feelings.
"Nationalism remains high" in Slovenia, he said.
SLOVENIA: PARLAMENTO APPROVA REINTEGRO 18.000 'CANCELLATI'
(ANSA) - LUBIANA, 30 OTT - Il parlamento sloveno ha approvato oggi il
reintegro dei cosiddetti 'cancellati', quelle 18.000 persone
originarie di altre repubbliche ex jugoslave che, seppur residenti a
tutti gli effetti in Slovenia al momento dell'indipendenza, nel 1991,
vennero eliminate dai registri anagrafici perche' non avevano chiesto
la cittadinanza o regolato il proprio status nei tempi e nei modi
richiesti. La norma votata dal parlamento prevede anche il
riconoscimento retroattivo della residenza dei 'cancellati', come
stabilito da una sentenza della Corte costituzionale, che nell'aprile
scorso ha dichiarato ileggittima la cancellazione imponendo il
ripristino dei diritti perduti. La sanatoria dara' modo di
regolarizzare la propria posizione solo a coloro che potranno
dimostrare di aver risieduto ininterrottamente in Slovenia dal 1992 ad
oggi. Per gli altri, circa 4.000 persone, e' in preparazione una nuova
legge. Contro l'approvazione della norma si e' espressa
l'opposizione di centro destra che giudica il reintegro pericoloso dal
punto di vista sociale e finanziario, a causa in particolare degli
indenizzi miliardari rivendicati dai cittadini cancellati. (ANSA)
COR*VD
30/10/2003 14:05
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/slovenia/20031030140532738772.html
---
http://news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story2&cid=1512&u=/afp/20031030/wl_afp/
slovenia_minorities_031030180249&printer=1
Slovenian parliament passes law on "erased" former Yugoslav citizens
Thu Oct 30, 1:02 PM ET
LJUBLJANA (AFP) - The Slovenian parliament has granted permanent
residency to thousands of so-called "erased" citizens from other former
Yugoslav republics who lost the right to reside in Slovenia 11 years
ago.
The legislation was passed by 45 votes to 19, weathering strong
objections from the right-wing opposition.
It pledged "to give back permanent residency to all those citizens who
were illegally erased from the state registers in 1992, depriving them
of their rights," according to the draft text.
The legislative move followed a ruling by the Constitutional Court,
which in April declared that taking several thousand former Yugoslav
citizens living in Slovenia in 1991 and 1992 off the the registers of
permanent residents in the tiny Alpine state was illegal.
Slovenia, the most prosperous former constituent republic of
Yugoslavia, declared independence in June 1991 and hopes to join the
European Union (news - web sites) and NATO (news - web sites) next year.
The breakup of Yugoslavia, from which five new states emerged
(Slovenia, Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia, Serbia and Montenegro), left
many citizens stateless, among them many Serbs, Bosnians and Kosovo
Albanians who had come to work to Slovenia.
Over 30,000 former Yugoslav citizens living in Slovenia were "erased"
from the registers of permanent residents in year 1992, according to
the Slovenian Interior ministry.
About 11,000 left the country but over 18,000 remained in Slovenia,
among them some 2,500 who obtained temporary residency and 4,200 who
remained without status, leaving them without identity cards or any
legal Slovenian documents, according to the ministry.
Slovenia's influential newspaper Delo said Thursday that the new law
was a belated acknowledgment of the damage the state had caused some of
its citizens during the process of breaking from the former Yugoslav
federation and building an independent state.
"Then our only goal and only concern was getting a state of our own. We
had no time to think about the fundamental rights of the individuals...
and that hurt many," Delo said.
Opposition parties criticized the bill, saying it would lead to a
number of compensation lawsuits from those affected.
"We are passing a law without having any knowledge of the financial
consequences it will have for the state," said Saso Pece of the
right-wing Slovenian National Party during the debate in parliament.
"Every society has scum and usually society tries to reduce the
percentage (of scum). This law will only increase that number, which is
horrible," Pece said.
The law was also criticized by the center-right Slovenian Democratic
Party as "an attack against the Slovenian taxpayers' pockets."
But former constitutional judge Mateuz Krivic, who is a member of a
group that works to protect the rights of the "erased," denied that
compensation claims would be high.
He told AFP there would be only a few claims from people who had lost
their rights to pensions.
Krivic said the law against foreigners passed at the time of
independence was largely based on anti-Serb feelings.
"Nationalism remains high" in Slovenia, he said.
Djindjic (italiano / deutsch)
1. Der zweite Schütze
Interview mit Milan Veruvic, dem Leibwächter des ermordeten Premiers
(Radio B92 / J. Elsaesser auf der "Junge Welt" vom 27.10.2003)
2. Il mistero Ðinđić
I nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio del premier serbo dischiudono la
possibilità che il potere di Belgrado non abbia interesse a rivelare
tutti i dettagli sull’attentato a Ðinđić
(Željko Cvijanović / Osservatorio Balcani)
=== 1 ===
Junge Welt (Berlin), 27.10.2003
Der zweite Schütze
Was verbergen die serbischen Behörden bei der Aufklärung des Attentates
auf Zoran Djindjic? Interview mit Milan Veruvic, dem Leibwächter des
ermordeten Premiers
Das Attentat auf den serbischen Ministerpräsidenten Zoran Djindjic am
12. März dieses Jahres erschütterte Serbien. Nach wochenlangem
Ausnahmezustand und einer landesweiten Fahndung, bei der über 3000
Personen in Untersuchungshaft genommen wurden, präsentierte die
Staatsanwaltschaft mittlerweile die Angeklagten: die unmittelbaren
Täter seien Gangster des sogenannten Zemun Clans gewesen, die
Hintermänner Polizisten der Sondereinheit „Rote Barette“. Der Mord, so
legt die Anklageschrift nahe, sollte Auftakt zu einem Putsch der alten
Seilschaften aus der Milosevic-Zeit sein.
Doch bereits im Vorfeld des für Dezember angesetzten Prozesses häufen
sich die Hinweise, daß auch Teile der heutigen Belgrader Machthaber in
die Bluttat verwickelt gewesen sein könnten. Anfang Oktober zitierte
das Belgrader Wochenblatt Nedeljni Telegraf einen Minister mit den
Worten: „Es wird ein Schock für die Öffentlichkeit sein, wenn sie
erfährt, daß der Mörder Djindjics in dessen unmittelbarer Umgebung in
der Regierung saß.“ Demnach sollen auch Videoaufnahmen existieren, die
ein Regierungsmitglied beim Betreten des Hauptquartiers des Zemun Clans
in der Zeit kurz vor dem Mord zeigen (vgl. jW, 4. Oktober).
Diese Aussagen konnten noch ignoriert werden, weil der Zeuge sich nur
unter dem Siegel der Anonymität hatte äußern wollen. Mit dem, was jW im
folgenden dokumentiert, wird das nicht mehr möglich sein. Wer jemals
Thriller wie „JFK“ oder „Der Schakal“ sah, wird sich an manches
erinnern: Zeugen, die nicht gehört werden; Spuren, die die Polizei
nicht verfolgt; eine Kugel, die es nicht geben darf; ein Killer, der
über die Grenze eingeschleust wird; ein Opfer, dessen Vorstellungen den
Großmächten mißfiel.
Man würde es nicht glauben, kämen die Auskünfte nicht von jemanden, der
das Vertrauen von Djindjic besaß und überdies Augenzeuge war: Milan
Veruvic, jahrelang Chef der Leibschutz-Garde des Premiers, stand am 12.
März direkt neben diesem, als die Schüsse fielen, und wurde selbst
getroffen. Das Interview lief auf Radio B92, das der regierenden
DOS-Koalition nahesteht. (Jürgen Elsässer)
Das Interview
- Gehen wir zurück zum 12. März. Sie sagten, an dem Morgen sei alles
wie sonst gewesen?
Wir kamen am Regierungsgebäude ... ungefähr um 12.25 Uhr an ... Ich
kündigte unsere Ankunft über Funk an. Ich rief beim Sicherheitschef im
Gebäude an, aber er antwortete nicht ... Stattdessen antwortete mir,
gleich nachdem wir in den Hof eingefahren waren, ein Mann, der auf
demselben Kanal war. Er leitete die Security auf dem ersten Stock. Er
sagte seine Code Nummer. „Nummer fünf hört Sie.“ Ich nahm an, das sei
jemand von der Regierung, der mich gehört hat, und wir fuhren in den
Hof rein. Seltsam an diesem Tag war, daß es hinter dem Gebäude ganz
leer war. ... Ich ging aus dem Wagen raus, nahm seine Krücken und die
Tasche mit (Djindjic hatte zu jener Zeit einen Gipsfuß, Anm. JE). Ich
öffnete seine Tür, gab ihm die Krücken, und ging mit ihm auf den
Eingang Nummer fünf zu ... In diesem Augenblick näherten wir uns der
Tür. Ich drehte mich herum, um die Wagentür zu schließen, und ich hörte
einen gedämpften Schuß. Einen Sekundenbruchteil dachte ich, daß irgend
etwas in einem Gebäude weiter weg geballert hatte. Ich hörte seinen
Schrei ... Im selben Augenblick, als er getroffen wurde, hörte ich
einen lauten Knall. Das war der Schuß, der mich getroffen hat. Ich fiel
vor dem Regierungsgebäude zu Boden, er lehnte sich gegen die Tür und
fiel hinein. Die Tür war zu der Zeit nicht offen, was ungewöhnlich war.
Er fiel in den Korridor des Gebäudes. Ich blieb auf den Stufen liegen.
In diesem Augenblick liefen die Leute von der Security hinein, um nach
ihm zu sehen. Irgendwie kroch ich zum Wagen. Dann kam der dritte Schuß.
Er traf die Mauer des Gebäudes, das bedeutete, sie hatten uns immer
noch im Schußfeld. Wir blieben dort einige Minuten, der Premier bekam
Erste Hilfe ... Mir gelang es, in den Wagen hineinzukommen, und ich
benutzte ihn als Deckung. In diesem Moment kam auch mein Kollege ins
Auto, man brachte en Chef in das zweite Fahrzeug und wir rasten davon
Richtung Notaufnahme.
- Sie sprachen von einer dritten Kugel .. Niemand sonst hat sie
erwähnt. Weder in der polizeilichen Untersuchung, noch im
Sicherheitsbericht und in der Anklageschrift. Warum? Woher ist diese
dritte Kugel gekommen?
Diese Frage wird sich erst in künftigen Ermittlungen stellen. Ich
versuchte ihnen zu erklären, daß das Knall bei der ersten Kugel, die
den Premier traf, schwächer war als bei den anderen beiden, die mich
und die Mauer trafen. Deshalb habe ich den Verdacht, daß der Schuß aus
einer anderen Position kam ... Später versuchte ich das dem
Untersuchungsrichter zu erklären, aber ich fand nicht viel Verständnis.
Die Gerichtsmediziner versuchten mir zu erklären, daß der Unterschied
daher kam, daß der zweite für mich lauter erschien, weil er mich traf
... Warum man die dritte Kugel nie ernsthaft in die Überlogen einbezog,
kann ich nicht erklären. Das würde ich gerne die Leute fragen, die
etwas mit der Untersuchung zu tun hatten ... Wir konnten schon lesen,
daß man das Gewehr gefunden hat, und daß mit dem Gewehr zwei Schüsse
abgefeuert wurden. Diese ganze Geschichte mit den zwei Kugeln machte
die ganze Geschichte von dem, was an jenem Tag passiert sein soll,
unglaubwürdig, sogar für uns, die an jenem Tag dort waren und die das
laut und deutlich jedem sagten, der uns fragte. Im Krankenhaus fragte
ich die Leute, die an jenem Tag da waren, und wir waren uns einig
darin, daß es drei Schüsse gegeben hatte. Wir alle hörten den dritten.
Wir sahen sogar, wo er einschlug.
- Nicht nur Sie, sondern auch Ihre Kollegen?
Ja, ja. Acht von uns waren an jenem Tag da, und alle gaben dieselbe
Erklärung ab, alle.
- Sie wurden von hinten getroffen, in den Rücken, ist das richtig? Und
der Premier wurde von vorne erschossen, in die Brust. Tatsächlich
gingen Sie in dieselbe Richtung, aber einer wurde in den Rücken
getroffen und der andere in die Brust. Wie ist das möglich?
Ich weiß nicht wie. Die Frage, die man stellen muß, ist, warum die
Leute, die die Untersuchung leiteten, zu der Schlußfolgerung kamen, daß
er von dieser Richtung, von diesem Fenster aus, getroffen wurde, obwohl
wir doch wissen, daß bisher keine Tatortrekonstruktion vorgenommen
worden ist, und als Augenzeuge hätte ich zu all dem hinzugezogen werden
müssen.
- Wie ist es möglich, daß noch keine Tatortrekonstruktion vorgenommen
worden ist?
Das interessiert mich auch. Das würde ich gerne jeden fragen, der damit
zu tun hat. Eine Tatortrekonstruktion ist das erste, was bei einer
Untersuchung gemacht werden muß, damit man die Abläufe rekonstruieren
kann. Ohne das ist es absurd, die Position des Premierministers im
Augenblick des Schusses festlegen zu wollen. Wenn man alle meine
Aussagen zugrunde legt, gingen wir in dem Augenblick los, als er sich
zum Regierungsgebäude drehte, was der Angabe im Untersuchungsbericht
widerspricht, wonach er dem Regierungsgebäude den Rücken zugedreht hat.
- Behaupten Sie damit, er kann nicht von der Admiral Geprat Straße aus
in die Brust getroffen worden sein?
Ja, und dabei bleibe ich. Wenn er in Richtung Tür stand, und in diese
Richtung fiel er, dann kann er nicht von links getroffen worden sein,
denn er wurde in seine rechte Seite getroffen. Ich stand an seiner
linken Seite direkt neben ihm ... Ich vermute einfach, daß es noch ein
weiteres Scharfschützennest in der gegenüberliegenden Straße gab, in
der Bircaninova Straße, in einem Durchgang, der mir verdächtig vorkam,
zwischen den Gebäuden des Außenministeriums und der
Eisenbahngesellschaft. Der Eingang Nummer sechs, der zu bestimmten
staatlichen Einrichtungen wie dem Hydrometeorologischen Institut und
was weiß ich führt, wurde seit dem 1. Februar, als das Gebäude
renoviert wurde, nicht mehr überprüft. Ich ging dorthin, nachdem ich
aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen worden war, um mir selbst anzusehen, was
an jenem Tag passiert ist. Tatsache ist, daß es in dem Hof hinter dem
Gebäude ein Gerüst bis hinauf zum Dach gibt, die jeder benutzt haben
könnte, um hinaufzusteigen und alles mögliche anzustellen ...
- Sie glauben also, daß die Kugel, die Zoran Djindjic traf, aus dieser
Richtung kam?
Ich glaube, daß er aus der Bircaninova getroffen wurde, und daß ich von
dem Fenster aus getroffen wurde, aus dem (der Hauptangeklagte, Anm. JE)
Zvezdan Jovanovic einen Schuß abgab, und daß die dritte Kugel ... auch
von der Admiral Geprat Straße (wo Jovanovic war, Anm. JE) kam ...
Das Phantom
- Die Frage ist – wer war der zweite Schütze? Gibt es irgendwelche
Verdachtmomente, wer es gewesen sein könnte, auch wenn er noch keine
Erwähnung gefunden hat? Nur ein Schütze ist bisher erwähnt worden, und
das ist Zvezdan Jovanovic, der den Mord während der polizeilichen
Untersuchung zugegeben hat (Jovanovics Anwalt bestreitet dieses
Geständnis, Anm. JE) Aber nach ihren Angaben gibt es einen zweiten Ort,
ein zweites Gewehr.
Ich weiß nicht, wer dieser Mann sein könnte, aber Tatsache ist, daß ich
vor einer Woche in Vreme (pro-westliche Belgrader Wochenzeitung, Anm.
JE) las, daß am 11. März eine Person am (kroatischen, Anm. JE)
Grenzübergang Batrovac eingereist ist und am 12. März wieder außer
Landes eskortiert wurde, ohne Paß. Er wurde hereingebracht und
hinauseskortiert, sagte ein hoher Offizier der (Polizeisondereinheit,
Anm. JE) Rote Barette in den Zeitungen. Da begann ich wirklich Verdacht
zu schöpfen, ich würde gerne wissen, ob das wahr ist oder nicht. Mir
wäre lieber, es würde nicht einfach übergangen werden, wenn Leute in
den Zeitungen solche Spekulationen aufbringen. Ich weiß nicht, warum
der Untersuchungsrichter diese Information nicht mitbekommen hat und
warum er die Zeitung, die Medien, die Öffentlichkeit nicht fragt:
‚Hallo, ist das wahr? Ist es wahr, daß einer – ohne Paß und Papiere,
ohne daß es irgend jemand registrierte - am 11. März irgendwie ins Land
gebracht werden konnte und am 12. März wieder hinaus, wo wir doch alle
wissen, was am 12. März passiert ist? ...
- ... Wie erklären Sie die Tatsache, daß so viele Leute weiter im
(Polizei-)Dienst sind, sogar heute noch, die eine Gefahr für Leute wie
Zoran Djindjic darstellen könnten?
Ich glaube, davon gibt es viele. Tatsächlich glaube ich, alle sind noch
da. Ich weiß nicht, was sich wirklich geändert hat. Ich weiß nicht, was
sich bei der Polizei seit dem 5. Oktober (Tag des Sturzes von Milosevic
im Jahr 2000, Anm. JE) geändert hat. Ich weiß nicht, was sich bei der
olizei seit dem 12. März geändert hat. Die sind immer noch da und
machen dieselben Jobs ...
- Kommen wir zum Schluß. Was die Menschen in diesem Land wirklich
betroffen macht, ist das wirkliche Motiv des Mordes an Zoran Djindjic.
Die Anklageschrift nennt zwei: Einerseits, daß er das organisierte
Verbrechen angreifen wollte und die Kriminellen davon rechtzeitig
Kenntnis erhielten, und andererseits seine Tagespolitik als Premier,
vor allem seine Verpflichtung zur Zusammenarbeit mit dem Haager
Tribunal ... Was denken Sie über diese Dinge?
Ja, ich kann darüber nur meine Meinung äußern, aber bevor ich das
mache, will ich sagen, daß es absurd ist, daß wir einen Mord haben,
aber kein Motiv. Wenn es nach den Zeitungen geht, soll das Motiv in der
Verwirrung einer kriminellen Gruppe bestehen, die Angst vor dem Kampf
gegen das organisierte Verbrechen bekommen haben, ein Kampf, der in den
letzten eineinhalb Jahren schon angekündigt worden ist und nichts Neues
war. In meinen Augen ist die Verwirrung einer Verbrecherbande ein
völlig unannehmbares Motiv für den Mord am Premierminister, einem Mann,
der sich mit Politik beschäftigt. Ich meine, es gibt doch Italien, es
gibt Malta, daraus, was dort seit Jahren passiert, können wir bestimmte
Dinge ableiten.
Wenn die Mafia Grund hat, einen zu ermorden, dann sind das Richter,
Untersuchungsbeamte, Polizisten, Leute also, die direkt mit ihrem
„Geschäft“ zu tun haben. Ich würde das Motiv für den Mord am Premier
überhaupt nicht bei dieser Verbrecherbande suchen. Ich würde mir seine
politische Arbeit anschauen. Ich glaube, daß das Motiv für seine
Ermordung in seiner politischen Arbeit zu suchen ist und in seiner
Vorstellung von Serbien, die sich wahrscheinlich von denen anderer
unterscheidet, vielleicht von denen größerer Institutionen, vielleicht
sogar von denen einiger Länder.... Wir haben die Verbrecherbande
verhaftet, die Hälfte hält sich in Belgrader Löchern versteckt, und wir
warten darauf, daß die Polizei die übrigen verhaftet, so daß sie uns
erklären können, wer das Gewehr aus der General Geprat Straße genommen
und es unter einen Felsen in Neu-Belgrad gelegt hat.
Und was völlig ungeklärt bleibt ist, wie sie den Rückzug von den
General Geprat-Straße nach Neu-Belgrad geschafft haben, um ein Uhr
Mittag, mitten in der Rush Hour. Und das führt wiederum zur
Polizeiarbeit und den Verbindungen innerhalb der Polizei. An jeder
Kreuzung steht ein Polizist. Hätte nur einer von ihnen ein Signal
bekommen, daß etwas passiert, hätte er auf die Kreuzung raus gehen und
den Verkehr anhalten können. Ich weiß nicht, wie sie davongekommen
sind. Zwei Dinge: Wie konnten sie es schaffen, drei , vierTage lang in
dem Gebäude zu sein, wie sie behaupten, und wie konnten sie flüchten?
...
- Erwarten Sie, als Zeuge geladen zu werden, wenn der Prozeß beginnt?
Sicher.
- Würden Sie das alles vor Gericht wiederholen?
Ja. Ich habe keinen Grund, es nicht zu tun.
Interview: Radio B92, Belgrad, 21. Oktober 2003 (vollständig unter
www.b92.net)
Übersetzung/Bearbeitung: Jürgen Elsässer
=== 2 ===
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=2555
Il mistero Ðinđić
I nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio del premier serbo dischiudono la
possibilità che il potere di Belgrado non abbia interesse a rivelare
tutti i dettagli sull’attentato a Ðinđić. Da Belgrado, Željko Cvijanović
(28/10/2003)
Da Belgrado scrive Željko Cvijanović
Solo ad un mese dall’inizio del processo agli assassini del premier
serbo Zoran Ðinđić, alcuni nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio, giunti
all’opinione pubblica, potrebbero far sollevare dei dubbi sulla
fondatezza delle accuse.
Nuove spinte al caso le ha fornite il capo della sicurezza di Ðinđić,
Milan Veruović, il quale al momento dell’omicidio il 12 marzo si
trovava vicino al premier.
Veruović nell’intervista rilasciata alla radio belgradese B92 ha
sollevato la possibilità che Ðinđić non sia stato ucciso dal colpo di
fucile sparato da Zvezdan Jovanović, l’aiuto comandante dell’Unita per
le operazioni speciali, JSO, la più forte unità speciale sotto il
comando della polizia serba.
Veruović, anch’egli gravemente ferito durante l’attentato, il 20
ottobre ha reso noto che Ðinđić nel momento in cui è stato ucciso il 12
marzo davanti al palazzo del governo aveva la faccia rivolta verso la
porta d’ingresso del palazzo.
Se questa affermazione fosse esatta, ciò significherebbe che il
premier nel momento in cui è stato ucciso non poteva essere colpito dal
palazzo da cui ha sparato Jovanović.
Questo perché, il referto dell’autopsia ha confermato che un
proiettile lo ha colpito al lato destro della cassa toracica, mentre
nel palazzo, se vi è entrato, era rivolto sul fianco sinistro.
“Ciò mi fa venire un grande sospetto che ci sia stato un luogo (di
appostamento per lo sparo) nella via opposta”, ha detto Veruović.
L’affermazione secondo la quale al momento dell’omicidio esisteva un
altro fucile, di cui non si parla né nell’indagine né nelle accuse,
Veruović la spiega anche col fatto che, secondo quanto lui stesso dice,
su Ðinđić e su di lui sono stati sparati tre proiettili.
Inoltre, la guardia del corpo di Ðinđić sostiene che “il suono del
primo proiettile che ha colpito il premier non era della stessa
intensità degli altri due che hanno colpito me e il muro (del palazzo
del governo)”.
Dall’altra parte, nell’accusa si afferma che sono stati sparati solo
due proiettili, che il primo ha colpito Ðinđić, mentre il secondo ha
ferito il trentaduenne Veruović e si è conficcato nel muro del palazzo
del governo.
La testimonianza pubblica della guardia del corpo ha sollevato
parecchia inquietudine tra le fila del governo benché la fondatezza
delle sue affermazioni sia stata rigettata all’unanimità.
Il vice presidente del governo serbo Žarko Korać ha definito le
affermazioni di Veruović come le parole di un giovane che si “trova
sotto shock”, mentre il procuratore Ðorđe Ostojić ha detto che si
tratta di “speculazioni”.
“Lui specula, porta i suoi sospetti. Però, l’indagine è terminata e
questi sospetti sono risolti” ha detto Ostojić.
Anche se si mostrasse che le affermazioni di Veruović non sono
fondate, è invece sicuro che la sua dichiarazione ha evidenziato gravi
mancanze nell’indagine sull’omicidio.
Perché la ricostruzione degli eventi sul luogo dell’omicidio non è
mai stata fatta, mentre lo stesso Veruović è stato ascoltato una sola
volta, e ben quattro mesi dopo l’omicidio.
Allo steso tempo, nella stessa accusa, pubblicata la scorsa
settimana, si sono evidenziate grosse contraddizioni: perché in un
unico luogo si dice Ðinđić è stato ucciso”nel momento in cui è uscito
dall’automobile di servizio ed è andato verso la porta di ingresso del
palazzo del governo”.
Ciò suggerisce che era rivolto col lato sinistro verso il luogo dove
si trovava Jovanović, e non su quello destro dove è stato colpito.
In un altro luogo, invece, nell’accusa si dice esplicitamente che
Ðinđić era “rivolto con la schiena” verso la porta del palazzo del
governo e che “con la spalla destra e il corpo col lato anteriore del
busto era rivolto verso il luogo da dove è giunto il proiettile”.
Nonostante le evidenti mancanze, il procuratore dispone di due forti
argomenti: la confessione di Jovanović che ha ucciso Ðinđić e il
possesso del fucile con cui è stato commesso l’omicidio.
In verità, afferma l’avvocato di Jovanović, Nenad Vukasović, che le
confessioni del suo cliente sono state rilasciate senza la presenza di
un difensore e sotto “torture psichiche”.
“Non ha confessato lui l’omicidio”, dice Vukasović, “dopo una serie
di giorni e notti di lavoro operativo con Jovanović, si è giunti a
quelle famose dichiarazioni”.
Questo, come anche la difesa col silenzio di Jovanović nelle
indagini, suggerisce che al processo probabilmente ritirerà le
confessioni rilasciate in carcere.
Dopo tutto questo, occorre dire che tra la maggior parte degli
esperti legali e della polizia non è stata smontata la tesi secondo la
quale Jovanović avrebbe commesso l’omicidio, ma anche che la maggior
parte di loro crede che ciò che è stato reso noto dell’indagine non sia
tutta la verità e che il governo nasconda qualcosa.
L’ex poliziotto e capo della sicurezza di un ministro Slobodan
Pajić, il quale si trovava immediatamente dopo la sparatoria sul luogo
dell’omicidio, ha detto che la maggior parte dei testimoni diretti
dell’attentato ha sentito che ci sono stati tre spari di differente
intensità.
Pajić ha detto che il rifiuto delle dichiarazioni di Veruović può
significare che “a qualcuno non è d’interesse che si sappia l’esatta
verità”.
I sospetti che il governo nasconda qualcosa sono aumentati anche col
fatto che sulla maggior parte dei media filo governativi i sospetti di
Veruović sono stati risolutamente rigettati come non esatti.
Un alto funzionario della polizia che ha acconsentito di parlare per
l’Osservatorio sui Balcani delle dichiarazioni di Veruović concorda che
la dichiarazione della guardia del corpo è stata “facilmente ignorata”.
E vede in ciò “una chiara intenzione” che alcune cose vengano
nascoste, ma non crede alle tesi rese note secondo le quali ciò farebbe
pensare che qualcuno del governo sia immischiato nel complotto contro
il premier.
Questo poliziotto, che ha desiderato mantenere l’anonimato, crede che
la rivelazione di tutti i dettagli connessi con l’omicidio potrebbero
scoprire le relazioni di alcuni ministri serbi con la gente della
malavita vicina agli uccisori di Ðinđić.
“Non solo questo sarebbe l’ultimo chiodo conficcato nel governo ma
sarebbe anche di ostacolo all’intenzione degli uomini del governo di
utilizzare il processo come campagna contro i rivali politici”, afferma
la fonte.
Perché, tra i 44 che saranno processati al processo per l’omicidio
Ðinđić si trova anche l’ex capo dei servizi informativi dell’esercito,
il generale Aco Tomić, considerato vicino all’ex presidente jugoslavo
Vojislav Koštunica, il più forte rivale politico del governo.
Il generale Tomić è accusato di associazione “finalizzata ad azioni
nemiche”, perché ha avuto contatti con Milorad Luković Legija, un tempo
comandante della JSO e che è accusato di essere il principale
organizzatore dell’attentato.
Tutto ciò fa pensare che il processo agli assassini di Ðinđić si
giocherà all’ombra di numerose contraddizioni e amare lotte politiche
tra le forze filo-governative e quelle dell’opposizione, dove si
sospettano reciprocamente di coinvolgimento nell’attentato e
connessione con gli assassini del premier serbo.
Se il processo agli assassini di Ðinđić si svolgerà all’ombra delle
lotte politiche non è escluso che una delle sue vittime sia la piena
verità.
» Fonte: © Osservatorio sui Balcani
1. Der zweite Schütze
Interview mit Milan Veruvic, dem Leibwächter des ermordeten Premiers
(Radio B92 / J. Elsaesser auf der "Junge Welt" vom 27.10.2003)
2. Il mistero Ðinđić
I nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio del premier serbo dischiudono la
possibilità che il potere di Belgrado non abbia interesse a rivelare
tutti i dettagli sull’attentato a Ðinđić
(Željko Cvijanović / Osservatorio Balcani)
=== 1 ===
Junge Welt (Berlin), 27.10.2003
Der zweite Schütze
Was verbergen die serbischen Behörden bei der Aufklärung des Attentates
auf Zoran Djindjic? Interview mit Milan Veruvic, dem Leibwächter des
ermordeten Premiers
Das Attentat auf den serbischen Ministerpräsidenten Zoran Djindjic am
12. März dieses Jahres erschütterte Serbien. Nach wochenlangem
Ausnahmezustand und einer landesweiten Fahndung, bei der über 3000
Personen in Untersuchungshaft genommen wurden, präsentierte die
Staatsanwaltschaft mittlerweile die Angeklagten: die unmittelbaren
Täter seien Gangster des sogenannten Zemun Clans gewesen, die
Hintermänner Polizisten der Sondereinheit „Rote Barette“. Der Mord, so
legt die Anklageschrift nahe, sollte Auftakt zu einem Putsch der alten
Seilschaften aus der Milosevic-Zeit sein.
Doch bereits im Vorfeld des für Dezember angesetzten Prozesses häufen
sich die Hinweise, daß auch Teile der heutigen Belgrader Machthaber in
die Bluttat verwickelt gewesen sein könnten. Anfang Oktober zitierte
das Belgrader Wochenblatt Nedeljni Telegraf einen Minister mit den
Worten: „Es wird ein Schock für die Öffentlichkeit sein, wenn sie
erfährt, daß der Mörder Djindjics in dessen unmittelbarer Umgebung in
der Regierung saß.“ Demnach sollen auch Videoaufnahmen existieren, die
ein Regierungsmitglied beim Betreten des Hauptquartiers des Zemun Clans
in der Zeit kurz vor dem Mord zeigen (vgl. jW, 4. Oktober).
Diese Aussagen konnten noch ignoriert werden, weil der Zeuge sich nur
unter dem Siegel der Anonymität hatte äußern wollen. Mit dem, was jW im
folgenden dokumentiert, wird das nicht mehr möglich sein. Wer jemals
Thriller wie „JFK“ oder „Der Schakal“ sah, wird sich an manches
erinnern: Zeugen, die nicht gehört werden; Spuren, die die Polizei
nicht verfolgt; eine Kugel, die es nicht geben darf; ein Killer, der
über die Grenze eingeschleust wird; ein Opfer, dessen Vorstellungen den
Großmächten mißfiel.
Man würde es nicht glauben, kämen die Auskünfte nicht von jemanden, der
das Vertrauen von Djindjic besaß und überdies Augenzeuge war: Milan
Veruvic, jahrelang Chef der Leibschutz-Garde des Premiers, stand am 12.
März direkt neben diesem, als die Schüsse fielen, und wurde selbst
getroffen. Das Interview lief auf Radio B92, das der regierenden
DOS-Koalition nahesteht. (Jürgen Elsässer)
Das Interview
- Gehen wir zurück zum 12. März. Sie sagten, an dem Morgen sei alles
wie sonst gewesen?
Wir kamen am Regierungsgebäude ... ungefähr um 12.25 Uhr an ... Ich
kündigte unsere Ankunft über Funk an. Ich rief beim Sicherheitschef im
Gebäude an, aber er antwortete nicht ... Stattdessen antwortete mir,
gleich nachdem wir in den Hof eingefahren waren, ein Mann, der auf
demselben Kanal war. Er leitete die Security auf dem ersten Stock. Er
sagte seine Code Nummer. „Nummer fünf hört Sie.“ Ich nahm an, das sei
jemand von der Regierung, der mich gehört hat, und wir fuhren in den
Hof rein. Seltsam an diesem Tag war, daß es hinter dem Gebäude ganz
leer war. ... Ich ging aus dem Wagen raus, nahm seine Krücken und die
Tasche mit (Djindjic hatte zu jener Zeit einen Gipsfuß, Anm. JE). Ich
öffnete seine Tür, gab ihm die Krücken, und ging mit ihm auf den
Eingang Nummer fünf zu ... In diesem Augenblick näherten wir uns der
Tür. Ich drehte mich herum, um die Wagentür zu schließen, und ich hörte
einen gedämpften Schuß. Einen Sekundenbruchteil dachte ich, daß irgend
etwas in einem Gebäude weiter weg geballert hatte. Ich hörte seinen
Schrei ... Im selben Augenblick, als er getroffen wurde, hörte ich
einen lauten Knall. Das war der Schuß, der mich getroffen hat. Ich fiel
vor dem Regierungsgebäude zu Boden, er lehnte sich gegen die Tür und
fiel hinein. Die Tür war zu der Zeit nicht offen, was ungewöhnlich war.
Er fiel in den Korridor des Gebäudes. Ich blieb auf den Stufen liegen.
In diesem Augenblick liefen die Leute von der Security hinein, um nach
ihm zu sehen. Irgendwie kroch ich zum Wagen. Dann kam der dritte Schuß.
Er traf die Mauer des Gebäudes, das bedeutete, sie hatten uns immer
noch im Schußfeld. Wir blieben dort einige Minuten, der Premier bekam
Erste Hilfe ... Mir gelang es, in den Wagen hineinzukommen, und ich
benutzte ihn als Deckung. In diesem Moment kam auch mein Kollege ins
Auto, man brachte en Chef in das zweite Fahrzeug und wir rasten davon
Richtung Notaufnahme.
- Sie sprachen von einer dritten Kugel .. Niemand sonst hat sie
erwähnt. Weder in der polizeilichen Untersuchung, noch im
Sicherheitsbericht und in der Anklageschrift. Warum? Woher ist diese
dritte Kugel gekommen?
Diese Frage wird sich erst in künftigen Ermittlungen stellen. Ich
versuchte ihnen zu erklären, daß das Knall bei der ersten Kugel, die
den Premier traf, schwächer war als bei den anderen beiden, die mich
und die Mauer trafen. Deshalb habe ich den Verdacht, daß der Schuß aus
einer anderen Position kam ... Später versuchte ich das dem
Untersuchungsrichter zu erklären, aber ich fand nicht viel Verständnis.
Die Gerichtsmediziner versuchten mir zu erklären, daß der Unterschied
daher kam, daß der zweite für mich lauter erschien, weil er mich traf
... Warum man die dritte Kugel nie ernsthaft in die Überlogen einbezog,
kann ich nicht erklären. Das würde ich gerne die Leute fragen, die
etwas mit der Untersuchung zu tun hatten ... Wir konnten schon lesen,
daß man das Gewehr gefunden hat, und daß mit dem Gewehr zwei Schüsse
abgefeuert wurden. Diese ganze Geschichte mit den zwei Kugeln machte
die ganze Geschichte von dem, was an jenem Tag passiert sein soll,
unglaubwürdig, sogar für uns, die an jenem Tag dort waren und die das
laut und deutlich jedem sagten, der uns fragte. Im Krankenhaus fragte
ich die Leute, die an jenem Tag da waren, und wir waren uns einig
darin, daß es drei Schüsse gegeben hatte. Wir alle hörten den dritten.
Wir sahen sogar, wo er einschlug.
- Nicht nur Sie, sondern auch Ihre Kollegen?
Ja, ja. Acht von uns waren an jenem Tag da, und alle gaben dieselbe
Erklärung ab, alle.
- Sie wurden von hinten getroffen, in den Rücken, ist das richtig? Und
der Premier wurde von vorne erschossen, in die Brust. Tatsächlich
gingen Sie in dieselbe Richtung, aber einer wurde in den Rücken
getroffen und der andere in die Brust. Wie ist das möglich?
Ich weiß nicht wie. Die Frage, die man stellen muß, ist, warum die
Leute, die die Untersuchung leiteten, zu der Schlußfolgerung kamen, daß
er von dieser Richtung, von diesem Fenster aus, getroffen wurde, obwohl
wir doch wissen, daß bisher keine Tatortrekonstruktion vorgenommen
worden ist, und als Augenzeuge hätte ich zu all dem hinzugezogen werden
müssen.
- Wie ist es möglich, daß noch keine Tatortrekonstruktion vorgenommen
worden ist?
Das interessiert mich auch. Das würde ich gerne jeden fragen, der damit
zu tun hat. Eine Tatortrekonstruktion ist das erste, was bei einer
Untersuchung gemacht werden muß, damit man die Abläufe rekonstruieren
kann. Ohne das ist es absurd, die Position des Premierministers im
Augenblick des Schusses festlegen zu wollen. Wenn man alle meine
Aussagen zugrunde legt, gingen wir in dem Augenblick los, als er sich
zum Regierungsgebäude drehte, was der Angabe im Untersuchungsbericht
widerspricht, wonach er dem Regierungsgebäude den Rücken zugedreht hat.
- Behaupten Sie damit, er kann nicht von der Admiral Geprat Straße aus
in die Brust getroffen worden sein?
Ja, und dabei bleibe ich. Wenn er in Richtung Tür stand, und in diese
Richtung fiel er, dann kann er nicht von links getroffen worden sein,
denn er wurde in seine rechte Seite getroffen. Ich stand an seiner
linken Seite direkt neben ihm ... Ich vermute einfach, daß es noch ein
weiteres Scharfschützennest in der gegenüberliegenden Straße gab, in
der Bircaninova Straße, in einem Durchgang, der mir verdächtig vorkam,
zwischen den Gebäuden des Außenministeriums und der
Eisenbahngesellschaft. Der Eingang Nummer sechs, der zu bestimmten
staatlichen Einrichtungen wie dem Hydrometeorologischen Institut und
was weiß ich führt, wurde seit dem 1. Februar, als das Gebäude
renoviert wurde, nicht mehr überprüft. Ich ging dorthin, nachdem ich
aus dem Krankenhaus entlassen worden war, um mir selbst anzusehen, was
an jenem Tag passiert ist. Tatsache ist, daß es in dem Hof hinter dem
Gebäude ein Gerüst bis hinauf zum Dach gibt, die jeder benutzt haben
könnte, um hinaufzusteigen und alles mögliche anzustellen ...
- Sie glauben also, daß die Kugel, die Zoran Djindjic traf, aus dieser
Richtung kam?
Ich glaube, daß er aus der Bircaninova getroffen wurde, und daß ich von
dem Fenster aus getroffen wurde, aus dem (der Hauptangeklagte, Anm. JE)
Zvezdan Jovanovic einen Schuß abgab, und daß die dritte Kugel ... auch
von der Admiral Geprat Straße (wo Jovanovic war, Anm. JE) kam ...
Das Phantom
- Die Frage ist – wer war der zweite Schütze? Gibt es irgendwelche
Verdachtmomente, wer es gewesen sein könnte, auch wenn er noch keine
Erwähnung gefunden hat? Nur ein Schütze ist bisher erwähnt worden, und
das ist Zvezdan Jovanovic, der den Mord während der polizeilichen
Untersuchung zugegeben hat (Jovanovics Anwalt bestreitet dieses
Geständnis, Anm. JE) Aber nach ihren Angaben gibt es einen zweiten Ort,
ein zweites Gewehr.
Ich weiß nicht, wer dieser Mann sein könnte, aber Tatsache ist, daß ich
vor einer Woche in Vreme (pro-westliche Belgrader Wochenzeitung, Anm.
JE) las, daß am 11. März eine Person am (kroatischen, Anm. JE)
Grenzübergang Batrovac eingereist ist und am 12. März wieder außer
Landes eskortiert wurde, ohne Paß. Er wurde hereingebracht und
hinauseskortiert, sagte ein hoher Offizier der (Polizeisondereinheit,
Anm. JE) Rote Barette in den Zeitungen. Da begann ich wirklich Verdacht
zu schöpfen, ich würde gerne wissen, ob das wahr ist oder nicht. Mir
wäre lieber, es würde nicht einfach übergangen werden, wenn Leute in
den Zeitungen solche Spekulationen aufbringen. Ich weiß nicht, warum
der Untersuchungsrichter diese Information nicht mitbekommen hat und
warum er die Zeitung, die Medien, die Öffentlichkeit nicht fragt:
‚Hallo, ist das wahr? Ist es wahr, daß einer – ohne Paß und Papiere,
ohne daß es irgend jemand registrierte - am 11. März irgendwie ins Land
gebracht werden konnte und am 12. März wieder hinaus, wo wir doch alle
wissen, was am 12. März passiert ist? ...
- ... Wie erklären Sie die Tatsache, daß so viele Leute weiter im
(Polizei-)Dienst sind, sogar heute noch, die eine Gefahr für Leute wie
Zoran Djindjic darstellen könnten?
Ich glaube, davon gibt es viele. Tatsächlich glaube ich, alle sind noch
da. Ich weiß nicht, was sich wirklich geändert hat. Ich weiß nicht, was
sich bei der Polizei seit dem 5. Oktober (Tag des Sturzes von Milosevic
im Jahr 2000, Anm. JE) geändert hat. Ich weiß nicht, was sich bei der
olizei seit dem 12. März geändert hat. Die sind immer noch da und
machen dieselben Jobs ...
- Kommen wir zum Schluß. Was die Menschen in diesem Land wirklich
betroffen macht, ist das wirkliche Motiv des Mordes an Zoran Djindjic.
Die Anklageschrift nennt zwei: Einerseits, daß er das organisierte
Verbrechen angreifen wollte und die Kriminellen davon rechtzeitig
Kenntnis erhielten, und andererseits seine Tagespolitik als Premier,
vor allem seine Verpflichtung zur Zusammenarbeit mit dem Haager
Tribunal ... Was denken Sie über diese Dinge?
Ja, ich kann darüber nur meine Meinung äußern, aber bevor ich das
mache, will ich sagen, daß es absurd ist, daß wir einen Mord haben,
aber kein Motiv. Wenn es nach den Zeitungen geht, soll das Motiv in der
Verwirrung einer kriminellen Gruppe bestehen, die Angst vor dem Kampf
gegen das organisierte Verbrechen bekommen haben, ein Kampf, der in den
letzten eineinhalb Jahren schon angekündigt worden ist und nichts Neues
war. In meinen Augen ist die Verwirrung einer Verbrecherbande ein
völlig unannehmbares Motiv für den Mord am Premierminister, einem Mann,
der sich mit Politik beschäftigt. Ich meine, es gibt doch Italien, es
gibt Malta, daraus, was dort seit Jahren passiert, können wir bestimmte
Dinge ableiten.
Wenn die Mafia Grund hat, einen zu ermorden, dann sind das Richter,
Untersuchungsbeamte, Polizisten, Leute also, die direkt mit ihrem
„Geschäft“ zu tun haben. Ich würde das Motiv für den Mord am Premier
überhaupt nicht bei dieser Verbrecherbande suchen. Ich würde mir seine
politische Arbeit anschauen. Ich glaube, daß das Motiv für seine
Ermordung in seiner politischen Arbeit zu suchen ist und in seiner
Vorstellung von Serbien, die sich wahrscheinlich von denen anderer
unterscheidet, vielleicht von denen größerer Institutionen, vielleicht
sogar von denen einiger Länder.... Wir haben die Verbrecherbande
verhaftet, die Hälfte hält sich in Belgrader Löchern versteckt, und wir
warten darauf, daß die Polizei die übrigen verhaftet, so daß sie uns
erklären können, wer das Gewehr aus der General Geprat Straße genommen
und es unter einen Felsen in Neu-Belgrad gelegt hat.
Und was völlig ungeklärt bleibt ist, wie sie den Rückzug von den
General Geprat-Straße nach Neu-Belgrad geschafft haben, um ein Uhr
Mittag, mitten in der Rush Hour. Und das führt wiederum zur
Polizeiarbeit und den Verbindungen innerhalb der Polizei. An jeder
Kreuzung steht ein Polizist. Hätte nur einer von ihnen ein Signal
bekommen, daß etwas passiert, hätte er auf die Kreuzung raus gehen und
den Verkehr anhalten können. Ich weiß nicht, wie sie davongekommen
sind. Zwei Dinge: Wie konnten sie es schaffen, drei , vierTage lang in
dem Gebäude zu sein, wie sie behaupten, und wie konnten sie flüchten?
...
- Erwarten Sie, als Zeuge geladen zu werden, wenn der Prozeß beginnt?
Sicher.
- Würden Sie das alles vor Gericht wiederholen?
Ja. Ich habe keinen Grund, es nicht zu tun.
Interview: Radio B92, Belgrad, 21. Oktober 2003 (vollständig unter
www.b92.net)
Übersetzung/Bearbeitung: Jürgen Elsässer
=== 2 ===
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=2555
Il mistero Ðinđić
I nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio del premier serbo dischiudono la
possibilità che il potere di Belgrado non abbia interesse a rivelare
tutti i dettagli sull’attentato a Ðinđić. Da Belgrado, Željko Cvijanović
(28/10/2003)
Da Belgrado scrive Željko Cvijanović
Solo ad un mese dall’inizio del processo agli assassini del premier
serbo Zoran Ðinđić, alcuni nuovi dettagli sull’omicidio, giunti
all’opinione pubblica, potrebbero far sollevare dei dubbi sulla
fondatezza delle accuse.
Nuove spinte al caso le ha fornite il capo della sicurezza di Ðinđić,
Milan Veruović, il quale al momento dell’omicidio il 12 marzo si
trovava vicino al premier.
Veruović nell’intervista rilasciata alla radio belgradese B92 ha
sollevato la possibilità che Ðinđić non sia stato ucciso dal colpo di
fucile sparato da Zvezdan Jovanović, l’aiuto comandante dell’Unita per
le operazioni speciali, JSO, la più forte unità speciale sotto il
comando della polizia serba.
Veruović, anch’egli gravemente ferito durante l’attentato, il 20
ottobre ha reso noto che Ðinđić nel momento in cui è stato ucciso il 12
marzo davanti al palazzo del governo aveva la faccia rivolta verso la
porta d’ingresso del palazzo.
Se questa affermazione fosse esatta, ciò significherebbe che il
premier nel momento in cui è stato ucciso non poteva essere colpito dal
palazzo da cui ha sparato Jovanović.
Questo perché, il referto dell’autopsia ha confermato che un
proiettile lo ha colpito al lato destro della cassa toracica, mentre
nel palazzo, se vi è entrato, era rivolto sul fianco sinistro.
“Ciò mi fa venire un grande sospetto che ci sia stato un luogo (di
appostamento per lo sparo) nella via opposta”, ha detto Veruović.
L’affermazione secondo la quale al momento dell’omicidio esisteva un
altro fucile, di cui non si parla né nell’indagine né nelle accuse,
Veruović la spiega anche col fatto che, secondo quanto lui stesso dice,
su Ðinđić e su di lui sono stati sparati tre proiettili.
Inoltre, la guardia del corpo di Ðinđić sostiene che “il suono del
primo proiettile che ha colpito il premier non era della stessa
intensità degli altri due che hanno colpito me e il muro (del palazzo
del governo)”.
Dall’altra parte, nell’accusa si afferma che sono stati sparati solo
due proiettili, che il primo ha colpito Ðinđić, mentre il secondo ha
ferito il trentaduenne Veruović e si è conficcato nel muro del palazzo
del governo.
La testimonianza pubblica della guardia del corpo ha sollevato
parecchia inquietudine tra le fila del governo benché la fondatezza
delle sue affermazioni sia stata rigettata all’unanimità.
Il vice presidente del governo serbo Žarko Korać ha definito le
affermazioni di Veruović come le parole di un giovane che si “trova
sotto shock”, mentre il procuratore Ðorđe Ostojić ha detto che si
tratta di “speculazioni”.
“Lui specula, porta i suoi sospetti. Però, l’indagine è terminata e
questi sospetti sono risolti” ha detto Ostojić.
Anche se si mostrasse che le affermazioni di Veruović non sono
fondate, è invece sicuro che la sua dichiarazione ha evidenziato gravi
mancanze nell’indagine sull’omicidio.
Perché la ricostruzione degli eventi sul luogo dell’omicidio non è
mai stata fatta, mentre lo stesso Veruović è stato ascoltato una sola
volta, e ben quattro mesi dopo l’omicidio.
Allo steso tempo, nella stessa accusa, pubblicata la scorsa
settimana, si sono evidenziate grosse contraddizioni: perché in un
unico luogo si dice Ðinđić è stato ucciso”nel momento in cui è uscito
dall’automobile di servizio ed è andato verso la porta di ingresso del
palazzo del governo”.
Ciò suggerisce che era rivolto col lato sinistro verso il luogo dove
si trovava Jovanović, e non su quello destro dove è stato colpito.
In un altro luogo, invece, nell’accusa si dice esplicitamente che
Ðinđić era “rivolto con la schiena” verso la porta del palazzo del
governo e che “con la spalla destra e il corpo col lato anteriore del
busto era rivolto verso il luogo da dove è giunto il proiettile”.
Nonostante le evidenti mancanze, il procuratore dispone di due forti
argomenti: la confessione di Jovanović che ha ucciso Ðinđić e il
possesso del fucile con cui è stato commesso l’omicidio.
In verità, afferma l’avvocato di Jovanović, Nenad Vukasović, che le
confessioni del suo cliente sono state rilasciate senza la presenza di
un difensore e sotto “torture psichiche”.
“Non ha confessato lui l’omicidio”, dice Vukasović, “dopo una serie
di giorni e notti di lavoro operativo con Jovanović, si è giunti a
quelle famose dichiarazioni”.
Questo, come anche la difesa col silenzio di Jovanović nelle
indagini, suggerisce che al processo probabilmente ritirerà le
confessioni rilasciate in carcere.
Dopo tutto questo, occorre dire che tra la maggior parte degli
esperti legali e della polizia non è stata smontata la tesi secondo la
quale Jovanović avrebbe commesso l’omicidio, ma anche che la maggior
parte di loro crede che ciò che è stato reso noto dell’indagine non sia
tutta la verità e che il governo nasconda qualcosa.
L’ex poliziotto e capo della sicurezza di un ministro Slobodan
Pajić, il quale si trovava immediatamente dopo la sparatoria sul luogo
dell’omicidio, ha detto che la maggior parte dei testimoni diretti
dell’attentato ha sentito che ci sono stati tre spari di differente
intensità.
Pajić ha detto che il rifiuto delle dichiarazioni di Veruović può
significare che “a qualcuno non è d’interesse che si sappia l’esatta
verità”.
I sospetti che il governo nasconda qualcosa sono aumentati anche col
fatto che sulla maggior parte dei media filo governativi i sospetti di
Veruović sono stati risolutamente rigettati come non esatti.
Un alto funzionario della polizia che ha acconsentito di parlare per
l’Osservatorio sui Balcani delle dichiarazioni di Veruović concorda che
la dichiarazione della guardia del corpo è stata “facilmente ignorata”.
E vede in ciò “una chiara intenzione” che alcune cose vengano
nascoste, ma non crede alle tesi rese note secondo le quali ciò farebbe
pensare che qualcuno del governo sia immischiato nel complotto contro
il premier.
Questo poliziotto, che ha desiderato mantenere l’anonimato, crede che
la rivelazione di tutti i dettagli connessi con l’omicidio potrebbero
scoprire le relazioni di alcuni ministri serbi con la gente della
malavita vicina agli uccisori di Ðinđić.
“Non solo questo sarebbe l’ultimo chiodo conficcato nel governo ma
sarebbe anche di ostacolo all’intenzione degli uomini del governo di
utilizzare il processo come campagna contro i rivali politici”, afferma
la fonte.
Perché, tra i 44 che saranno processati al processo per l’omicidio
Ðinđić si trova anche l’ex capo dei servizi informativi dell’esercito,
il generale Aco Tomić, considerato vicino all’ex presidente jugoslavo
Vojislav Koštunica, il più forte rivale politico del governo.
Il generale Tomić è accusato di associazione “finalizzata ad azioni
nemiche”, perché ha avuto contatti con Milorad Luković Legija, un tempo
comandante della JSO e che è accusato di essere il principale
organizzatore dell’attentato.
Tutto ciò fa pensare che il processo agli assassini di Ðinđić si
giocherà all’ombra di numerose contraddizioni e amare lotte politiche
tra le forze filo-governative e quelle dell’opposizione, dove si
sospettano reciprocamente di coinvolgimento nell’attentato e
connessione con gli assassini del premier serbo.
Se il processo agli assassini di Ðinđić si svolgerà all’ombra delle
lotte politiche non è escluso che una delle sue vittime sia la piena
verità.
» Fonte: © Osservatorio sui Balcani
(french / english)
1. Terrorism in the Balkans - Enter Sandzak?
(C. Deliso / balkanalysis.com)
2. Le Sandjak de Novi Pazar, future terre de Jihad
(G. Kostic / chiffonrouge.org)
=== 1 ===
> http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=168
Terrorism in the Balkans- Enter Sandzak?
Date: Friday, October 24 @ 13:55:00 EDT
Topic: Other Balkans Articles
Macedonian and Serbian security forces are paying increasing attention
to the partially Muslim-inhabited Sandzak region, a small, rugged
territory straddling the Montenegro-Serbian borders and suspected of
supporting foreign and Bosniak mujahedin, as well as Albanian
militants from Kosovo. Security officials in Skopje recently told
Balkanalyis.com that a bi-national investigation of a specific
incident is now underway, but that results cannot be publicly reported
yet.
Geographically speaking, the Sandzak is perfect for illicit
activities- mountainous, isolated, bordering two poorly policed failing
states (Bosnia and Kosovo). Drugs, weapons, and even sugar are
smuggled with regularity by many means (including the humble donkey).
It is as a liaison and rear staging post that the Sandzak is being
investigated, rather than as a forward base for terrorist operations.
As part of Serbia, the region is subject to Serbian police jurisdiction
and thus remains controlled. However, transit through the area has
worried Macedonian authorities.
They are trying to avoid a repeat of 2001’s Albanian insurgency-
itself partially propelled by Islamists.
In the last Yugoslav census (1991), the Sandzak numbered 420,000
people- 278,000 in Serbia and 162,000 in Montenegro. 54 percent were
Bosniaks. Widespread emigration since then may have left them a
minority in Sandzak, “…a suspicion supported by the strong showing of
Serbian nationalist parties in the recent presidential elections in
Serbia,” reported RFE/RL [http://www.geocities.com/bosnjaci_sandzaka/%5d
one year ago. “Nevertheless, in Novi Pazar and some other communities,
Bosniaks still form a clear majority.”
Historically, the Sandzak has been both multi-ethnic and much debated.
Rival football hooligans taunted each other by saying it is a part of
Serbia- or, oddly, Turkey. Others claim that they are of “Illyrian”
descent- a very loaded term, as the Albanians claim to be direct
descendents of the mysterious ancient Illyrian tribes, and therefore
to be more “authentic” Balkan residents than the “Slav colonizers” all
around them. This claim remains unproven.
For years well-organized Muslim lobby groups in the Sandzak have
decried alleged Serb abuses and some have even demanded independence,
petitioning the US and other governments and international
organizations to their cause.
The RFE/RL report summed up the ethnic, religious and linguistic
complexities of this mountainous region composed of Bosniaks,
Albanians, Turks, Montenegrins and Serbs. The Bosnian government has in
the past tried to “Bosnianize” the Muslims there, by getting them to
call their language “Bosnian” whereas many prefer to call it Serbian.
The area is wedged between Bosnia and Kosovo and was affected by the
wars in both, receiving refugees as well as being a smuggling
crossroads for Muslim militants in both places.
Extremist politicians in Sandzak, like SZS chairman Fevzija Muric have
threatened that Serbian failure to grant the region special status
could set off what he called “a potential powder keg.” However, it
seems that save for the occasional street fight or political
provocation, this is for now, at least, an exaggeration. Nevertheless,
would-be nationalists like Muric have called for some special kind of
unification for Sandzak Muslims living on both sides of the Serbian
and Montenegro border- aiming, apparently, at the infinite
disintegration of the already dismantled country. (After it’s all over,
will Serbia be composed only of Belgrade and Kragujevac?)
Macedonian and Serbian interest in the Sandzak’s potential for trouble
confirms something that had been suspected. Should the story develop,
perhaps the most compelling result of this will be a new and different
orientation towards the mental map of the Balkans. All Western media,
whenever producing reports or graphics, have depicted the
Serbia-Montenegro issue as one between two distinct, color-coded
political entities- thereby ignoring the cross-border east-west issue
of the Sandzak, as well as the general geographical reality of the
region.
Further, we may see a paradigm shift in how this part of the Balkans
is perceived, away from the east-west axis and towards a north-south
one that would provide the missing link between Islamic activity in
Bosnia and Kosovo- the two places now of most concern to Western
governments. If the Sandzak suspicions turn out to be justified, the
Western view on Montenegrin independence may shift, because any
weakening of security services from Belgrade can only expedite the
potential for Islamic terrorism from Bosnia and Kosovo- through a
severed Sandzak. That is something for the Western policymakers to
think about.
How was the Sandzak described decades ago? Read Rebecca West's classic
travelogue, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a Journey through Yugoslavia
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140188479/balkanalysisc-20%5d
=== 2 ===
> http://resistance.chiffonrouge.org/article.php3?id_article=284
Le Sandjak de Novi Pazar, future terre de Jihad
Ce que Belgrade cherche à cacher sur les extrémistes du Sandjak
vendredi 24 octobre 2003.
Après l'arrivée au pouvoir de la DOS à l'automne 2000, la mouvance la
plus radicale de l'Islam balkanique n'a cessé de se développer au
Sandjak de Novi Pazar, amenant une épuration ethnique larvée de tout ce
qui n'est pas bosniaque et musulman. Aperçu sur une situation que
Belgrade tente de cacher
Intimidations en tous genres, mitraillages à l'arme automatique de
façades d'églises orthodoxes, profanations de cimetières et lieux de
prières, insultes racistes peintes sur les murs des habitations des
non-musulmans, appels au Jihad dans les feuilles de choux financées par
l'Union européenne ou les ONG islamiques… Rien n'est épargné depuis
plus de deux ans aux familles chrétiennes du Sandjak de Novi Pazar,
avec la sourde complicité des autorités de Belgrade qui semblent
préférer un pourrissement de la situation et un exode massif des
non-musulmans qu'un affrontement direct avec les tendances les plus
dures des islamistes locaux. La ferveur religieuse des musulmans de
Novi Pazar se quantifie avec l'ouverture récente d'une madrasa (école
coranique), qui abrite plusieurs sections pour jeunes filles. Les
femmes apparaissent de plus en plus voilées dans les rues de Novi
Pazar. Certains attribuent cette mode à l'influence grandissante du
Mechihat de la communauté islamique du Sandjak et certaines rumeurs
accusent ce même Mechihat de donner 250 euros par mois à chaque femme
qui accepte le voile (Vesti, 22 avril 2002). Il est fort probable que
ces femmes aient reçu un soutien de la communauté islamique ; en
revanche une rémunération mensuelle de 250 euros paraît excessive,
compte tenu du niveau de vie moyen des habitants de la région. Quoi
qu'il en soit, au regard des mannequins exposés en vitrine de leurs
magasins, les boutiquiers semblent suivre cette « mode ».
Des liens avec la Bosnie
Ce renouveau de l'islam au Sandjak est à mettre en relation avec le
développement du fondamentalisme musulman en Bosnie. Des reporters de
guerre du New York Times auraient eu la surprise de déchiffrer des
instructions relatives au maniement d'explosifs chimiques, rédigées en
« bosniaque » (serbo-croate) dans un refuge d'Al Qaïda à Kaboul en
Afghanistan. Ce serait un expert de la CIA qui aurait opportunément
rassemblé ce matériel. Sur l'une des brochures retrouvées, il y aurait
eu la mention « Upotrebljena u Oklahomi » (« Utilisée à Oklahoma »). Un
passeport bosniaque aurait même été retrouvé sur place. Au regard de ce
type de sources, il faut bien évidemment parler au conditionnel ; la
CIA ayant la fâcheuse habitude de désinformer. Mais, suite aux
attentats contre le World Trade Center, le quotidien viennois Presse se
fit l'écho du rôle des Mudzahidin dans les guerres de l'ex-Yougoslavie.
Toujours d'après Presse, les guerres de Bosnie auraient mobilisé sur le
terrain 900 à 1 500 Mudzahidin face aux Serbes. Généralement
originaires d'Arabie Saoudite ou d'Afghanistan, une partie d'entre eux
est restée en Bosnie et aurait acquis la nationalité bosniaque. Selon
le quotidien de Banja Luka, Le Journal indépendant, ce sont neuf
organisations islamistes et plusieurs organisations humanitaires qui
auraient agit de connivence avec cette mouvance. Parmi les
organisations les plus actives, on recense ainsi Elbard Bosnia, ou
Slobodna Bosna (Bosnie libre), dont le siège se trouve à Zemun en
banlieue de Belgrade. L'organisation rassemble surtout des combattants
aguerris. Vehabije est plutôt une organisation doctrinaire, dirigée par
Osman Galijasevic. Elle est apparue en 1995. Ses fonds proviennent
principalement du Soudan et d'Arabie saoudite. Elle a une grande
influence parmi la jeunesse bosniaque de Velika Kladusa. Des sources
proches de l'OTAN soupçonnent l'existence de liens entre l'organisation
bosniaque Crvena Ruza (Rose rouge) et le Hamas. Ce sont les activistes
de Crvena Ruza qui auraient tentés d'assassiner le musulman pro-serbe
Frikret Abdic à Bihac en Bosnie. L'académie islamique de Bihac et le
lycée islamique de Cazin seraient les viviers de recrutement de Crvena
Ruza, mais aussi de l'organisation islamiste de Cazin, Zetra. D'autres
nébuleuses moins structurées possèdent quelques ramifications, telles
la Ligue des patriotes, De 3 à 9, La Jeunesse active de l'islam,
dirigée par Adnan Pezo de Zenica, L'Union des jeunes musulmans, les
Jeunes musulmans (nom d'un mouvement collaborationniste de la 2ème
Guerre mondiale), Fatih et El-Fatih, qui perpétuent soigneusement la
tradition des Mudzahidin. L'OTAN soupçonne également certaines
organisations humanitaires de soutenir les nébuleuses islamistes
activistes. Parmi ces organisations suspectées se trouvent Nahala,
Human Appel International, Al Haramani, le Fond pour la renaissance de
l'islam (Vesti, 17 avril 2002). Un engagement militant qui trouve des
échos au sein même des structures et partis officiels de la fédération
de Bosnie-Herzégovine. Ainsi, à Sarajevo, de jeunes militants du SDA se
sont affrontés cet été à la police à l'occasion d'une rencontre de
football Bosnie-Yougoslavie, alors qu'ils cherchaient à « ratonner »
les joueurs venus de Belgrade. Deux Serbes sont passés à tabac, Bojan
Ilic et Veljko Belojica. Les suspects sont interpellés. Il s'agit de
trois bosniaques, Besim Mavric, Enes Gicic et Adnan Alibabic. Après
enquête judiciaire, le juge d'application des peines, Shefcet Licin,
relâcha les trois prévenus. Les Serbes érigèrent des barricades en
signe de protestation autour de la ville. Une intervention rapide de la
police a calmé les ardeurs des uns et des autres. Selon le prêtre
orthodoxe Mihailo « tout ce qui s'est passé est un mauvais présage,
pour nous les Serbes. Il nous semble que les musulmans ne sont plus
prêts à davantage de tolérance et de compréhension. C'est à dire, qu'un
courant est apparu, un groupe d'hooligans pour être plus précis, qui
souhaitait tout simplement empêcher de fêter la victoire de la
représentation yougoslave » (Vesti, 26 septembre 2002). Après ces
incidents, la communauté serbe a mis sur place un Comité pour la
protection des Serbes de la Raska. Les représentants sont partis
négocier une solution à Belgrade avec le Premier ministre serbe
d'alors, Zoran Djindjic. Le président du Comité, Dragic Pavlovic, ne
cache pas que la survie des Serbes dans la région dépend en grande
partie de leur poids économique. Tout ce que l'on peut dire, c'est que
les juteux trafics des musulmans ne jouent pas en faveur d'une
pérennisation de la présence orthodoxe. De leur côté, les partis
pro-bosniaques accusent d'anciens policiers serbes de vouloir
volontairement semer des troubles en vue d'exploiter un certain
mécontentement chez les non-musulmans. C'est notamment la thèse retenue
par le représentant spirituel des musulmans de Novi Pazar, le mufti
Zurkolic. Ce dernier se félicitait dans Danas (7 décembre 2002), d'être
entendu par le Premier ministre serbe Zoran Djindjic : « J'ai rencontré
pour la première fois le Premier ministre Djindjic en tant que membre
de la délégation de toutes les communautés religieuses constituée à
propos de l'introduction de cours de religion dans les écoles. Notre
deuxième rencontre portait sur le sujet de l'Université. Après cela,
Zoran Djindjic est venu à Novi Pazar et il a été le premier chef du
gouvernement serbe à rendre visite à la communauté islamique au cours
des cent dernières années. Il a été sensible à mes idées sur le Sandjak
comme une région créatrice des liens, un pont de communication entre la
Serbie et le monde arabe. Son soutien s'est concrétisé avec mon voyage
à Dubai, dans le cadre d'une délégation d'État. Le fait d'inclure, pour
la première fois, un mufti dans la délégation d'état a beaucoup
contribué à une image positive de la Serbie, ce qui m'a été confirmé
par les journalistes et les diplomates au siège de la Ligue arabe ». En
octobre dernier, les élections en Bosnie ont mis en avant le candidat
extrémiste du SDA, Sulejman Tihic, contre son concurrent du SDP, Haris
Silajdzic, un ex partisan d'Izetbegovic. Et lorsque l'on connaît les
liens historiques qui existent entre militants du SDA et activistes
pan-islamistes au Sandjak, on peut aisément imaginer ce qui pourrait
arriver en cas de durcissement des positions des irrédentistes
musulmans de Novi Pazar.
Une zone stratégique essentielle
La bande de terre montagneuse de 8 887 km² qui se trouve à cheval entre
la Serbie et le nord du Monténégro, appelée Sandjak de Novi Pazar,
n'est autre que l'ancienne Raska serbe. Zone géographique hautement
stratégique puisqu'elle confère un accès à la mer à Belgrade et qu'elle
garantie pour Podgorica un lien direct avec sa tutrice serbe, ce
territoire équivaut en superficie à un département français. C'est
justement cette zone qui semble être la clef de voûte de la fameuse
pénétrante verte : de la Macédoine à la poche de Bihac en Bosnie, en
passant par le Kosovo, l'Albanie et le sud de la Serbie, cette
pénétrante n'est que l'ensemble des résidus religieux du défunt empire
ottoman, où de nos jours se concentrent la majeure partie des
mahométans des Balkans ex-Yougoslaves. Antique terre serbe, la Raska dû
subir le joug ottoman du XIVème siècle à 1912 avant d'être rattachée à
la Serbie par le Traité de Bucarest de 1913. Aujourd'hui, sur quelque
400 000 âmes, seulement 40% ne sont pas mahométans. Ces derniers se
concentrent principalement dans les montagnes et hors des villes. Dans
les faits, la revendication d'un statut d'autonomie pour le Sandjak en
vue de son rattachement futur à la Bosnie musulmane obéit à des
considérations géopolitiques de type "civilisationnelles", non
réductibles à un nationalisme ethnique classique. C'est en fait
uniquement sur des considérations politico-religieuses qu'est basée
cette revendication. Jusqu'en 1912, l'ancienne Raska n'est qu'une
simple entité géographique désignant la pointe extrême de l'empire
ottoman avant l'Autriche-Hongrie. Même au sein de la Yougoslavie de
Tito, pourtant si généreuse avec les musulmans, cette bande de terre
montagneuse ne constitua jamais une véritable entité administrative
autonome. C'est pourquoi, les activistes islamistes du Sandjak évoquent
les précédents bosniaques et kosovars.
« Interdit aux chiens, aux Juifs et aux Serbes ! »
Depuis la fin des années 1980, le chef de file de la puissance
communauté musulmane de Novi Pazar est le docteur en théologie Suleyman
Ugljanin, responsable du Muslimansko Nacionalno Vijece Sanzaka (MNVS ou
Conseil national des musulmans du Sandjak), le parti indépendantiste
musulman du Sandjak. Elu député à Belgrade et proche du DS de Zoran
Djindjic, Ugljanin a été formé au fondamentalisme islamique en Bosnie
et en Turquie. Cet ancien membre du Parti d'action démocratique (SDA)
de Bosnie, est à l'origine de la première antenne locale à Novi Pazar
du BNVS, le mouvement national bosniaque du Sandjak, étroitement lié
aux islamistes d'Izetbegovic. En juillet 1997, lors d'une violente
manifestation, il a rendu public la revendication de "statut spécial"
pour le Sandjak, première condition vers une indépendance totale et un
rattachement à une grande Bosnie islamiste. Cette demande fut réitérée
le 1er mars 1999 lors d'une conférence pan-islamiste tenue à Sarajevo
au moment de la crise du Kosovo, revendication que le quotidien Blic,
financé par la nébuleuse de Soros, s'est fait un plaisir de promouvoir.
En Turquie, Suleyman Ugljanin est étroitement lié au Refah Partisi, le
parti islamiste turc devenu depuis l'AKP. Ami personnel de Necmettin
Erbakan, Ugljanin a fait de nombreux voyages dans les pays musulmans
dont l'Iran, lors d'une Conférence islamiste et en Egypte chez les
Frères musulmans. Ugljanin se targue également d'être l'ami de Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, le chef de file de l'AKP. En 1990, Ugljanin est
présent lors de la fondation du SDA d'Alija Izetbegovic.
Particulièrement impliqué dans le conflit en Bosnie, il envoie en 1992
un détachement de sa garde personnelle participer à l'épuration
ethnique des quartiers serbes à Sarajevo. Un engagement qui fait suite
à sa participation active dans divers trafics d'armes entre Zagreb et
Ankara, un an plus tôt. La même année, les musulmans du Sandjak
organisent un référendum d'autodétermination devant mener à
l'indépendance. Puis c'est un grand nombre de localités qui tombe sous
le contrôle des islamistes, dont Novi Pazar (120 000 habitants) dans
les années qui suivent. La propagation du conflit bosniaque vers le
Sandjak est évitée de justesse en 1991-1992, grâce à l'intervention
d'unités particulières du SDB venues tout spécialement de Belgrade se
débarrasser physiquement de plusieurs centaines d'activistes
pan-islamistes et de volontaires musulmans étrangers. C'est l'époque où
nombre de cafés et lieux publics d'agglomérations du Sandjak affichent
ouvertement des écriteaux sur leurs devantures : « Interdit aux chiens,
aux Juifs et aux Serbes ! » Plusieurs actions antiserbes se
développent alors. En 1991, l'affaire d'un chauffeur de taxi serbe
égorgé sur les hauteurs de Prijepolje à Kamena Gora fait grand bruit.
Belgrade lance alors une vaste opération à l'aide des forces spéciales
du RDB pour calmer les ardeurs des militants islamistes les plus
combatifs : plusieurs rafles ont lieu le long des principales voies de
communication. La ligne de chemin de fer Bar-Belgrade est notamment
particulièrement surveillée en raison de la possible présence de
commandos islamistes infiltrés. Au moment où la guerre éclate en
Bosnie, le chef de file des islamistes du Sandjak s'enfuit discrètement
à Istanbul où il ouvre un bureau du "Sandjak indépendant et musulman".
Cette officine est alors traitée au même titre qu'une ambassade. En
1995, de retour à Novi Pazar avec un pactole de 17 millions de dollars
(fruits de divers trafics d'armes), il lance la liste électorale "Za
Sandjak. Dr. Suleyman Ugljanin" et est élu député à l'assemblée
fédérale de la RFY en 1996. Il se range aussitôt dans les rangs de
l'opposition dite démocratique et tisses des liens avec le Parti
démocratique de Zoran Djindjic. Après la prise du pouvoir de la
nouvelle équipe politique en automne 2000, un ministère yougoslave des
"Communautés nationales et ethniques" voit le jour. Véritable machine à
revendications et à subventions pour tous les groupements plus ou moins
indépendantistes et antiserbes qui pullulent alors en RFY, ce ministère
est dirigé par le musulman Rasim Ljajic, président du SDP (Sandjacke
demokratske partije), le concurrent direct du MNVS. Il s'agit
ouvertement de promouvoir le communautarisme et le séparatisme. Une
action qui facilite grandement Suleyman Ugljanin dans sa volonté de
voir s'établir un Sandjak indépendant et islamiste et qui ouvre une
permissivité sans précédents à partir du printemps 2001. Depuis,
d'autres petites formations ont vu le jour à Novi Pazar comme le Parti
social-libéral du Sandjak de Bajram Omeragic.
"Ben Laden comme un modèle"
"Nous considérons Ussama Ben Laden comme un modèle pour les croyants.
Il défend les musulmans à travers le monde. Les Taliban ne peuvent pas
être vaincus par l'Occident. Même s'ils meurent, ils deviennent des
martyrs de la foi" (L'Humanité, 5 octobre 2001). L'homme qui tient ces
propos quelques jours après le 11 septembre 2001 n'est autre que l'imam
Mensur, professeur d'arabe à la madrasa de Novi Pazar. Depuis sa
réouverture en 1990, 120 garçons âgés de 15 à 20 ans suivent les cours
de cette école coranique. Tous se préparent à devenir des imams,
renforçant les cadres religieux où l'islamisme constitue le principal
référent identitaire d'une majorité de la population. Cet appel au
Jihad se retrouve dans le mensuel régional Voie de l'islam qui n'hésite
pas à faire l'apologie du régime des Taliban installé à Kaboul. Le
mensuel y qualifie notamment de "juste" l'interprétation des lois
coraniques par les Taliban. D'autre part, dans ce même numéro d'octobre
2001, la Voie de l'Islam fait état de la récente visite de délégations
iraniennes et bosniaques à la madrasa. Comme en Bosnie et au Kosovo,
la ré-islamisation affecte tous les niveaux de la société au Sandjak.
Depuis l'année 2001, on aperçoit de plus en plus de barbes et de femmes
voilées dans les rues de Novi Pazar. Avec le soutien d'ONG
occidentales, l'écrivain éditeur Saban Sarenkapic a créé à Novi Pazar
le centre de rencontres Damad dont l'objectif est de promouvoir la
culture musulmane auprès des non-musulmans. Dans la demeure du grand
mufti du Sandjak, Muamer Zurkolic, contiguë à la madrasa et au local
qui imprime la Voie de l'islam, une immense photo de pèlerins à La
Mecque tapisse un des murs de la salle centrale. En octobre 2001, lors
d'une entrevue à l'AFP, le mufti se disait "très inquiet de ce qui se
passe dans le monde". Et de poursuivre : "J'ai le sentiment que
l'Occident veut imposer sa culture au reste de la planète. Nous devons
sans cesse travailler à la défense de notre identité". Avant de
prévenir "Ici, au Sandjak, les forces anti-islamiques tentent de
revenir". Ces "forces anti-islamiques" étant bien évidemment les
chrétiens orthodoxes serbes et monténégrins. Une menace selon le mufti
qui ne peut être écartée sans l'appui de frères musulmans venus
d'ailleurs. Ainsi, en octobre 2001, l'hebdomadaire Nedjelni Telegraf
dévoilait la présence d'une trentaine d'activistes wahhabites à Novi
Pazar et plus de 200 à Sjenica, plus à l'ouest. Leur action se serait
alors limitée à des campagnes de prosélytisme.
Nettoyage ethnique au nom d'Allah
Phénomène souvent passé sous silence par la presse nationale et
internationale qui tente de minimiser l'ampleur du phénomène ou
carrément de l'ignorer, les familles serbes minoritaires de Novi Pazar
quittent peu à peu la région. S'inspirant de l'expérience des derniers
Serbes du Kosmet, la minorité serbe de Novi Pazar tente, tant bien que
mal, de vendre ses biens avant de partir définitivement. En effet, de
troublantes similitudes apparaissent avec l'exode silencieux des Serbes
du Kosovo des années 70 et 80. Le même phénomène semble, actuellement,
se reproduire à Novi Pazar. D'autant plus que les juteux trafics que
drogue, qui s'y développent en corrélation avec la mafia albanaise,
permettent aux acheteurs de presser les familles serbes à partir.
Vendre un bien à bon prix, même contraint, est toujours mieux que de
l'abandonner. D'après le responsable du SUP local, Suad Bulic, Novi
Pazar serait devenu un important carrefour pour les trafiquants de
drogue du Monténégro, Kosovo, Bulgarie et Turquie. Selon les dires de
la police, cette ville serait même devenue le principal « magasin de
transit » des trafiquants de drogue du Kosmet. Comme pour le Kosovo
dans les années 1980-1990, les trafiquants bosno-musulmans
achèteraient, avec des sommes ainsi amassées à la hâte, les propriétés
des familles serbes (Vesti, 4 décembre 2002). Et gare à celui qui
refuserait de vendre ! Le problème de l'émigration forcée des Serbes ne
date pas d'hier. Les statistiques sont fort explicitent à ce sujet : En
1941, la commune de Novi Pazar comptait 60% de Serbes. En 1961, ils
sont 55%. Il est vrai que le nettoyage ethnique au nom d'Allah mis en
œuvre par les milices musulmanes du Sandjak, alliées du IIIème Reich, y
est pour beaucoup. Mais en 1974, ils ne sont plus que 39,5%. En 1981,
leur présence chute à 29% et en 1991, Novi Pazar compte 22,4% de
Serbes. Enfin, en 2001, les Serbes constituent moins de 20% des
habitants de Novi Pazar. A savoir, qu'au cours des deux dernières
années, plus de 1 000 familles serbo-orthodoxes ont quitté l'ancienne
Raska serbe. A ce rythme Novi Pazar sera bientôt une commune
ethniquement et religieusement purifiée. Aujourd'hui, les Serbes y sont
marginalisés politiquement, économiquement et culturellement. Les
autorités locales ne semblent guère de soucier de leurs problèmes et la
présence de l'Etat de Serbie-Monténégro est largement insuffisante.
Les bonnes consciences objectent que cet exode serait lié à la
« précarité économique » de la région. Cette explication semble
erronée : La plupart des Serbes qui quittent Novi Pazar s'installent
dans les régions voisines de Kraljevo et Kragujevac, où les conditions
de vie sont plus pauvres qu'à Novi Pazar et le chômage plus élevé.
Souvent, les Serbes de Kragujevac et Kraljevo, natifs de Novi Pazar,
retournent y travailler. L'autre témoin de la meilleure santé
économique des habitants de Novi Pazar est le fait que certains
terrains bien situés se vendent jusqu'à 20 000 euros les 100 mètres
carrés (Vecernje Novosti, 26 août 2002). En revanche la communauté
islamique de Novi Pazar, par la voie de son représentant le mufti
Muamer Zurkolic, accuse le gouvernement de Belgrade de ne pas faire
assez de concessions, concernant les « droits des musulmans ». Le mufti
Zurkolic souligne les prétendues maigres possibilités urbanistiques
pour la construction de nouveaux lieux de culte. Ils dénonce sur un
même ton larmoyant les problèmes alimentaires pour les appelés
musulmans de l'armée serbo-monténégrine et insiste sur l'obligation
qu'il entend imposer aux femmes d'apparaître voilées sur les documents
d'identité. Un pas de plus vers une application stricte des principes
du Coran. Mais Muamer Zurkolic assure déjà que l'application de la
Charia, la loi coranique, ne pouvait pas être à l'ordre du jour tant
qu'il resterait des non-musulmans au Sandjak. Depuis le changement
d'équipe politique en Serbie en octobre 2000, l'accélération de cette
épuration ethnique au nom d'Allah, présentée par certains comme de la
« discrimination positive », laisse ainsi un espoir assuré pour les
projets pan-islamistes des plus radicaux des musulmans de cette bande
de terre montagneuse à l'évidence stratégique.
Gordana KOSTIC
Reproduction autorisée pour tous médias à condition de citer la source
1. Terrorism in the Balkans - Enter Sandzak?
(C. Deliso / balkanalysis.com)
2. Le Sandjak de Novi Pazar, future terre de Jihad
(G. Kostic / chiffonrouge.org)
=== 1 ===
> http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=168
Terrorism in the Balkans- Enter Sandzak?
Date: Friday, October 24 @ 13:55:00 EDT
Topic: Other Balkans Articles
Macedonian and Serbian security forces are paying increasing attention
to the partially Muslim-inhabited Sandzak region, a small, rugged
territory straddling the Montenegro-Serbian borders and suspected of
supporting foreign and Bosniak mujahedin, as well as Albanian
militants from Kosovo. Security officials in Skopje recently told
Balkanalyis.com that a bi-national investigation of a specific
incident is now underway, but that results cannot be publicly reported
yet.
Geographically speaking, the Sandzak is perfect for illicit
activities- mountainous, isolated, bordering two poorly policed failing
states (Bosnia and Kosovo). Drugs, weapons, and even sugar are
smuggled with regularity by many means (including the humble donkey).
It is as a liaison and rear staging post that the Sandzak is being
investigated, rather than as a forward base for terrorist operations.
As part of Serbia, the region is subject to Serbian police jurisdiction
and thus remains controlled. However, transit through the area has
worried Macedonian authorities.
They are trying to avoid a repeat of 2001’s Albanian insurgency-
itself partially propelled by Islamists.
In the last Yugoslav census (1991), the Sandzak numbered 420,000
people- 278,000 in Serbia and 162,000 in Montenegro. 54 percent were
Bosniaks. Widespread emigration since then may have left them a
minority in Sandzak, “…a suspicion supported by the strong showing of
Serbian nationalist parties in the recent presidential elections in
Serbia,” reported RFE/RL [http://www.geocities.com/bosnjaci_sandzaka/%5d
one year ago. “Nevertheless, in Novi Pazar and some other communities,
Bosniaks still form a clear majority.”
Historically, the Sandzak has been both multi-ethnic and much debated.
Rival football hooligans taunted each other by saying it is a part of
Serbia- or, oddly, Turkey. Others claim that they are of “Illyrian”
descent- a very loaded term, as the Albanians claim to be direct
descendents of the mysterious ancient Illyrian tribes, and therefore
to be more “authentic” Balkan residents than the “Slav colonizers” all
around them. This claim remains unproven.
For years well-organized Muslim lobby groups in the Sandzak have
decried alleged Serb abuses and some have even demanded independence,
petitioning the US and other governments and international
organizations to their cause.
The RFE/RL report summed up the ethnic, religious and linguistic
complexities of this mountainous region composed of Bosniaks,
Albanians, Turks, Montenegrins and Serbs. The Bosnian government has in
the past tried to “Bosnianize” the Muslims there, by getting them to
call their language “Bosnian” whereas many prefer to call it Serbian.
The area is wedged between Bosnia and Kosovo and was affected by the
wars in both, receiving refugees as well as being a smuggling
crossroads for Muslim militants in both places.
Extremist politicians in Sandzak, like SZS chairman Fevzija Muric have
threatened that Serbian failure to grant the region special status
could set off what he called “a potential powder keg.” However, it
seems that save for the occasional street fight or political
provocation, this is for now, at least, an exaggeration. Nevertheless,
would-be nationalists like Muric have called for some special kind of
unification for Sandzak Muslims living on both sides of the Serbian
and Montenegro border- aiming, apparently, at the infinite
disintegration of the already dismantled country. (After it’s all over,
will Serbia be composed only of Belgrade and Kragujevac?)
Macedonian and Serbian interest in the Sandzak’s potential for trouble
confirms something that had been suspected. Should the story develop,
perhaps the most compelling result of this will be a new and different
orientation towards the mental map of the Balkans. All Western media,
whenever producing reports or graphics, have depicted the
Serbia-Montenegro issue as one between two distinct, color-coded
political entities- thereby ignoring the cross-border east-west issue
of the Sandzak, as well as the general geographical reality of the
region.
Further, we may see a paradigm shift in how this part of the Balkans
is perceived, away from the east-west axis and towards a north-south
one that would provide the missing link between Islamic activity in
Bosnia and Kosovo- the two places now of most concern to Western
governments. If the Sandzak suspicions turn out to be justified, the
Western view on Montenegrin independence may shift, because any
weakening of security services from Belgrade can only expedite the
potential for Islamic terrorism from Bosnia and Kosovo- through a
severed Sandzak. That is something for the Western policymakers to
think about.
How was the Sandzak described decades ago? Read Rebecca West's classic
travelogue, Black Lamb and Grey Falcon: a Journey through Yugoslavia
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0140188479/balkanalysisc-20%5d
=== 2 ===
> http://resistance.chiffonrouge.org/article.php3?id_article=284
Le Sandjak de Novi Pazar, future terre de Jihad
Ce que Belgrade cherche à cacher sur les extrémistes du Sandjak
vendredi 24 octobre 2003.
Après l'arrivée au pouvoir de la DOS à l'automne 2000, la mouvance la
plus radicale de l'Islam balkanique n'a cessé de se développer au
Sandjak de Novi Pazar, amenant une épuration ethnique larvée de tout ce
qui n'est pas bosniaque et musulman. Aperçu sur une situation que
Belgrade tente de cacher
Intimidations en tous genres, mitraillages à l'arme automatique de
façades d'églises orthodoxes, profanations de cimetières et lieux de
prières, insultes racistes peintes sur les murs des habitations des
non-musulmans, appels au Jihad dans les feuilles de choux financées par
l'Union européenne ou les ONG islamiques… Rien n'est épargné depuis
plus de deux ans aux familles chrétiennes du Sandjak de Novi Pazar,
avec la sourde complicité des autorités de Belgrade qui semblent
préférer un pourrissement de la situation et un exode massif des
non-musulmans qu'un affrontement direct avec les tendances les plus
dures des islamistes locaux. La ferveur religieuse des musulmans de
Novi Pazar se quantifie avec l'ouverture récente d'une madrasa (école
coranique), qui abrite plusieurs sections pour jeunes filles. Les
femmes apparaissent de plus en plus voilées dans les rues de Novi
Pazar. Certains attribuent cette mode à l'influence grandissante du
Mechihat de la communauté islamique du Sandjak et certaines rumeurs
accusent ce même Mechihat de donner 250 euros par mois à chaque femme
qui accepte le voile (Vesti, 22 avril 2002). Il est fort probable que
ces femmes aient reçu un soutien de la communauté islamique ; en
revanche une rémunération mensuelle de 250 euros paraît excessive,
compte tenu du niveau de vie moyen des habitants de la région. Quoi
qu'il en soit, au regard des mannequins exposés en vitrine de leurs
magasins, les boutiquiers semblent suivre cette « mode ».
Des liens avec la Bosnie
Ce renouveau de l'islam au Sandjak est à mettre en relation avec le
développement du fondamentalisme musulman en Bosnie. Des reporters de
guerre du New York Times auraient eu la surprise de déchiffrer des
instructions relatives au maniement d'explosifs chimiques, rédigées en
« bosniaque » (serbo-croate) dans un refuge d'Al Qaïda à Kaboul en
Afghanistan. Ce serait un expert de la CIA qui aurait opportunément
rassemblé ce matériel. Sur l'une des brochures retrouvées, il y aurait
eu la mention « Upotrebljena u Oklahomi » (« Utilisée à Oklahoma »). Un
passeport bosniaque aurait même été retrouvé sur place. Au regard de ce
type de sources, il faut bien évidemment parler au conditionnel ; la
CIA ayant la fâcheuse habitude de désinformer. Mais, suite aux
attentats contre le World Trade Center, le quotidien viennois Presse se
fit l'écho du rôle des Mudzahidin dans les guerres de l'ex-Yougoslavie.
Toujours d'après Presse, les guerres de Bosnie auraient mobilisé sur le
terrain 900 à 1 500 Mudzahidin face aux Serbes. Généralement
originaires d'Arabie Saoudite ou d'Afghanistan, une partie d'entre eux
est restée en Bosnie et aurait acquis la nationalité bosniaque. Selon
le quotidien de Banja Luka, Le Journal indépendant, ce sont neuf
organisations islamistes et plusieurs organisations humanitaires qui
auraient agit de connivence avec cette mouvance. Parmi les
organisations les plus actives, on recense ainsi Elbard Bosnia, ou
Slobodna Bosna (Bosnie libre), dont le siège se trouve à Zemun en
banlieue de Belgrade. L'organisation rassemble surtout des combattants
aguerris. Vehabije est plutôt une organisation doctrinaire, dirigée par
Osman Galijasevic. Elle est apparue en 1995. Ses fonds proviennent
principalement du Soudan et d'Arabie saoudite. Elle a une grande
influence parmi la jeunesse bosniaque de Velika Kladusa. Des sources
proches de l'OTAN soupçonnent l'existence de liens entre l'organisation
bosniaque Crvena Ruza (Rose rouge) et le Hamas. Ce sont les activistes
de Crvena Ruza qui auraient tentés d'assassiner le musulman pro-serbe
Frikret Abdic à Bihac en Bosnie. L'académie islamique de Bihac et le
lycée islamique de Cazin seraient les viviers de recrutement de Crvena
Ruza, mais aussi de l'organisation islamiste de Cazin, Zetra. D'autres
nébuleuses moins structurées possèdent quelques ramifications, telles
la Ligue des patriotes, De 3 à 9, La Jeunesse active de l'islam,
dirigée par Adnan Pezo de Zenica, L'Union des jeunes musulmans, les
Jeunes musulmans (nom d'un mouvement collaborationniste de la 2ème
Guerre mondiale), Fatih et El-Fatih, qui perpétuent soigneusement la
tradition des Mudzahidin. L'OTAN soupçonne également certaines
organisations humanitaires de soutenir les nébuleuses islamistes
activistes. Parmi ces organisations suspectées se trouvent Nahala,
Human Appel International, Al Haramani, le Fond pour la renaissance de
l'islam (Vesti, 17 avril 2002). Un engagement militant qui trouve des
échos au sein même des structures et partis officiels de la fédération
de Bosnie-Herzégovine. Ainsi, à Sarajevo, de jeunes militants du SDA se
sont affrontés cet été à la police à l'occasion d'une rencontre de
football Bosnie-Yougoslavie, alors qu'ils cherchaient à « ratonner »
les joueurs venus de Belgrade. Deux Serbes sont passés à tabac, Bojan
Ilic et Veljko Belojica. Les suspects sont interpellés. Il s'agit de
trois bosniaques, Besim Mavric, Enes Gicic et Adnan Alibabic. Après
enquête judiciaire, le juge d'application des peines, Shefcet Licin,
relâcha les trois prévenus. Les Serbes érigèrent des barricades en
signe de protestation autour de la ville. Une intervention rapide de la
police a calmé les ardeurs des uns et des autres. Selon le prêtre
orthodoxe Mihailo « tout ce qui s'est passé est un mauvais présage,
pour nous les Serbes. Il nous semble que les musulmans ne sont plus
prêts à davantage de tolérance et de compréhension. C'est à dire, qu'un
courant est apparu, un groupe d'hooligans pour être plus précis, qui
souhaitait tout simplement empêcher de fêter la victoire de la
représentation yougoslave » (Vesti, 26 septembre 2002). Après ces
incidents, la communauté serbe a mis sur place un Comité pour la
protection des Serbes de la Raska. Les représentants sont partis
négocier une solution à Belgrade avec le Premier ministre serbe
d'alors, Zoran Djindjic. Le président du Comité, Dragic Pavlovic, ne
cache pas que la survie des Serbes dans la région dépend en grande
partie de leur poids économique. Tout ce que l'on peut dire, c'est que
les juteux trafics des musulmans ne jouent pas en faveur d'une
pérennisation de la présence orthodoxe. De leur côté, les partis
pro-bosniaques accusent d'anciens policiers serbes de vouloir
volontairement semer des troubles en vue d'exploiter un certain
mécontentement chez les non-musulmans. C'est notamment la thèse retenue
par le représentant spirituel des musulmans de Novi Pazar, le mufti
Zurkolic. Ce dernier se félicitait dans Danas (7 décembre 2002), d'être
entendu par le Premier ministre serbe Zoran Djindjic : « J'ai rencontré
pour la première fois le Premier ministre Djindjic en tant que membre
de la délégation de toutes les communautés religieuses constituée à
propos de l'introduction de cours de religion dans les écoles. Notre
deuxième rencontre portait sur le sujet de l'Université. Après cela,
Zoran Djindjic est venu à Novi Pazar et il a été le premier chef du
gouvernement serbe à rendre visite à la communauté islamique au cours
des cent dernières années. Il a été sensible à mes idées sur le Sandjak
comme une région créatrice des liens, un pont de communication entre la
Serbie et le monde arabe. Son soutien s'est concrétisé avec mon voyage
à Dubai, dans le cadre d'une délégation d'État. Le fait d'inclure, pour
la première fois, un mufti dans la délégation d'état a beaucoup
contribué à une image positive de la Serbie, ce qui m'a été confirmé
par les journalistes et les diplomates au siège de la Ligue arabe ». En
octobre dernier, les élections en Bosnie ont mis en avant le candidat
extrémiste du SDA, Sulejman Tihic, contre son concurrent du SDP, Haris
Silajdzic, un ex partisan d'Izetbegovic. Et lorsque l'on connaît les
liens historiques qui existent entre militants du SDA et activistes
pan-islamistes au Sandjak, on peut aisément imaginer ce qui pourrait
arriver en cas de durcissement des positions des irrédentistes
musulmans de Novi Pazar.
Une zone stratégique essentielle
La bande de terre montagneuse de 8 887 km² qui se trouve à cheval entre
la Serbie et le nord du Monténégro, appelée Sandjak de Novi Pazar,
n'est autre que l'ancienne Raska serbe. Zone géographique hautement
stratégique puisqu'elle confère un accès à la mer à Belgrade et qu'elle
garantie pour Podgorica un lien direct avec sa tutrice serbe, ce
territoire équivaut en superficie à un département français. C'est
justement cette zone qui semble être la clef de voûte de la fameuse
pénétrante verte : de la Macédoine à la poche de Bihac en Bosnie, en
passant par le Kosovo, l'Albanie et le sud de la Serbie, cette
pénétrante n'est que l'ensemble des résidus religieux du défunt empire
ottoman, où de nos jours se concentrent la majeure partie des
mahométans des Balkans ex-Yougoslaves. Antique terre serbe, la Raska dû
subir le joug ottoman du XIVème siècle à 1912 avant d'être rattachée à
la Serbie par le Traité de Bucarest de 1913. Aujourd'hui, sur quelque
400 000 âmes, seulement 40% ne sont pas mahométans. Ces derniers se
concentrent principalement dans les montagnes et hors des villes. Dans
les faits, la revendication d'un statut d'autonomie pour le Sandjak en
vue de son rattachement futur à la Bosnie musulmane obéit à des
considérations géopolitiques de type "civilisationnelles", non
réductibles à un nationalisme ethnique classique. C'est en fait
uniquement sur des considérations politico-religieuses qu'est basée
cette revendication. Jusqu'en 1912, l'ancienne Raska n'est qu'une
simple entité géographique désignant la pointe extrême de l'empire
ottoman avant l'Autriche-Hongrie. Même au sein de la Yougoslavie de
Tito, pourtant si généreuse avec les musulmans, cette bande de terre
montagneuse ne constitua jamais une véritable entité administrative
autonome. C'est pourquoi, les activistes islamistes du Sandjak évoquent
les précédents bosniaques et kosovars.
« Interdit aux chiens, aux Juifs et aux Serbes ! »
Depuis la fin des années 1980, le chef de file de la puissance
communauté musulmane de Novi Pazar est le docteur en théologie Suleyman
Ugljanin, responsable du Muslimansko Nacionalno Vijece Sanzaka (MNVS ou
Conseil national des musulmans du Sandjak), le parti indépendantiste
musulman du Sandjak. Elu député à Belgrade et proche du DS de Zoran
Djindjic, Ugljanin a été formé au fondamentalisme islamique en Bosnie
et en Turquie. Cet ancien membre du Parti d'action démocratique (SDA)
de Bosnie, est à l'origine de la première antenne locale à Novi Pazar
du BNVS, le mouvement national bosniaque du Sandjak, étroitement lié
aux islamistes d'Izetbegovic. En juillet 1997, lors d'une violente
manifestation, il a rendu public la revendication de "statut spécial"
pour le Sandjak, première condition vers une indépendance totale et un
rattachement à une grande Bosnie islamiste. Cette demande fut réitérée
le 1er mars 1999 lors d'une conférence pan-islamiste tenue à Sarajevo
au moment de la crise du Kosovo, revendication que le quotidien Blic,
financé par la nébuleuse de Soros, s'est fait un plaisir de promouvoir.
En Turquie, Suleyman Ugljanin est étroitement lié au Refah Partisi, le
parti islamiste turc devenu depuis l'AKP. Ami personnel de Necmettin
Erbakan, Ugljanin a fait de nombreux voyages dans les pays musulmans
dont l'Iran, lors d'une Conférence islamiste et en Egypte chez les
Frères musulmans. Ugljanin se targue également d'être l'ami de Recep
Tayyip Erdogan, le chef de file de l'AKP. En 1990, Ugljanin est
présent lors de la fondation du SDA d'Alija Izetbegovic.
Particulièrement impliqué dans le conflit en Bosnie, il envoie en 1992
un détachement de sa garde personnelle participer à l'épuration
ethnique des quartiers serbes à Sarajevo. Un engagement qui fait suite
à sa participation active dans divers trafics d'armes entre Zagreb et
Ankara, un an plus tôt. La même année, les musulmans du Sandjak
organisent un référendum d'autodétermination devant mener à
l'indépendance. Puis c'est un grand nombre de localités qui tombe sous
le contrôle des islamistes, dont Novi Pazar (120 000 habitants) dans
les années qui suivent. La propagation du conflit bosniaque vers le
Sandjak est évitée de justesse en 1991-1992, grâce à l'intervention
d'unités particulières du SDB venues tout spécialement de Belgrade se
débarrasser physiquement de plusieurs centaines d'activistes
pan-islamistes et de volontaires musulmans étrangers. C'est l'époque où
nombre de cafés et lieux publics d'agglomérations du Sandjak affichent
ouvertement des écriteaux sur leurs devantures : « Interdit aux chiens,
aux Juifs et aux Serbes ! » Plusieurs actions antiserbes se
développent alors. En 1991, l'affaire d'un chauffeur de taxi serbe
égorgé sur les hauteurs de Prijepolje à Kamena Gora fait grand bruit.
Belgrade lance alors une vaste opération à l'aide des forces spéciales
du RDB pour calmer les ardeurs des militants islamistes les plus
combatifs : plusieurs rafles ont lieu le long des principales voies de
communication. La ligne de chemin de fer Bar-Belgrade est notamment
particulièrement surveillée en raison de la possible présence de
commandos islamistes infiltrés. Au moment où la guerre éclate en
Bosnie, le chef de file des islamistes du Sandjak s'enfuit discrètement
à Istanbul où il ouvre un bureau du "Sandjak indépendant et musulman".
Cette officine est alors traitée au même titre qu'une ambassade. En
1995, de retour à Novi Pazar avec un pactole de 17 millions de dollars
(fruits de divers trafics d'armes), il lance la liste électorale "Za
Sandjak. Dr. Suleyman Ugljanin" et est élu député à l'assemblée
fédérale de la RFY en 1996. Il se range aussitôt dans les rangs de
l'opposition dite démocratique et tisses des liens avec le Parti
démocratique de Zoran Djindjic. Après la prise du pouvoir de la
nouvelle équipe politique en automne 2000, un ministère yougoslave des
"Communautés nationales et ethniques" voit le jour. Véritable machine à
revendications et à subventions pour tous les groupements plus ou moins
indépendantistes et antiserbes qui pullulent alors en RFY, ce ministère
est dirigé par le musulman Rasim Ljajic, président du SDP (Sandjacke
demokratske partije), le concurrent direct du MNVS. Il s'agit
ouvertement de promouvoir le communautarisme et le séparatisme. Une
action qui facilite grandement Suleyman Ugljanin dans sa volonté de
voir s'établir un Sandjak indépendant et islamiste et qui ouvre une
permissivité sans précédents à partir du printemps 2001. Depuis,
d'autres petites formations ont vu le jour à Novi Pazar comme le Parti
social-libéral du Sandjak de Bajram Omeragic.
"Ben Laden comme un modèle"
"Nous considérons Ussama Ben Laden comme un modèle pour les croyants.
Il défend les musulmans à travers le monde. Les Taliban ne peuvent pas
être vaincus par l'Occident. Même s'ils meurent, ils deviennent des
martyrs de la foi" (L'Humanité, 5 octobre 2001). L'homme qui tient ces
propos quelques jours après le 11 septembre 2001 n'est autre que l'imam
Mensur, professeur d'arabe à la madrasa de Novi Pazar. Depuis sa
réouverture en 1990, 120 garçons âgés de 15 à 20 ans suivent les cours
de cette école coranique. Tous se préparent à devenir des imams,
renforçant les cadres religieux où l'islamisme constitue le principal
référent identitaire d'une majorité de la population. Cet appel au
Jihad se retrouve dans le mensuel régional Voie de l'islam qui n'hésite
pas à faire l'apologie du régime des Taliban installé à Kaboul. Le
mensuel y qualifie notamment de "juste" l'interprétation des lois
coraniques par les Taliban. D'autre part, dans ce même numéro d'octobre
2001, la Voie de l'Islam fait état de la récente visite de délégations
iraniennes et bosniaques à la madrasa. Comme en Bosnie et au Kosovo,
la ré-islamisation affecte tous les niveaux de la société au Sandjak.
Depuis l'année 2001, on aperçoit de plus en plus de barbes et de femmes
voilées dans les rues de Novi Pazar. Avec le soutien d'ONG
occidentales, l'écrivain éditeur Saban Sarenkapic a créé à Novi Pazar
le centre de rencontres Damad dont l'objectif est de promouvoir la
culture musulmane auprès des non-musulmans. Dans la demeure du grand
mufti du Sandjak, Muamer Zurkolic, contiguë à la madrasa et au local
qui imprime la Voie de l'islam, une immense photo de pèlerins à La
Mecque tapisse un des murs de la salle centrale. En octobre 2001, lors
d'une entrevue à l'AFP, le mufti se disait "très inquiet de ce qui se
passe dans le monde". Et de poursuivre : "J'ai le sentiment que
l'Occident veut imposer sa culture au reste de la planète. Nous devons
sans cesse travailler à la défense de notre identité". Avant de
prévenir "Ici, au Sandjak, les forces anti-islamiques tentent de
revenir". Ces "forces anti-islamiques" étant bien évidemment les
chrétiens orthodoxes serbes et monténégrins. Une menace selon le mufti
qui ne peut être écartée sans l'appui de frères musulmans venus
d'ailleurs. Ainsi, en octobre 2001, l'hebdomadaire Nedjelni Telegraf
dévoilait la présence d'une trentaine d'activistes wahhabites à Novi
Pazar et plus de 200 à Sjenica, plus à l'ouest. Leur action se serait
alors limitée à des campagnes de prosélytisme.
Nettoyage ethnique au nom d'Allah
Phénomène souvent passé sous silence par la presse nationale et
internationale qui tente de minimiser l'ampleur du phénomène ou
carrément de l'ignorer, les familles serbes minoritaires de Novi Pazar
quittent peu à peu la région. S'inspirant de l'expérience des derniers
Serbes du Kosmet, la minorité serbe de Novi Pazar tente, tant bien que
mal, de vendre ses biens avant de partir définitivement. En effet, de
troublantes similitudes apparaissent avec l'exode silencieux des Serbes
du Kosovo des années 70 et 80. Le même phénomène semble, actuellement,
se reproduire à Novi Pazar. D'autant plus que les juteux trafics que
drogue, qui s'y développent en corrélation avec la mafia albanaise,
permettent aux acheteurs de presser les familles serbes à partir.
Vendre un bien à bon prix, même contraint, est toujours mieux que de
l'abandonner. D'après le responsable du SUP local, Suad Bulic, Novi
Pazar serait devenu un important carrefour pour les trafiquants de
drogue du Monténégro, Kosovo, Bulgarie et Turquie. Selon les dires de
la police, cette ville serait même devenue le principal « magasin de
transit » des trafiquants de drogue du Kosmet. Comme pour le Kosovo
dans les années 1980-1990, les trafiquants bosno-musulmans
achèteraient, avec des sommes ainsi amassées à la hâte, les propriétés
des familles serbes (Vesti, 4 décembre 2002). Et gare à celui qui
refuserait de vendre ! Le problème de l'émigration forcée des Serbes ne
date pas d'hier. Les statistiques sont fort explicitent à ce sujet : En
1941, la commune de Novi Pazar comptait 60% de Serbes. En 1961, ils
sont 55%. Il est vrai que le nettoyage ethnique au nom d'Allah mis en
œuvre par les milices musulmanes du Sandjak, alliées du IIIème Reich, y
est pour beaucoup. Mais en 1974, ils ne sont plus que 39,5%. En 1981,
leur présence chute à 29% et en 1991, Novi Pazar compte 22,4% de
Serbes. Enfin, en 2001, les Serbes constituent moins de 20% des
habitants de Novi Pazar. A savoir, qu'au cours des deux dernières
années, plus de 1 000 familles serbo-orthodoxes ont quitté l'ancienne
Raska serbe. A ce rythme Novi Pazar sera bientôt une commune
ethniquement et religieusement purifiée. Aujourd'hui, les Serbes y sont
marginalisés politiquement, économiquement et culturellement. Les
autorités locales ne semblent guère de soucier de leurs problèmes et la
présence de l'Etat de Serbie-Monténégro est largement insuffisante.
Les bonnes consciences objectent que cet exode serait lié à la
« précarité économique » de la région. Cette explication semble
erronée : La plupart des Serbes qui quittent Novi Pazar s'installent
dans les régions voisines de Kraljevo et Kragujevac, où les conditions
de vie sont plus pauvres qu'à Novi Pazar et le chômage plus élevé.
Souvent, les Serbes de Kragujevac et Kraljevo, natifs de Novi Pazar,
retournent y travailler. L'autre témoin de la meilleure santé
économique des habitants de Novi Pazar est le fait que certains
terrains bien situés se vendent jusqu'à 20 000 euros les 100 mètres
carrés (Vecernje Novosti, 26 août 2002). En revanche la communauté
islamique de Novi Pazar, par la voie de son représentant le mufti
Muamer Zurkolic, accuse le gouvernement de Belgrade de ne pas faire
assez de concessions, concernant les « droits des musulmans ». Le mufti
Zurkolic souligne les prétendues maigres possibilités urbanistiques
pour la construction de nouveaux lieux de culte. Ils dénonce sur un
même ton larmoyant les problèmes alimentaires pour les appelés
musulmans de l'armée serbo-monténégrine et insiste sur l'obligation
qu'il entend imposer aux femmes d'apparaître voilées sur les documents
d'identité. Un pas de plus vers une application stricte des principes
du Coran. Mais Muamer Zurkolic assure déjà que l'application de la
Charia, la loi coranique, ne pouvait pas être à l'ordre du jour tant
qu'il resterait des non-musulmans au Sandjak. Depuis le changement
d'équipe politique en Serbie en octobre 2000, l'accélération de cette
épuration ethnique au nom d'Allah, présentée par certains comme de la
« discrimination positive », laisse ainsi un espoir assuré pour les
projets pan-islamistes des plus radicaux des musulmans de cette bande
de terre montagneuse à l'évidence stratégique.
Gordana KOSTIC
Reproduction autorisée pour tous médias à condition de citer la source
Bari 7 novembre 2003 - ore 17.30 - presentazione del video "Sedìci
persone" sul bombardamento della TV di Belgrado il 24 aprile 1999
MOST ZA BEOGRAD
Associazione culturale di solidarietà con la popolazione jugoslava
via Abbrescia 97, 70121 BARI – most.za.beograd@...
Bari 7 novembre 2003 - ore 17.30
Università di lingue - Aula B - via Garruba 6 Bari
Comunicazione televisione e guerra
in collaborazione con la Sezione di Filosofia del linguaggio del
Dipartimento di pratiche linguistiche e analisi dei testi
dell’Università di Bari
Sedìci persone
le parole negate del bombardamento della tv di Belgrado
Alle due e sei minuti del 23 aprile del 1999il palazzo della tv
nazionale di Belgrado Rts, la Radio Televizija Srbije,viene colpito dai
missili Cruise della NATO.16 persone che stavano lavorando all’interno
dello stabile vengono uccise...
Sedìci persone, il documentario ideato e diretto daCorrado Veneziano,
con la consulenza giuridica di Domenico Gallo, ripropone, a quattro
anni di distanza dalla “guerra umanitaria” della NATO, la questione del
rapporto tra informazione e guerra.
Ne discutono con l’autore
Augusto Ponzio Università di Bari
Enrica Simonetti giornalista
Patrizia Calefato Univ. di Bari
Nico Perrone Università di Bari
Coordina
Franco Schettini Most za Beograd
persone" sul bombardamento della TV di Belgrado il 24 aprile 1999
MOST ZA BEOGRAD
Associazione culturale di solidarietà con la popolazione jugoslava
via Abbrescia 97, 70121 BARI – most.za.beograd@...
Bari 7 novembre 2003 - ore 17.30
Università di lingue - Aula B - via Garruba 6 Bari
Comunicazione televisione e guerra
in collaborazione con la Sezione di Filosofia del linguaggio del
Dipartimento di pratiche linguistiche e analisi dei testi
dell’Università di Bari
Sedìci persone
le parole negate del bombardamento della tv di Belgrado
Alle due e sei minuti del 23 aprile del 1999il palazzo della tv
nazionale di Belgrado Rts, la Radio Televizija Srbije,viene colpito dai
missili Cruise della NATO.16 persone che stavano lavorando all’interno
dello stabile vengono uccise...
Sedìci persone, il documentario ideato e diretto daCorrado Veneziano,
con la consulenza giuridica di Domenico Gallo, ripropone, a quattro
anni di distanza dalla “guerra umanitaria” della NATO, la questione del
rapporto tra informazione e guerra.
Ne discutono con l’autore
Augusto Ponzio Università di Bari
Enrica Simonetti giornalista
Patrizia Calefato Univ. di Bari
Nico Perrone Università di Bari
Coordina
Franco Schettini Most za Beograd
Serbien/Deutschland
Erntezeit. Die Regierung von Serbien und Montenegro wird die
Profitchancen für deutsche Unternehmen in ihrem Land verbessern
(http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/)
> http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1067557683.php
Erntezeit (I)
BELGRAD - Die Regierung von Serbien und Montenegro wird die
Profitchancen für deutsche Unternehmen in ihrem Land verbessern. Dies
ist das Ergebnis der ersten Belgrad-Reise eines deutschen Kanzlers seit
dem Beginn der systematischen Zerstörung Jugoslawiens und seiner
Wirtschaft durch Embargo und Krieg. Der Präsident von Serbien und
Montenegro, das mit maßgeblicher Beteiligung Berlins zu einem der
ärmsten Länder der Welt gebombt wurde, bedankte sich beim deutschen
Kanzler für die ,,politische Unterstützung", die serbische Polizei
begann währenddessen mit der Niederschlagung von Protesten gegen die
wirtschaftliche Ausplünderung des Landes.
Die Regierung Jugoslawiens, dessen größter Handelspartner bis Ende der
1990er Jahre Russland war, hatte sich trotz der von Berlin maßgeblich
geförderten Embargo- und Kriegspolitik1) standhaft geweigert, die
jugoslawische Industrie an westliche Konzerne zu veräußern. Erst die
neue prowestliche Regierung, die - nach tatkräftiger deutscher
Förderung2) - im Oktober 2000 durch einen illegalen Umsturz die Macht
an sich gerissen hatte, begann mit dem Ausverkauf jugoslawischen
Volksvermögens (,,Privatisierung"). Auch den russischen Handelseinfluss
hat sie zurückgedrängt; heute ist Deutschland stärkster
Wirtschaftspartner des Landes.3)
Deutsche Wirtschaftsexpansion: ...
Der deutsche Kanzler forderte jetzt die Belgrader Regierung auf, die
deutsche Wirtschaft stärker bei ihren Expansionsbestrebungen zu
unterstützen.4) Deutsche Unternehmen verlangten entsprechende
Rahmenbedingungen (,,Investitionssicherheit"), die Belgrad garantieren
müsse, erklärte der Kanzler und nahm demonstrativ an der
Gründungsveranstaltung des ,,Wirtschaftskooperationsrates Deutschland -
Serbien und Montenegro" teil. Der Wirtschaftskooperationsrat, der
verstärkte deutsche Investitionen vorbereiten soll, wird auf deutscher
Seite direkt vom zuständigen Parlamentarischen Staatssekretär im
Bundeswirtschaftsministerium geleitet; Co-Vorsitzende sind der
Außenwirtschaftsminister Serbiens und die Außenhandelsministerin
Montenegros. Der Gesamtstaat Serbien und Montenegro ist im Vorsitz des
Gremiums nicht vertreten.
... Übernahmepläne...
In wenigen Monaten soll Belgrad nun die Rahmenbedingungen für deutsche
Investitionen so weit verbessert haben, dass gezielte Übernahmen
beginnen können. Im Frühjahr wird der deutsche Wirtschaftsminister mit
einer deutschen Wirtschaftsdelegation Serbien und Montenegro bereisen
und die Ergebnisse der ,,Restrukturierungsmaßnahmen" in Augenschein
nehmen; das Auswärtige Amt empfiehlt Investitionen in die
kriegszerstörte Infrastruktur und in die montenegrinische
Tourismusbranche als besonders lukrativ. ,,Deutschland unterstützt
Serbien und Montenegro nach Kräften bei der demokratischen und
wirtschaftlichen Erneuerung des Landes", erklärt der deutsche Kanzler
der serbisch-montenegrinischen Öffentlichkeit in einem Interview mit
der deutsch kontrollierten serbischsprachigen Zeitung Politika.5)
... und Widerstand
Währenddessen haben serbisch-montenegrinische Sondereinheiten mit der
Niederschlagung von Protesten gegen die wirtschaftliche Ausplünderung
des Landes begonnen, das noch vor 15 Jahren als einer der
wohlhabendsten Staaten Ost- und Südosteuropas galt und heute nach
Angaben der Weltbank zu den ärmsten Ländern der Welt zählt.
Gewerkschaften demonstrieren in Belgrad und wollen dort zur
Bekräftigung ihrer Forderungen eine ,,Stadt der Hungrigen" errichten.
Sie verlangen die sofortige Einstellung der Privatisierungen.
1) s. dazu ,,Unaufhaltsamer Kriegskurs"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1053900001.php%5d
und Kurt Köpruner: Reisen in das Land der Kriege
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1052346901.php%5d
sowie Es begann mit einer Lüge. Fälschungen in der Berichterstattung
zum Kosovo-Krieg enthüllt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/989186400.php%5d
2) s. dazu Tod eines ,,Deutschen"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1047772983.php%5d
3) s. auch Deutsche Unternehmen wollen jugoslawische Wirtschaft erobern
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1012345200.php%5d
4) s. auch Berlin droht Belgrad
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055023200.php%5d
5) s. auch Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den
Medienmarkt in Jugoslawien
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1014073200.php%5d
und ,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg" auf dem Pressemarkt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1029500348.php%5d
sowie Deutsche Medienmacht in Südosteuropa
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1066428000.php%5d
Quellen:
Bundeskanzler Schröder im Interview mit der serbischen Tageszeitung
Politika; Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 29.10.2003
Erstaunlich beliebt. Schröder ist willkommen, denn in
Serbien-Montenegro stehen Deutsche für Erfolg; Frankfurter Rundschau
29.10.2003
Kooperationsrat Wirtschaft Deutschland - Serbien und Montenegro
gegründet; Pressemitteilung des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und
Arbeit 30.10.2003
Besuch des Bundeskanzlers in Bratislava und Belgrad; Presse- und
Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 30.10.2003
Serbiens Gewerkschaften proben den Aufstand. Proteste für Neuwahlen und
ein Ende der Privatisierung; die tageszeitung 30.10.2003
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1067557683.php
Erntezeit. Die Regierung von Serbien und Montenegro wird die
Profitchancen für deutsche Unternehmen in ihrem Land verbessern
(http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/)
> http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1067557683.php
Erntezeit (I)
BELGRAD - Die Regierung von Serbien und Montenegro wird die
Profitchancen für deutsche Unternehmen in ihrem Land verbessern. Dies
ist das Ergebnis der ersten Belgrad-Reise eines deutschen Kanzlers seit
dem Beginn der systematischen Zerstörung Jugoslawiens und seiner
Wirtschaft durch Embargo und Krieg. Der Präsident von Serbien und
Montenegro, das mit maßgeblicher Beteiligung Berlins zu einem der
ärmsten Länder der Welt gebombt wurde, bedankte sich beim deutschen
Kanzler für die ,,politische Unterstützung", die serbische Polizei
begann währenddessen mit der Niederschlagung von Protesten gegen die
wirtschaftliche Ausplünderung des Landes.
Die Regierung Jugoslawiens, dessen größter Handelspartner bis Ende der
1990er Jahre Russland war, hatte sich trotz der von Berlin maßgeblich
geförderten Embargo- und Kriegspolitik1) standhaft geweigert, die
jugoslawische Industrie an westliche Konzerne zu veräußern. Erst die
neue prowestliche Regierung, die - nach tatkräftiger deutscher
Förderung2) - im Oktober 2000 durch einen illegalen Umsturz die Macht
an sich gerissen hatte, begann mit dem Ausverkauf jugoslawischen
Volksvermögens (,,Privatisierung"). Auch den russischen Handelseinfluss
hat sie zurückgedrängt; heute ist Deutschland stärkster
Wirtschaftspartner des Landes.3)
Deutsche Wirtschaftsexpansion: ...
Der deutsche Kanzler forderte jetzt die Belgrader Regierung auf, die
deutsche Wirtschaft stärker bei ihren Expansionsbestrebungen zu
unterstützen.4) Deutsche Unternehmen verlangten entsprechende
Rahmenbedingungen (,,Investitionssicherheit"), die Belgrad garantieren
müsse, erklärte der Kanzler und nahm demonstrativ an der
Gründungsveranstaltung des ,,Wirtschaftskooperationsrates Deutschland -
Serbien und Montenegro" teil. Der Wirtschaftskooperationsrat, der
verstärkte deutsche Investitionen vorbereiten soll, wird auf deutscher
Seite direkt vom zuständigen Parlamentarischen Staatssekretär im
Bundeswirtschaftsministerium geleitet; Co-Vorsitzende sind der
Außenwirtschaftsminister Serbiens und die Außenhandelsministerin
Montenegros. Der Gesamtstaat Serbien und Montenegro ist im Vorsitz des
Gremiums nicht vertreten.
... Übernahmepläne...
In wenigen Monaten soll Belgrad nun die Rahmenbedingungen für deutsche
Investitionen so weit verbessert haben, dass gezielte Übernahmen
beginnen können. Im Frühjahr wird der deutsche Wirtschaftsminister mit
einer deutschen Wirtschaftsdelegation Serbien und Montenegro bereisen
und die Ergebnisse der ,,Restrukturierungsmaßnahmen" in Augenschein
nehmen; das Auswärtige Amt empfiehlt Investitionen in die
kriegszerstörte Infrastruktur und in die montenegrinische
Tourismusbranche als besonders lukrativ. ,,Deutschland unterstützt
Serbien und Montenegro nach Kräften bei der demokratischen und
wirtschaftlichen Erneuerung des Landes", erklärt der deutsche Kanzler
der serbisch-montenegrinischen Öffentlichkeit in einem Interview mit
der deutsch kontrollierten serbischsprachigen Zeitung Politika.5)
... und Widerstand
Währenddessen haben serbisch-montenegrinische Sondereinheiten mit der
Niederschlagung von Protesten gegen die wirtschaftliche Ausplünderung
des Landes begonnen, das noch vor 15 Jahren als einer der
wohlhabendsten Staaten Ost- und Südosteuropas galt und heute nach
Angaben der Weltbank zu den ärmsten Ländern der Welt zählt.
Gewerkschaften demonstrieren in Belgrad und wollen dort zur
Bekräftigung ihrer Forderungen eine ,,Stadt der Hungrigen" errichten.
Sie verlangen die sofortige Einstellung der Privatisierungen.
1) s. dazu ,,Unaufhaltsamer Kriegskurs"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1053900001.php%5d
und Kurt Köpruner: Reisen in das Land der Kriege
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1052346901.php%5d
sowie Es begann mit einer Lüge. Fälschungen in der Berichterstattung
zum Kosovo-Krieg enthüllt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/989186400.php%5d
2) s. dazu Tod eines ,,Deutschen"
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1047772983.php%5d
3) s. auch Deutsche Unternehmen wollen jugoslawische Wirtschaft erobern
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1012345200.php%5d
4) s. auch Berlin droht Belgrad
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1055023200.php%5d
5) s. auch Hombach eröffnet der Westdeutschen Allgemeinen Zeitung den
Medienmarkt in Jugoslawien
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1014073200.php%5d
und ,,Deutscher Blitzkrieg" auf dem Pressemarkt
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1029500348.php%5d
sowie Deutsche Medienmacht in Südosteuropa
[http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1066428000.php%5d
Quellen:
Bundeskanzler Schröder im Interview mit der serbischen Tageszeitung
Politika; Presse- und Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 29.10.2003
Erstaunlich beliebt. Schröder ist willkommen, denn in
Serbien-Montenegro stehen Deutsche für Erfolg; Frankfurter Rundschau
29.10.2003
Kooperationsrat Wirtschaft Deutschland - Serbien und Montenegro
gegründet; Pressemitteilung des Bundesministeriums für Wirtschaft und
Arbeit 30.10.2003
Besuch des Bundeskanzlers in Bratislava und Belgrad; Presse- und
Informationsamt der Bundesregierung 30.10.2003
Serbiens Gewerkschaften proben den Aufstand. Proteste für Neuwahlen und
ein Ende der Privatisierung; die tageszeitung 30.10.2003
http://www.german-foreign-policy.com/de/news/article/1067557683.php
Gli Intoccabili / The Untouchables
Dopo Hasim Thaci (*) anche Agim Ceku - responsabile delle stragi in
Slavonia come ufficiale croato prima ancora che in Kosovo-Metohija come
terrorista dell'UCK - e' stato arrestato e liberato a velocita' record.
Ceku e' stato immediatamente rilasciato in seguito all'intervento
diretto dell'UNMIK, organizzazione evidentemente dedita alla protezione
dei criminali di guerra alleati della NATO oltreche' alla copertura del
genocidio delle nazionalita' non albanesi, in atto in Kosovo-Metohija.
(a cura di I. Slavo)
(*) vedi:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2622
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2642
=== ITALIANO ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
KOSOVO: FERMATO IN SLOVENIA EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - L'ex capo militare dell'Esercito di
liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) Agim Ceku e' stato fermato oggi
all'aeroporto della citta' di Lubiana: lo riferisce l'agenzia di
stampa kosova online Kosovapress. Secondo la fonte Ceku, che e'
attualmente comandante generale del corpo di protezione del Kosovo
(Tmk), e' colpito da un vecchio ordine di arresto delle autorita' di
Belgrado.(ANSA). BLL
22/10/2003 15:27
KOSOVO: FERMO CEKU, BELGRADO CHIEDE ESTRADIZIONE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 22 OTT - Il ministro della giustizia serbo Vladan
Batic ha chiesto al collega incaricato dei diritti umani e delle
minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per l'estradizione di criminali di
guerra - di contattare urgentemente le autorita' slovene perche' venga
estradato in Serbia Agim Ceku, comandante del Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo ed ex alto esponente del disciolto Esercito di liberazione
kosovaro (Uck). Batic ha accusato Ceku di ''genocidio nei confronti
del popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro l'esponente kosovaro albanese,
un tribunale di Nis (Serbia del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un
mandato di cattura internazionale. ''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro
dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se
non ci saranno pressioni da parte di potentati, dovra' essere
estradato''. Il ministro ha espresso ''la speranza che non si ripeta
quanto e' accaduto a Budapest'', quando venne fermato per un controllo
il leader kosovaro albanese Hasim Taqi, contro il quale Belgrado aveva
emesso un ordine di cattura. Taqi venne liberato dopo alcune ore,
nonostante le richieste di estradizione di Belgrado. (ANSA).
OT 22/10/2003 17:27
KOSOVO: ARRESTO CEKU, UNMIK IMPEGNATA PER LIBERAZIONE
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - La missione delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo
(Unmik) e' ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenere la liberazione 'il
piu' presto possibile'' di Agim Ceku, il comandante generale del
Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk) fermato oggi all'aeroporto di
Lubiana perche' colpito da ordine di cattura internazionale emesso
dalle autorita' serbe. Una portavoce dell'Umnik ha detto all'Ansa che
lo sforzo diplomatico per giungere ad una rapida scarcerazione del
generale Ceku ''e' massimo''. La portavoce sottolinea che il Tmk
e' un organismo costituito dalla missione delle Nazioni Unite ed e'
percio' naturale che oggi l'Unmik si adoperi per la liberazione del
suo comandante. La portavoce ha aggiunto di non essere in grado di
precisare a quando risalga l'ordine di cattura che ha colpito Ceku
ne' quali possano essere i tempi del suo ritorno in liberta': ''Per
noi la parola d'ordine - ha concluso - e' il piu' presto possibile''.
BLL/IMP 22/10/2003 18:14
KOSOVO: SLOVENIA; RILASCIATO AGIM CEKU, EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 23 OTT - Agim Ceku, l'ex capo militare
dell'Esercito di liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) fermato ieri dalla
polizia slovena, e' stato rilasciato in nottata a Lubiana. Lo ha
annunciato un portavoce del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk), la
forza civile succeduta all'Uck.
''Il generale Ceku e' stato rilasciato intorno alle 1:15. Abbiamo
parlato con lui per telefono, sta molto bene'', ha detto all'agenzia
Reuters il portavoce, Muharrem Mahmutaj.
L'arresto di Ceku, attuale comandante del Tmk, ha scatenato
manifestazioni di protesta a Pristina, capoluogo del Kosovo. Contro
Ceku pende un ordine d'arresto delle autorita' di Belgrado, che ne
hanno chiesto l'estradizione.
Centinaia di albanesi del Kosovo si sono riuniti ieri nella piazza
principale di Pristina per chiedere la liberazione dell'ex comandante
militare dell'Uck, arrestato all'aeroporto di Lubiana.
''L'arresto di Ceku e' un attacco al cuore del nostro nuovo Paese e
alle istituzioni democratiche'', ha detto alla Reuters Dardan Islami,
uno degli organizzatori della manifestazione.
Ieri a Belgrado, avuta notizia dell'arresto, il ministro della
giustizia serbo Vladan Batic aveva chiesto al collega incaricato dei
diritti umani e delle minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per
l'estradizione di criminali di guerra - di contattare urgentemente le
autorita' slovene per richiedere il trasferimento di Ceku.
Batic ha accusato l'ex capo dell'Uck di ''genocidio nei confronti del
popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro di lui un tribunale di Nis (Serbia
del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un mandato di cattura
internazionale.
''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto
Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se non ci saranno pressioni da parte di
potentati, dovra' essere estradato''.
Il rilascio di Ceku era stato invece subito chiesto dalla Missione
delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo (Unmik). Una sua portavoce aveva detto
che l'Unmik era ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenerlo ''il piu'
presto possibile'', e che lo sforzo diplomatico a tal fine era
''massimo''.
La portavoce ha sottolineato che il Tmk e' un organismo costituito
dall'Unmik ed e' percio' naturale l'imegno dell' Unmik per ottenere la
liberazione del suo comandante. (ANSA). COR-DIG 23-OTT-03 02:42
NNNN 23/10/2003 12:35
=== ENGLISH ===
UN COMMENTO DI NEBOJSA MALIC
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m103003.html
Balkan Express
Antiwar.com
October 30, 2003
The Untouchables
Terrorists Under Imperial Protection
by Nebojsa Malic
Last Wednesday, former KLA commander Agim Ceku was arrested
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=5&u=/nm/
20031023/wl_nm/serbiamontenegro_kosovo_dc] in Slovenia on an Interpol
warrant forwarded by Serbia. The following morning, after the
intervention of Kosovo's UN viceroy Harri Holkeri, fierce protests in
Pristina, and even (reportedly) threats of terrorism against Slovenia,
he was released.
According to agency reports cited by Reality Macedonia
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2807],
Holkeri told the Slovenians, and then the Albanian-run Kosovo TV, that
"Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the citizens [sic]
of Kosovo." The Albanian-dominated "Kosovo Parliament" proclaimed on
the same day that "all arrest warrants and court rulings issued by
Serbian institutions" were null and void. Though this far exceeded
their authority, they faced no censure from the UN.
The beaming Ceku was greeted by a jubilant crowd at the Pristina
airport, where he declared that the "whole world should see that Serbia
has no authority in Kosovo."
Not only have Holkeri and Ceku thus declared their utter contempt for
international law, but this affair exposed as hypocritical and
licentious the renewed baying of the Hague Inquisition for more Serb
heads, and proved that despite recent propaganda, Imperial policies in
the Balkans have not changed one bit.
Yanking DOS's Leash
Ceku's arrest and triumphant release were all the more aggravating
coming at the heels of a shocking announcement on the 21st that the
Hague Inquisition has indicted four
[http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/10/21/
belgrade_angry_as_hague_indicts_key_serb_figures/] top Serbian military
and police officials – two former, two current –
for partaking in the fictitious "joint criminal
enterprise" in Kosovo. The indictments
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3208878.stm%5d of General Pavkovic and
former police chief Vlastimir Djordjevic did not irritate the Dossie
camarilla that much, since both were close to the deposed president
Milosevic; Pavkovic was arrested
[http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200304_421_1_eng.txt]
this spring on spurious charges, and Djordjevic has disappeared. What
really stuck in their craw was the inclusion of current top cop Sreten
Lukic and General Lazarevic, who had successfully resisted NATO and KLA
attacks and enjoys great respect in the military.
While the Dossies have no problem delivering as many heads as the
Inquisitors may require, they did object to the announcement's timing,
even before the Ceku affair. The Dossie government is currently in the
midst of a messy collapse, with parliamentary filibusters, rampant
electoral fraud and even calls for a coup d'etat
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/051.htm%5d; the last thing they
needed was the ICTY yanking their leash.
Also Prime Minister Zivkovic thought he had made a deal
[http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10865] with the Inquisition to deliver Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic, in exchange for no further indictments. This was vehemently
denied by Hague mouthpieces. Meanwhile, futile Mladic hunt
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bq/Qwarcrimes-serbia-
mladic.RvQl_DON.html] was merely seized upon as "proof" he had been in
Serbia all along.
Dossie incompetence, stupidity and servility are a topic for some other
time. Suffice to say that the recent joke finally explained the
quisling coalition's name. Originally the "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia," it remained unchanged for the past three years of their rule.
Critics point out that they need not change the
acronym, or even the name, only the preposition: they ought to be known
as the Democratic Opposition to Serbia.
Protecting the KLA
The real issue here is that the Inquisition continues to insist on
collective guilt of the entire Serbian government for an alleged
conspiracy they have consistently and spectacularly failed to prove –
yet the KLA leaders like Ceku are bailed out by Imperial authorities in
violation of perfectly valid international warrants.
This is not the first time something like this happened. In July,
KLA leader Hashim Taqi was arrested
[http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/jul03/hed5873.shtml%5d by the
Hungarian authorities, also on a Serbian arrest warrant dating back
from 1999. Kosovo's viceroy at the time, Michael Steiner, secured
Taqi's release then by calling up not only Budapest, but also Belgrade.
And the very same Dossies who fume
[http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331644.html%5d at
"catch-and-release" in Ceku's case had agreed to trample their arrest
warrant for Taqi just four months ago, as a way of cozying up to UNMIK
and NATO (and the real edifice behind both, the Empire).
This time Steiner's successor didn't even bother calling Belgrade,
either knowing the pathetic excuse for a government there will submit
if threatened, or trying to show their opinion was irrelevant; given
his TV statement, probably the latter.
Carla DelPonte can thus tell Serbia
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/be/Qwarcrimes-bosnia-serbia.R-
ZJ_DOO.html] it should "abandon hopes" it would be "allowed" to try
high-ranking government officials; only her Inquisition is properly
equipped to handle the exquisite pressures of putting on show trials.
Or perhaps also the UNMIK "judiciary" in Kosovo, which can on rare
occasions dare to brave Albanian rage and indict
some KLA
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ai/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RmcR_DOS.html%5d
for crimes against other Albanians
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#1%5d, and try to reach a
verdict before all the witnesses
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dm/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RNHh_DON.html%5d
are brutally murdered or intimidated into silence.
The ICTY's occasional mumbling about indicting senior KLA figures have
been no more than a cover for its dedicated persecution of Serbs. When
it does accuse non-Serbs, it does so only for the sake of feigning
impartiality. For years, the ICTY denied there was an investigation of
Alija Izetbegovic, based on mountains of evidence gullible Serb
governments had sent to The Hague, only to announce
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/
ap/20031023/ap_on_re_eu/war_crimes_izetbegovic] – on the day of
Izetbegovic's funeral – that there had been an investigation, but it
obviously had to be stopped now. How very convenient.
There is no point in arguing that the ICTY is "biased." It is an
illegal [http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/cavoski/c-3.htm%5d,
illegitimate, arbitrary and tyrannical pseudo-institution,
not a court at all.
But while such a monstrosity besieges Serbia by demands
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21859-2003Oct26.html%5d
to trash its judiciary – admittedly, DOS has done it already for its
own purposes – and deliver more sacrifices at the altar of Imperial
Justice, it treats the KLA to the ultimate "Get out of jail free" pass,
with UNMIK's help.
Support for Destruction
Needless to say, this sort of support only emboldens the KLA-led
efforts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo and eradicate all non-Albanian
presence in the province. For example, a War Street Journal
[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110004180] editor recently
upbraided the Serbian Orthodox Church for objecting to the wholesale
destruction of its heritage, urging the Serbs to
"arrive at a modern way of living with reality."
That such complete drivel
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2796] is
printed in the leading neo-Jacobin
[http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts11.html%5d paper goes a long
way to smash the argument that Bushites are in some way different from
their predecessors when it comes to Balkans policies.
Some Albanian Catholic clergy go even further, claiming
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim23oct03.html%5d that Serb Orthodox shrines
are really Albanian Catholic churches, converted in the late 19th
century at the start of "Serbian occupation"! Such claims have no
relationship to the truth whatsoever, but did UNMIK condemn them? Or
the Vatican? No.
Empire Held Hostage?
Feeling immune from criticism, the KLA act with impunity not only
against the Serbs – attacks on whom no one in the West regards as a
particular outrage any more – but against the KFOR troops as well. Just
this Saturday, a patrol was mobbed
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim28oct03.html#3%5d in a village near Srbica,
when they parked close to the home of the Jashari
clan, the reputed founders of the KLA.
The Jasharis [http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#3%5d claimed the
soldiers were drunk and disorderly, so they had to attack them with
axes. KFOR disagreed. Since the house from which the attackers came was
the home of the regional "Kosovo Protection Corps" commander, Bashkim
Jashari, the KFOR brigade commander in the area requested a meeting
with the KPC's leader, the aforementioned Agim Ceku. Yet Ceku never
came to the meeting, showing the KFOR general he thought as much of him
as he did of international law. Needless to say, Ceku was in no way
censured by his nominal employer, the UNMIK.
The incident near Srbica shows an ominous undertone to the KLA's
relationship with the NATO occupiers, whom they had thanked profusely
over the past four years for enabling them to seize and claim Kosovo as
their own. Ever since UNMIK insisted they meet Belgrade representatives
in Vienna earlier this month, the Albanians have not hidden their
displeasure [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso92.html%5d with the
"liberators" they no longer feel they need.
Do KFOR and UNMIK live in fear the KLA would go all Fallujah
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-28oct2003-69.htm%5d on
them, and turn their "protectors" into mincemeat? That question has
been hanging in the air ever since some troops got in the way
[http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm%5d of KLA-sponsored
mobs charging Serb-inhabited Kosovska Mitrovica in 2000. It has never
been answered directly, but given UNMIK and KFOR's extreme sensitivity
to any perceived Albanian discontent, the conclusion is obvious: the
"liberators" are in large measure hostages of the terrorist cabal on
whose behalf they "liberated" a piece of someone else's territory in
flagrant breach of international law and the Nuremberg principles
[http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/52199a.html%5d. They are
also hostages to their commitment to the inexcusable and morally
corrupt venture this occupation represents.
Force, Law and Justice
Holkeri's declaration about Serbian sovereignty – or lack thereof – in
occupied Kosovo was a flagrant violation of his mandate and the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244. But it is worth recalling that UNSCR
1244 was but a fig leaf for NATO's undisputedly illegal invasion and
occupation. Serbia's right to Kosovo is merely reaffirmed in 1244, it
does not derive from it. Under the 1913 Treaty of London
[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm%5d,
the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the post-1945 boundary
agreements, and even the outrageous 1991 ruling by the self-appointed
Badinter Commission declaring artificial Yugoslav republics to be
sovereign states, Kosovo is a part of Serbia. KLA's terror, NATO's
bombs and UN viceroys' pompous proclamations cannot alter the letter of
international law, only ignore it. Force only solves the issue of
power, not right
[http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=232]. And that only
until one power is replaced by another.
That's something the champions of force and destroyers of law ought to
keep in mind.
Nebojsa Malic
---
LA SLOVENIA ARRESTA CEKU
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3204695.stm
BBC News, October 22, 2003
Slovenia arrests Kosovo rebel leader
Police in Slovenia have detained the former commander
of Albanian rebels in Kosovo on the basis of a Serbian
arrest warrant.
Agim Ceku commanded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
when it was fighting for independence from Serbia and
now leads a civil emergency force there, the Kosovo
Protection Corps (KPC).
He was detained at Ljubljana airport while travelling
between Kosovo and Croatia.
A spokeswoman for the international war crimes
tribunal in The Hague told the BBC that Mr Ceku had
not been indicted by the court.
However, the Slovene authorities said he was being
held on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant
delivered via Interpol.
Details of the charges contained in the warrant have
not been released.
Another former rebel leader in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci,
who is now a politician, was briefly detained in
Hungary nearly four months ago on the basis of another
warrant issued by Serbia.
The KLA has been blamed for war crimes by the Serbian
authorities.
'Old warrant'
Mr Ceku told news agencies by telephone that he was
being kept in a small room and guarded by two police
officers.
"I was told I am wanted by the Serb government, which
has issued an arrest warrant," he told The Associated
Press.
"They told me they can't release me without consulting
the [Slovene] authorities."
A source at the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik), which
has been governing the mainly Albanian province since
Serbia withdrew in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign,
said it seemed that Mr Ceku had been arrested on the
basis of an "old" warrant.
"Unmik is working to resolve this problem with the
Slovenian authorities," the source told Reuters news
agency.
The 3,000-strong KPC which Mr Ceku now leads is
closely supervised by both Unmik and the Nato-led
peacekeeping force, K-for.
---
IL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE HOLKERI INTERVIENE
E FA LIBERARE IL CRIMINALE
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25184&style=headlines
Beta/B92, October 23, 2003
Holkeri pulls rank on Interpol
LJUBLJANA, PRISTINA -- Thursday – UN diplomat Harri
Holkeri has interceded with Slovenian police to secure
the release of a former Kosovo Liberation Army
commander arrested yesterday.
Agim Ceku now commands the Kosovo Protection Corps,
the civil defence organisation seen by many as little
more than a renamed Kosovo Liberation Army.
He was arrested on an Interpol warrant issued this
year on suspicion of genocide.
In a conversation with the Slovenian interior
minister, Holkeri, who heads the UN mission in Kosovo,
claimed that his mission has sole jurisdiction over
such cases and that the warrant issued by the Serbian
authorities is invalid.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians gathered in central
Pristina last night to greet the news of Ceku’s
release.
He told TV Kosovo that the release demonstrated that
Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the
citizens of Kosovo.
“The Kosovo institutions and the United Nations
mission are responsible for us now and thanks to them
I have been released and will return to Pristina at
3.00 p.m.,” he added.
---
"TUTTO IL MONDO PUO' VEDERE CHE LA SERBIA
NON HA PIU' NESSUNA GIURISDIZIONE SUL KOSOVO"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25194&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 23, 2003
Kosovo rejects all Serbian arrest warrants
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Parliament in Kosovo has
adopted a decree declaring null and void all arrest
warrants and court rulings issued by Serbian
institutions against the province’s citizens.
The move comes after the arrest and later release of
former rebel leader Agim Ceku, who was detained in
Slovenia on an arrest warrant issued in Belgrade.
The decree, which was opposed by the parliament’s Serb
deputies, demanded that all international institutions
in Kosovo, including Interpol and Europol “refuse to
recognise” warrants issued by the Serbian authorities
against Kosovo citizens. Kosovo, it says, “comes under
the jurisdiction of the United Nations and has its own
democratic institutions”.
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Whole%20world%20should%20see%20that%20Serbia%20has%20no%20auth
ority%20in%20Kosovo,%20Ceku
Tanjug, October 23, 2003
Whole world should see that Serbia has no authority in
Kosovo, Ceku
17:19 PRISTINA , Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Several thousand
people welcomed Kosovo Protection Corps Commander Agim
Ceku at Pristina Airport at about 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on
Thursday.
Ceku was released from detention in Kranj late on
Wednesday, following his arrest in Ljubljana and
interventions aimed at securing his release earlier in
the day.
---
BELGRADO CHIEDE ALL'ONU UNA INDAGINE SU CEKU
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25221&style=headlines
SRNA, October 25, 2003
Belgrade asks UN to investigate Ceku
BELGRADE -- Friday – Belgrade’s Coordination Centre
for Kosovo has asked the province’s United Nations
mission to launch an urgent investigation against
Kosovo Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku after
mission chief Harri Holkeri secured his release
yesterday from police custody in Slovenia.
The Centre said it was acting on Holkeri’s claim that
crimes committed in Kosovo fall solely within the
jurisdiction of the UN mission’s judicial bodies.
Ceku, a former rebel leader, was arrested in Slovenia
on Wednesday on a warrant issued in Belgrade. He was
later released after Holkeri intervened.
A statement from the Coordination Centre, which is led
by Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, asked
the Serbian Justice Ministry to send all material on
Ceku to Holkeri.
---
INTIMIDAZIONI ALLA SLOVENIA DALLA LOBBY COMMERCIALE ALBANO-KOSOVARA
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25216&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 25, 2003
Kosovars threaten Slovenia over arrest
PRISTINA -- Friday – A group of Kosovo businessmen
today warned that trade with Slovenia will suffer
because of last week’s arrest in Ljubljana of Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku.
A letter signed by the representatives of fourteen
Kosovo companies which trade with Slovenia warned that
the arrest had imperilled the trade relationship,
particularly as Kosovo imported Slovenian goods in an
attempt to avoid Serbian products.
The companies warned that trade would be imperilled
“...now that we know that Slovenia is a place where
Serbia’s orders to arrest prominent Kosovo officials
is implemented”.
Kosovo media write today that Slovenian imports were
worth seventy million euros last year.
---
"UN MANDATO INTERPOL VALE PER SOLO ALCUNI,
PER ALTRI NON VALE"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25205&order=priority&style=headlines
B92, October 23, 2003
Covic: “Should we be punished for the next 100 years?”
BELGRADE -- Thursday – The head of Belgrade’s
Coordination Centre for Kosovo has complained of
double standards after the release of former rebel
leader Agim Ceku.
Ceku was arrested yesterday in Slovenia on an
indictment issued in Belgrade. He was released today
after the United Nations governor in Kosovo
intervened, insisting the mission had sole
jurisdiction over such matters.
“An Interpol indictment applies to some, but not
others”, Nebojsa Covic claimed today. “Are we a state
or are we not a state?” the deputy prime minister
asked. “Are we relevant as people or should we be
punished for the next 100 years?”
---
LETTERA APERTA AL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
10/27/331644.html
Batic addresses an open letter to Holkeri
Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic
addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that
Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the
Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush
Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by
Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the
above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before
the judicial organs of Kosovo.
Challenging the statements Holkeri made in a letter to Slovene
authorities on the occasion of the recent arrest of Agim Ceku in
Ljubljana, Batic said that the ignoring of the Serbian legal system
must not be a position of the UN civil administrator, reminding Mr.
Holkeri that the Serbian Justice Ministry has so far addressed former
UNMIK head Michael Steiner and head of UNMIK's justice department Clint
Williamson three times, requesting that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai be
handed over to Serbia's authorities.
Batic stressed that the Serbian Ministry of Justice also forwarded to
the UNMIK the decisions of the Pristina District Court on the launching
of investigation against Ceku and Thaci for the criminal act of
genocide. The Ministry also sent a valid verdict of the same court
dating from July 1997, sentencing Thaci to ten years of prison for
terrorism, together with a decision of the Pec District Court against
Ramush Haradinai for a criminal act of terrorism.
Batic said that the Ministry submitted these documents to the UNMIK at
its own will, together with a notification that local and Interpol
arrest warrants were issued against the above-mentioned individuals.
However, after Thaci's arrest by Hungarian authorities and Ceku's
arrest in Slovenia, Steiner and Holkeri exerted pressure on the
authorities of these countries to release them, instead of handing them
over to Serbian judiciary organs.
Batic reminded Holkeri in the letter that Ceku took part in the killing
of several dozens of Serbian civilians in Madacki dzep in Croatia while
he was an officer in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Before he was
appointed head of the KPC, Ceku was the commander of the terrorist
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The Serbian Minister highlighted that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai are
leaders of terrorists who, following the establishment of the KPC, have
carried out more than 7,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 1,200
people, wounding 1,350, kidnapping 1,500, expelling 340,000, burning
and taking away 107,000 houses and pulling down hundreds of churches
and monasteries.
Minister Batic reminded Holkeri that these, and many other pieces of
evidence have been submitted to the Hague tribunal which is
investigating crimes of ethnic Albanians against Serbs in Kosovo, and
stressed that the Ministry is willing to offer UNMIK additional proof
against Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai.
---
DUE PESI E DUE MISURE:
E' LA REGOLA, NON PIU' L'ECCEZIONE
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
International community continues practicing double
standards
17:03 BELGRADE , Oct 28 (Tanjug) - Kosovo-Metohija
Coordinating Center judiciary department head, lawyer
Vladimir Bozovic said on Tuesday that the
international community was continuing its practice of
double standards in connection with crimes against
Serbs.
"I have sent a letter to UNMIK Judiciary Department
Director Paul Coffey and UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's
deputy Jean-Christen Caddie, in charge of the
judiciary and police, demanding the immediate opening
of investigation proceedings against Kosovo Protection
Corps (KZK) commander Agim Ceku, on the grounds of
documents presented by the justice minister to UNMIK
on several occasions," Bozovic told a press conference
at the Federation Palace.
---
IPOCRISIA ASSOLUTA: "NON C'ERANO RICHIESTE DI ESTRADIZIONE"
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
UNMIK spokesperson says there were no extradition
demands
10:17 PRAGUE , Oct 29 (Tanjug) - The UNMIK judiciary
department on Tuesday rejected reports that the
Serbian authorities had sent a document to UNMIK,
demanding the extraditions of Democratic Party of
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo President Ramush Haradinai, and Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku, to face trials
in Serbia proper.
A spokesperson for this department said UNMIK last
received a letter from the Serbian authorities in
February, Radio Free Europe has reported.
---
LINKS
Agim Ceku Arrested On Interpol Warrant
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Ceku%20arrested%20under%20Interpol%20warrant,%20Slovenian%20po
lice%20spokesman
War Criminal Agim Ceku Arrested In Slovenia On Serbian
Warrant
-http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25173&style=headlines
Kosovo Warlord Wanted In Serbia, Freed In Slovenia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23627572.htm
Perish The Thought: Hague Inquisition Denies It Issued
Warrant For Ceku
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ah/Qwarcrimes-kosovo.RpuG_DOM.html
Dopo Hasim Thaci (*) anche Agim Ceku - responsabile delle stragi in
Slavonia come ufficiale croato prima ancora che in Kosovo-Metohija come
terrorista dell'UCK - e' stato arrestato e liberato a velocita' record.
Ceku e' stato immediatamente rilasciato in seguito all'intervento
diretto dell'UNMIK, organizzazione evidentemente dedita alla protezione
dei criminali di guerra alleati della NATO oltreche' alla copertura del
genocidio delle nazionalita' non albanesi, in atto in Kosovo-Metohija.
(a cura di I. Slavo)
(*) vedi:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2622
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2642
=== ITALIANO ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/kosovo/kosovo.shtml
KOSOVO: FERMATO IN SLOVENIA EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - L'ex capo militare dell'Esercito di
liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) Agim Ceku e' stato fermato oggi
all'aeroporto della citta' di Lubiana: lo riferisce l'agenzia di
stampa kosova online Kosovapress. Secondo la fonte Ceku, che e'
attualmente comandante generale del corpo di protezione del Kosovo
(Tmk), e' colpito da un vecchio ordine di arresto delle autorita' di
Belgrado.(ANSA). BLL
22/10/2003 15:27
KOSOVO: FERMO CEKU, BELGRADO CHIEDE ESTRADIZIONE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 22 OTT - Il ministro della giustizia serbo Vladan
Batic ha chiesto al collega incaricato dei diritti umani e delle
minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per l'estradizione di criminali di
guerra - di contattare urgentemente le autorita' slovene perche' venga
estradato in Serbia Agim Ceku, comandante del Corpo di protezione del
Kosovo ed ex alto esponente del disciolto Esercito di liberazione
kosovaro (Uck). Batic ha accusato Ceku di ''genocidio nei confronti
del popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro l'esponente kosovaro albanese,
un tribunale di Nis (Serbia del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un
mandato di cattura internazionale. ''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro
dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se
non ci saranno pressioni da parte di potentati, dovra' essere
estradato''. Il ministro ha espresso ''la speranza che non si ripeta
quanto e' accaduto a Budapest'', quando venne fermato per un controllo
il leader kosovaro albanese Hasim Taqi, contro il quale Belgrado aveva
emesso un ordine di cattura. Taqi venne liberato dopo alcune ore,
nonostante le richieste di estradizione di Belgrado. (ANSA).
OT 22/10/2003 17:27
KOSOVO: ARRESTO CEKU, UNMIK IMPEGNATA PER LIBERAZIONE
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 22 OTT - La missione delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo
(Unmik) e' ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenere la liberazione 'il
piu' presto possibile'' di Agim Ceku, il comandante generale del
Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk) fermato oggi all'aeroporto di
Lubiana perche' colpito da ordine di cattura internazionale emesso
dalle autorita' serbe. Una portavoce dell'Umnik ha detto all'Ansa che
lo sforzo diplomatico per giungere ad una rapida scarcerazione del
generale Ceku ''e' massimo''. La portavoce sottolinea che il Tmk
e' un organismo costituito dalla missione delle Nazioni Unite ed e'
percio' naturale che oggi l'Unmik si adoperi per la liberazione del
suo comandante. La portavoce ha aggiunto di non essere in grado di
precisare a quando risalga l'ordine di cattura che ha colpito Ceku
ne' quali possano essere i tempi del suo ritorno in liberta': ''Per
noi la parola d'ordine - ha concluso - e' il piu' presto possibile''.
BLL/IMP 22/10/2003 18:14
KOSOVO: SLOVENIA; RILASCIATO AGIM CEKU, EX CAPO MILITARE UCK
(ANSA) - PRISTINA, 23 OTT - Agim Ceku, l'ex capo militare
dell'Esercito di liberazione del Kosovo (Uck) fermato ieri dalla
polizia slovena, e' stato rilasciato in nottata a Lubiana. Lo ha
annunciato un portavoce del Corpo di protezione del Kosovo (Tmk), la
forza civile succeduta all'Uck.
''Il generale Ceku e' stato rilasciato intorno alle 1:15. Abbiamo
parlato con lui per telefono, sta molto bene'', ha detto all'agenzia
Reuters il portavoce, Muharrem Mahmutaj.
L'arresto di Ceku, attuale comandante del Tmk, ha scatenato
manifestazioni di protesta a Pristina, capoluogo del Kosovo. Contro
Ceku pende un ordine d'arresto delle autorita' di Belgrado, che ne
hanno chiesto l'estradizione.
Centinaia di albanesi del Kosovo si sono riuniti ieri nella piazza
principale di Pristina per chiedere la liberazione dell'ex comandante
militare dell'Uck, arrestato all'aeroporto di Lubiana.
''L'arresto di Ceku e' un attacco al cuore del nostro nuovo Paese e
alle istituzioni democratiche'', ha detto alla Reuters Dardan Islami,
uno degli organizzatori della manifestazione.
Ieri a Belgrado, avuta notizia dell'arresto, il ministro della
giustizia serbo Vladan Batic aveva chiesto al collega incaricato dei
diritti umani e delle minoranze Rasim Ljajic - competente per
l'estradizione di criminali di guerra - di contattare urgentemente le
autorita' slovene per richiedere il trasferimento di Ceku.
Batic ha accusato l'ex capo dell'Uck di ''genocidio nei confronti del
popolo serbo in Kosovo''. Contro di lui un tribunale di Nis (Serbia
del sud) aveva emesso l'anno scorso un mandato di cattura
internazionale.
''Il caso Ceku e' molto chiaro dal punto di vista giuridico - ha detto
Batic all'agenzia Tanjug - se non ci saranno pressioni da parte di
potentati, dovra' essere estradato''.
Il rilascio di Ceku era stato invece subito chiesto dalla Missione
delle Nazioni Unite in Kosovo (Unmik). Una sua portavoce aveva detto
che l'Unmik era ''fortemente impegnata'' per ottenerlo ''il piu'
presto possibile'', e che lo sforzo diplomatico a tal fine era
''massimo''.
La portavoce ha sottolineato che il Tmk e' un organismo costituito
dall'Unmik ed e' percio' naturale l'imegno dell' Unmik per ottenere la
liberazione del suo comandante. (ANSA). COR-DIG 23-OTT-03 02:42
NNNN 23/10/2003 12:35
=== ENGLISH ===
UN COMMENTO DI NEBOJSA MALIC
http://www.antiwar.com/malic/m103003.html
Balkan Express
Antiwar.com
October 30, 2003
The Untouchables
Terrorists Under Imperial Protection
by Nebojsa Malic
Last Wednesday, former KLA commander Agim Ceku was arrested
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=586&e=5&u=/nm/
20031023/wl_nm/serbiamontenegro_kosovo_dc] in Slovenia on an Interpol
warrant forwarded by Serbia. The following morning, after the
intervention of Kosovo's UN viceroy Harri Holkeri, fierce protests in
Pristina, and even (reportedly) threats of terrorism against Slovenia,
he was released.
According to agency reports cited by Reality Macedonia
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2807],
Holkeri told the Slovenians, and then the Albanian-run Kosovo TV, that
"Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the citizens [sic]
of Kosovo." The Albanian-dominated "Kosovo Parliament" proclaimed on
the same day that "all arrest warrants and court rulings issued by
Serbian institutions" were null and void. Though this far exceeded
their authority, they faced no censure from the UN.
The beaming Ceku was greeted by a jubilant crowd at the Pristina
airport, where he declared that the "whole world should see that Serbia
has no authority in Kosovo."
Not only have Holkeri and Ceku thus declared their utter contempt for
international law, but this affair exposed as hypocritical and
licentious the renewed baying of the Hague Inquisition for more Serb
heads, and proved that despite recent propaganda, Imperial policies in
the Balkans have not changed one bit.
Yanking DOS's Leash
Ceku's arrest and triumphant release were all the more aggravating
coming at the heels of a shocking announcement on the 21st that the
Hague Inquisition has indicted four
[http://www.boston.com/news/world/articles/2003/10/21/
belgrade_angry_as_hague_indicts_key_serb_figures/] top Serbian military
and police officials – two former, two current –
for partaking in the fictitious "joint criminal
enterprise" in Kosovo. The indictments
[http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3208878.stm%5d of General Pavkovic and
former police chief Vlastimir Djordjevic did not irritate the Dossie
camarilla that much, since both were close to the deposed president
Milosevic; Pavkovic was arrested
[http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200304_421_1_eng.txt]
this spring on spurious charges, and Djordjevic has disappeared. What
really stuck in their craw was the inclusion of current top cop Sreten
Lukic and General Lazarevic, who had successfully resisted NATO and KLA
attacks and enjoys great respect in the military.
While the Dossies have no problem delivering as many heads as the
Inquisitors may require, they did object to the announcement's timing,
even before the Ceku affair. The Dossie government is currently in the
midst of a messy collapse, with parliamentary filibusters, rampant
electoral fraud and even calls for a coup d'etat
[http://www.serbianna.com/news/story/051.htm%5d; the last thing they
needed was the ICTY yanking their leash.
Also Prime Minister Zivkovic thought he had made a deal
[http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10865] with the Inquisition to deliver Bosnian Serb general Ratko
Mladic, in exchange for no further indictments. This was vehemently
denied by Hague mouthpieces. Meanwhile, futile Mladic hunt
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bq/Qwarcrimes-serbia-
mladic.RvQl_DON.html] was merely seized upon as "proof" he had been in
Serbia all along.
Dossie incompetence, stupidity and servility are a topic for some other
time. Suffice to say that the recent joke finally explained the
quisling coalition's name. Originally the "Democratic Opposition of
Serbia," it remained unchanged for the past three years of their rule.
Critics point out that they need not change the
acronym, or even the name, only the preposition: they ought to be known
as the Democratic Opposition to Serbia.
Protecting the KLA
The real issue here is that the Inquisition continues to insist on
collective guilt of the entire Serbian government for an alleged
conspiracy they have consistently and spectacularly failed to prove –
yet the KLA leaders like Ceku are bailed out by Imperial authorities in
violation of perfectly valid international warrants.
This is not the first time something like this happened. In July,
KLA leader Hashim Taqi was arrested
[http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/jul03/hed5873.shtml%5d by the
Hungarian authorities, also on a Serbian arrest warrant dating back
from 1999. Kosovo's viceroy at the time, Michael Steiner, secured
Taqi's release then by calling up not only Budapest, but also Belgrade.
And the very same Dossies who fume
[http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/news/2003-10/27/331644.html%5d at
"catch-and-release" in Ceku's case had agreed to trample their arrest
warrant for Taqi just four months ago, as a way of cozying up to UNMIK
and NATO (and the real edifice behind both, the Empire).
This time Steiner's successor didn't even bother calling Belgrade,
either knowing the pathetic excuse for a government there will submit
if threatened, or trying to show their opinion was irrelevant; given
his TV statement, probably the latter.
Carla DelPonte can thus tell Serbia
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/be/Qwarcrimes-bosnia-serbia.R-
ZJ_DOO.html] it should "abandon hopes" it would be "allowed" to try
high-ranking government officials; only her Inquisition is properly
equipped to handle the exquisite pressures of putting on show trials.
Or perhaps also the UNMIK "judiciary" in Kosovo, which can on rare
occasions dare to brave Albanian rage and indict
some KLA
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ai/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RmcR_DOS.html%5d
for crimes against other Albanians
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#1%5d, and try to reach a
verdict before all the witnesses
[http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/dm/Qwarcrimes-kosovo-un.RNHh_DON.html%5d
are brutally murdered or intimidated into silence.
The ICTY's occasional mumbling about indicting senior KLA figures have
been no more than a cover for its dedicated persecution of Serbs. When
it does accuse non-Serbs, it does so only for the sake of feigning
impartiality. For years, the ICTY denied there was an investigation of
Alija Izetbegovic, based on mountains of evidence gullible Serb
governments had sent to The Hague, only to announce
[http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmpl=story&cid=518&ncid=732&e=10&u=/
ap/20031023/ap_on_re_eu/war_crimes_izetbegovic] – on the day of
Izetbegovic's funeral – that there had been an investigation, but it
obviously had to be stopped now. How very convenient.
There is no point in arguing that the ICTY is "biased." It is an
illegal [http://emperors-clothes.com/articles/cavoski/c-3.htm%5d,
illegitimate, arbitrary and tyrannical pseudo-institution,
not a court at all.
But while such a monstrosity besieges Serbia by demands
[http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A21859-2003Oct26.html%5d
to trash its judiciary – admittedly, DOS has done it already for its
own purposes – and deliver more sacrifices at the altar of Imperial
Justice, it treats the KLA to the ultimate "Get out of jail free" pass,
with UNMIK's help.
Support for Destruction
Needless to say, this sort of support only emboldens the KLA-led
efforts to ethnically cleanse Kosovo and eradicate all non-Albanian
presence in the province. For example, a War Street Journal
[http://www.opinionjournal.com/taste/?id=110004180] editor recently
upbraided the Serbian Orthodox Church for objecting to the wholesale
destruction of its heritage, urging the Serbs to
"arrive at a modern way of living with reality."
That such complete drivel
[http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2796] is
printed in the leading neo-Jacobin
[http://www.lewrockwell.com/roberts/roberts11.html%5d paper goes a long
way to smash the argument that Bushites are in some way different from
their predecessors when it comes to Balkans policies.
Some Albanian Catholic clergy go even further, claiming
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim23oct03.html%5d that Serb Orthodox shrines
are really Albanian Catholic churches, converted in the late 19th
century at the start of "Serbian occupation"! Such claims have no
relationship to the truth whatsoever, but did UNMIK condemn them? Or
the Vatican? No.
Empire Held Hostage?
Feeling immune from criticism, the KLA act with impunity not only
against the Serbs – attacks on whom no one in the West regards as a
particular outrage any more – but against the KFOR troops as well. Just
this Saturday, a patrol was mobbed
[http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim28oct03.html#3%5d in a village near Srbica,
when they parked close to the home of the Jashari
clan, the reputed founders of the KLA.
The Jasharis [http://www.kosovo.com/erpkim29oct03.html#3%5d claimed the
soldiers were drunk and disorderly, so they had to attack them with
axes. KFOR disagreed. Since the house from which the attackers came was
the home of the regional "Kosovo Protection Corps" commander, Bashkim
Jashari, the KFOR brigade commander in the area requested a meeting
with the KPC's leader, the aforementioned Agim Ceku. Yet Ceku never
came to the meeting, showing the KFOR general he thought as much of him
as he did of international law. Needless to say, Ceku was in no way
censured by his nominal employer, the UNMIK.
The incident near Srbica shows an ominous undertone to the KLA's
relationship with the NATO occupiers, whom they had thanked profusely
over the past four years for enabling them to seize and claim Kosovo as
their own. Ever since UNMIK insisted they meet Belgrade representatives
in Vienna earlier this month, the Albanians have not hidden their
displeasure [http://www.antiwar.com/orig/deliso92.html%5d with the
"liberators" they no longer feel they need.
Do KFOR and UNMIK live in fear the KLA would go all Fallujah
[http://www.abc.net.au/news/justin/weekly/newsnat-28oct2003-69.htm%5d on
them, and turn their "protectors" into mincemeat? That question has
been hanging in the air ever since some troops got in the way
[http://emperors-clothes.com/analysis/whyisthe.htm%5d of KLA-sponsored
mobs charging Serb-inhabited Kosovska Mitrovica in 2000. It has never
been answered directly, but given UNMIK and KFOR's extreme sensitivity
to any perceived Albanian discontent, the conclusion is obvious: the
"liberators" are in large measure hostages of the terrorist cabal on
whose behalf they "liberated" a piece of someone else's territory in
flagrant breach of international law and the Nuremberg principles
[http://www.brasscheck.com/yugoslavia/directory/52199a.html%5d. They are
also hostages to their commitment to the inexcusable and morally
corrupt venture this occupation represents.
Force, Law and Justice
Holkeri's declaration about Serbian sovereignty – or lack thereof – in
occupied Kosovo was a flagrant violation of his mandate and the UN
Security Council Resolution 1244. But it is worth recalling that UNSCR
1244 was but a fig leaf for NATO's undisputedly illegal invasion and
occupation. Serbia's right to Kosovo is merely reaffirmed in 1244, it
does not derive from it. Under the 1913 Treaty of London
[http://www.mtholyoke.edu/acad/intrel/boshtml/bos145.htm%5d,
the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, the post-1945 boundary
agreements, and even the outrageous 1991 ruling by the self-appointed
Badinter Commission declaring artificial Yugoslav republics to be
sovereign states, Kosovo is a part of Serbia. KLA's terror, NATO's
bombs and UN viceroys' pompous proclamations cannot alter the letter of
international law, only ignore it. Force only solves the issue of
power, not right
[http://www.mises.org/freemarket_detail.asp?control=232]. And that only
until one power is replaced by another.
That's something the champions of force and destroyers of law ought to
keep in mind.
Nebojsa Malic
---
LA SLOVENIA ARRESTA CEKU
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3204695.stm
BBC News, October 22, 2003
Slovenia arrests Kosovo rebel leader
Police in Slovenia have detained the former commander
of Albanian rebels in Kosovo on the basis of a Serbian
arrest warrant.
Agim Ceku commanded the Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA)
when it was fighting for independence from Serbia and
now leads a civil emergency force there, the Kosovo
Protection Corps (KPC).
He was detained at Ljubljana airport while travelling
between Kosovo and Croatia.
A spokeswoman for the international war crimes
tribunal in The Hague told the BBC that Mr Ceku had
not been indicted by the court.
However, the Slovene authorities said he was being
held on the basis of a Serbian arrest warrant
delivered via Interpol.
Details of the charges contained in the warrant have
not been released.
Another former rebel leader in Kosovo, Hashim Thaci,
who is now a politician, was briefly detained in
Hungary nearly four months ago on the basis of another
warrant issued by Serbia.
The KLA has been blamed for war crimes by the Serbian
authorities.
'Old warrant'
Mr Ceku told news agencies by telephone that he was
being kept in a small room and guarded by two police
officers.
"I was told I am wanted by the Serb government, which
has issued an arrest warrant," he told The Associated
Press.
"They told me they can't release me without consulting
the [Slovene] authorities."
A source at the UN mission in Kosovo (Unmik), which
has been governing the mainly Albanian province since
Serbia withdrew in 1999 after a Nato bombing campaign,
said it seemed that Mr Ceku had been arrested on the
basis of an "old" warrant.
"Unmik is working to resolve this problem with the
Slovenian authorities," the source told Reuters news
agency.
The 3,000-strong KPC which Mr Ceku now leads is
closely supervised by both Unmik and the Nato-led
peacekeeping force, K-for.
---
IL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE HOLKERI INTERVIENE
E FA LIBERARE IL CRIMINALE
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25184&style=headlines
Beta/B92, October 23, 2003
Holkeri pulls rank on Interpol
LJUBLJANA, PRISTINA -- Thursday – UN diplomat Harri
Holkeri has interceded with Slovenian police to secure
the release of a former Kosovo Liberation Army
commander arrested yesterday.
Agim Ceku now commands the Kosovo Protection Corps,
the civil defence organisation seen by many as little
more than a renamed Kosovo Liberation Army.
He was arrested on an Interpol warrant issued this
year on suspicion of genocide.
In a conversation with the Slovenian interior
minister, Holkeri, who heads the UN mission in Kosovo,
claimed that his mission has sole jurisdiction over
such cases and that the warrant issued by the Serbian
authorities is invalid.
Thousands of Kosovo Albanians gathered in central
Pristina last night to greet the news of Ceku’s
release.
He told TV Kosovo that the release demonstrated that
Serbia-Montenegro no longer had jurisdiction over the
citizens of Kosovo.
“The Kosovo institutions and the United Nations
mission are responsible for us now and thanks to them
I have been released and will return to Pristina at
3.00 p.m.,” he added.
---
"TUTTO IL MONDO PUO' VEDERE CHE LA SERBIA
NON HA PIU' NESSUNA GIURISDIZIONE SUL KOSOVO"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25194&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 23, 2003
Kosovo rejects all Serbian arrest warrants
PRISTINA -- Thursday – Parliament in Kosovo has
adopted a decree declaring null and void all arrest
warrants and court rulings issued by Serbian
institutions against the province’s citizens.
The move comes after the arrest and later release of
former rebel leader Agim Ceku, who was detained in
Slovenia on an arrest warrant issued in Belgrade.
The decree, which was opposed by the parliament’s Serb
deputies, demanded that all international institutions
in Kosovo, including Interpol and Europol “refuse to
recognise” warrants issued by the Serbian authorities
against Kosovo citizens. Kosovo, it says, “comes under
the jurisdiction of the United Nations and has its own
democratic institutions”.
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Whole%20world%20should%20see%20that%20Serbia%20has%20no%20auth
ority%20in%20Kosovo,%20Ceku
Tanjug, October 23, 2003
Whole world should see that Serbia has no authority in
Kosovo, Ceku
17:19 PRISTINA , Oct 23 (Tanjug) - Several thousand
people welcomed Kosovo Protection Corps Commander Agim
Ceku at Pristina Airport at about 3 p.m. (1300 GMT) on
Thursday.
Ceku was released from detention in Kranj late on
Wednesday, following his arrest in Ljubljana and
interventions aimed at securing his release earlier in
the day.
---
BELGRADO CHIEDE ALL'ONU UNA INDAGINE SU CEKU
http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25221&style=headlines
SRNA, October 25, 2003
Belgrade asks UN to investigate Ceku
BELGRADE -- Friday – Belgrade’s Coordination Centre
for Kosovo has asked the province’s United Nations
mission to launch an urgent investigation against
Kosovo Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku after
mission chief Harri Holkeri secured his release
yesterday from police custody in Slovenia.
The Centre said it was acting on Holkeri’s claim that
crimes committed in Kosovo fall solely within the
jurisdiction of the UN mission’s judicial bodies.
Ceku, a former rebel leader, was arrested in Slovenia
on Wednesday on a warrant issued in Belgrade. He was
later released after Holkeri intervened.
A statement from the Coordination Centre, which is led
by Deputy Serbian Prime Minister Nebojsa Covic, asked
the Serbian Justice Ministry to send all material on
Ceku to Holkeri.
---
INTIMIDAZIONI ALLA SLOVENIA DALLA LOBBY COMMERCIALE ALBANO-KOSOVARA
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25216&order=priority&style=headlines
Beta, October 25, 2003
Kosovars threaten Slovenia over arrest
PRISTINA -- Friday – A group of Kosovo businessmen
today warned that trade with Slovenia will suffer
because of last week’s arrest in Ljubljana of Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku.
A letter signed by the representatives of fourteen
Kosovo companies which trade with Slovenia warned that
the arrest had imperilled the trade relationship,
particularly as Kosovo imported Slovenian goods in an
attempt to avoid Serbian products.
The companies warned that trade would be imperilled
“...now that we know that Slovenia is a place where
Serbia’s orders to arrest prominent Kosovo officials
is implemented”.
Kosovo media write today that Slovenian imports were
worth seventy million euros last year.
---
"UN MANDATO INTERPOL VALE PER SOLO ALCUNI,
PER ALTRI NON VALE"
http://www.b92.net/english/news/
index.php?&nav_category=&nav_id=25205&order=priority&style=headlines
B92, October 23, 2003
Covic: “Should we be punished for the next 100 years?”
BELGRADE -- Thursday – The head of Belgrade’s
Coordination Centre for Kosovo has complained of
double standards after the release of former rebel
leader Agim Ceku.
Ceku was arrested yesterday in Slovenia on an
indictment issued in Belgrade. He was released today
after the United Nations governor in Kosovo
intervened, insisting the mission had sole
jurisdiction over such matters.
“An Interpol indictment applies to some, but not
others”, Nebojsa Covic claimed today. “Are we a state
or are we not a state?” the deputy prime minister
asked. “Are we relevant as people or should we be
punished for the next 100 years?”
---
LETTERA APERTA AL GOVERNATORE COLONIALE
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
10/27/331644.html
Batic addresses an open letter to Holkeri
Belgrade, Oct 27, 2003 - Serbian Justice Minister Vladan Batic
addressed an open letter to UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri, suggesting that
Agim Ceku be immediately dismissed from the position of the head of the
Kosovo Protection Corpus (KPC), that Ceku, Hashim Thaci and Ramush
Haradinai be forbidden to leave Kosovo until documentation submitted by
Serbian judiciary organs has been examined, and that the
above-mentioned individuals be handed over to Serbia or tried before
the judicial organs of Kosovo.
Challenging the statements Holkeri made in a letter to Slovene
authorities on the occasion of the recent arrest of Agim Ceku in
Ljubljana, Batic said that the ignoring of the Serbian legal system
must not be a position of the UN civil administrator, reminding Mr.
Holkeri that the Serbian Justice Ministry has so far addressed former
UNMIK head Michael Steiner and head of UNMIK's justice department Clint
Williamson three times, requesting that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai be
handed over to Serbia's authorities.
Batic stressed that the Serbian Ministry of Justice also forwarded to
the UNMIK the decisions of the Pristina District Court on the launching
of investigation against Ceku and Thaci for the criminal act of
genocide. The Ministry also sent a valid verdict of the same court
dating from July 1997, sentencing Thaci to ten years of prison for
terrorism, together with a decision of the Pec District Court against
Ramush Haradinai for a criminal act of terrorism.
Batic said that the Ministry submitted these documents to the UNMIK at
its own will, together with a notification that local and Interpol
arrest warrants were issued against the above-mentioned individuals.
However, after Thaci's arrest by Hungarian authorities and Ceku's
arrest in Slovenia, Steiner and Holkeri exerted pressure on the
authorities of these countries to release them, instead of handing them
over to Serbian judiciary organs.
Batic reminded Holkeri in the letter that Ceku took part in the killing
of several dozens of Serbian civilians in Madacki dzep in Croatia while
he was an officer in the Croatian Defence Council (HVO). Before he was
appointed head of the KPC, Ceku was the commander of the terrorist
Kosovo Liberation Army (KLA).
The Serbian Minister highlighted that Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai are
leaders of terrorists who, following the establishment of the KPC, have
carried out more than 7,000 terrorist attacks, killing more than 1,200
people, wounding 1,350, kidnapping 1,500, expelling 340,000, burning
and taking away 107,000 houses and pulling down hundreds of churches
and monasteries.
Minister Batic reminded Holkeri that these, and many other pieces of
evidence have been submitted to the Hague tribunal which is
investigating crimes of ethnic Albanians against Serbs in Kosovo, and
stressed that the Ministry is willing to offer UNMIK additional proof
against Ceku, Thaci and Haradinai.
---
DUE PESI E DUE MISURE:
E' LA REGOLA, NON PIU' L'ECCEZIONE
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
International community continues practicing double
standards
17:03 BELGRADE , Oct 28 (Tanjug) - Kosovo-Metohija
Coordinating Center judiciary department head, lawyer
Vladimir Bozovic said on Tuesday that the
international community was continuing its practice of
double standards in connection with crimes against
Serbs.
"I have sent a letter to UNMIK Judiciary Department
Director Paul Coffey and UNMIK chief Harri Holkeri's
deputy Jean-Christen Caddie, in charge of the
judiciary and police, demanding the immediate opening
of investigation proceedings against Kosovo Protection
Corps (KZK) commander Agim Ceku, on the grounds of
documents presented by the justice minister to UNMIK
on several occasions," Bozovic told a press conference
at the Federation Palace.
---
IPOCRISIA ASSOLUTA: "NON C'ERANO RICHIESTE DI ESTRADIZIONE"
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Tanjug, October 28, 2003
UNMIK spokesperson says there were no extradition
demands
10:17 PRAGUE , Oct 29 (Tanjug) - The UNMIK judiciary
department on Tuesday rejected reports that the
Serbian authorities had sent a document to UNMIK,
demanding the extraditions of Democratic Party of
Kosovo President Hashim Thaci, Alliance for the Future
of Kosovo President Ramush Haradinai, and Kosovo
Protection Corps commander Agim Ceku, to face trials
in Serbia proper.
A spokesperson for this department said UNMIK last
received a letter from the Serbian authorities in
February, Radio Free Europe has reported.
---
LINKS
Agim Ceku Arrested On Interpol Warrant
http://www.tanjug.co.yu/
Elect.htm#Ceku%20arrested%20under%20Interpol%20warrant,%20Slovenian%20po
lice%20spokesman
War Criminal Agim Ceku Arrested In Slovenia On Serbian
Warrant
-http://www.b92.net/english/news/index.php?nav_id=25173&style=headlines
Kosovo Warlord Wanted In Serbia, Freed In Slovenia
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L23627572.htm
Perish The Thought: Hague Inquisition Denies It Issued
Warrant For Ceku
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/ah/Qwarcrimes-kosovo.RpuG_DOM.html
Mother Who? How Rome's Newest Saint is a True "Daughter of Macedonia"
(by Christopher Deliso)
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=169
Mother Who?
How Rome’s Newest Saint is a True Daughter of Macedonia
Date: Sunday, October 26 @ 02:00:00 EST
Topic: Macedonia Articles
It was too good to be true, but you just had to watch anyway. Months
before the sanctification of that Skopje-born champion of the poor,
Mother Teresa, a war of words was already raging between the
Macedonian and Albanian states, and between individuals on both sides
of the ethnic divide. Everyone, it seems, wanted to claim that toothy
appeaser of the sick and downtrodden for their own, and the world
media was there
[http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-11-
115552.asp?reg=EUROPE] to take notes throughout.
When Macedonia planned to offer the Romans a statue of her, with the
name "Daughter of Macedonia" plastered on it, the Albanians protested.
They reminded that Mother Teresa was at least half-Albanian (though we
still don’t know for sure if her father was), and this is the half
she’s known for. Let’s hope it was her better half. For years, anyway,
she has been firmly seated between Skenderbeg
[http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&q=Skenderbeg] and John Belushi [http://www.albanian.ca/belushi.htm%5d
on the long list of Albanian national heroes. Until now, no one had
tried to dislodge her. The Albanians indeed seem justified in their
protest.
Of course, in the Balkans (where historical personages become cheap
cultural commodities) such squabbles are not infrequent. Yet the
passage of time is duty-bound to diminish, or at least debase, the
symbolic value that the ownership of the personage might have for
either group. And so Mother Teresa, the perhaps Daughter of Macedonia
(DOM).
Why diminished, why debased? If we believe the wicked denunciation of
Vanity Fair’s Christopher Hitchens [http://slate.msn.com/id/2090083/%5d,
Mother Teresa was nothing more than a "fanatic, a fundamentalist and a
fraud."
Wait a minute! Do we have a real DOM on our hands, or what?
In his latest savaging, Teresa expert Hitchens
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984054X/balkanalysisc-20%5d
begins with the most recent event- the sanctification itself. Hitchens
discloses that the strong-willed John Paul II defied centuries of
canonical custom and began the sanctification process one year after
Teresa’s death in 1997- though the rule says he should have waited
five years. And the throngs of credulous pilgrims massed in Rome on
Sunday were perhaps unaware that the requisite miracle in Teresa’s
case was fraudulent:
"…as for the "miracle" that had to be attested, what can one say?
Surely any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness
of the fakery. A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam
of light emerged from a picture of MT, which she happened to have in
her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her physician, Dr.
Ranjan Mustafi, says that she didn't have a cancerous tumor in the
first place and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a
course of prescription medicine. Was he interviewed by the Vatican's
investigators? No. (As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them
but only in the most perfunctory way. The procedure still does demand a
show of consultation with doubters, and a show of consultation was
what, in this case, it got.)"
As with Dubya’s obsession with waging war on Iraq, the Pope’s policy of
saint-creation seems to be driven fundamentally by his desire to write
his own place in history. The present pope has, after all, created
more saints than all of his predecessors combined for the past 400
years- many with equally sketchy claims to sanctity as Teresa:
"According to an uncontradicted report in the Italian paper L'Eco di
Bergamo, the Vatican's secretary of state sent a letter to senior
cardinals in June, asking on behalf of the pope whether they favored
making MT a saint right away. The pope's clear intention has been to
speed the process up in order to perform the ceremony in his own
lifetime. The response was in the negative, according to Father
Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who has acted as postulator
or advocate for the "canonization." But the damage, to such
integrity as the process possesses, has already been done."
But Vatican skullduggery alone cannot account for the nun’s true
DOM-ness. After all, she had no part in the posthumous whitewash. What
is salient, however, is Mother Teresa’s fundamentalism; upon winning
the Nobel Peace Prize [http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1979%5d, she
called abortion the greatest threats to world peace
[http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-lecture.html%5d. And by
founding convent after convent, she used other people’s money to
propel this fundamentalism- rather than improve clinical standards
where she herself was, says Hitchens. Like a preacher raining down
hellfire and brimstone, he charges:
"…MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She
said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing
the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women
and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory
reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking
misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti
(whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the
Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other
donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when
she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when
she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any
audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in
more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own
order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?"
Okay, fundamentalism does not reign in today’s Macedonia. Yet could it
be said that in the last respect, at least, we have a clear forerunner
to the current reality, to the world of unaccountable NGO’s and
mysteriously disappearing millions? As Hitchens asks, "where did that
money, and all the other donations, go?" We are asking the same thing
today in Skopje, hometown of the crafty nun. Could Mother Teresa
somehow have guided, through some gentle and ineffable grace, the
purposeful requisitioning of funds so characteristic of Macedonia ever
since- her very death? Now that would be something truly supernatural.
Through the whole sorry affair, the main point has been obscured. And
it’s not Mother Teresa herself, whoever that may be, that the divided
denizens of Skopje are concerned with. No, we have two ethnic groups
that want her for their own symbolic purposes, a pontiff concerned
with his place in history, and a media that would like to have its own
whimsical way with her too.
We may never know her "complete" ethnicity, or who what kind of
offspring "Mother" Teresa- herself a "Daughter" of Macedonia- begat.
(For Hitchens, her singular contribution is that "…many more people
are poor and sick because of the life of MT (and) even more will be
poor and sick if her example is followed.)"
The moral of this story may simply be that, when commodifying
historical characters, the bidders had better do their market research
first, so that they can be better prepared in the eventuality that
they end up buying the whole package.
Compare and contrast! Read the nun’s side of the story:
Mother Teresa: In My Own Words
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517201690/balkanalysisc-20%5d
Then read her get roasted by the above-cited author:
Christopher Hitchens: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory
and Practice"
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984054X/balkanalysisc-20%5d
This article comes from Analyses and articles from the Balkans and
beyond
http://www.balkanalysis.com
The URL for this story is:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=169
(by Christopher Deliso)
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=print&sid=169
Mother Who?
How Rome’s Newest Saint is a True Daughter of Macedonia
Date: Sunday, October 26 @ 02:00:00 EST
Topic: Macedonia Articles
It was too good to be true, but you just had to watch anyway. Months
before the sanctification of that Skopje-born champion of the poor,
Mother Teresa, a war of words was already raging between the
Macedonian and Albanian states, and between individuals on both sides
of the ethnic divide. Everyone, it seems, wanted to claim that toothy
appeaser of the sick and downtrodden for their own, and the world
media was there
[http://famulus.msnbc.com/FamulusIntl/reuters07-11-
115552.asp?reg=EUROPE] to take notes throughout.
When Macedonia planned to offer the Romans a statue of her, with the
name "Daughter of Macedonia" plastered on it, the Albanians protested.
They reminded that Mother Teresa was at least half-Albanian (though we
still don’t know for sure if her father was), and this is the half
she’s known for. Let’s hope it was her better half. For years, anyway,
she has been firmly seated between Skenderbeg
[http://www.google.com/search?sourceid=navclient&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-
8&q=Skenderbeg] and John Belushi [http://www.albanian.ca/belushi.htm%5d
on the long list of Albanian national heroes. Until now, no one had
tried to dislodge her. The Albanians indeed seem justified in their
protest.
Of course, in the Balkans (where historical personages become cheap
cultural commodities) such squabbles are not infrequent. Yet the
passage of time is duty-bound to diminish, or at least debase, the
symbolic value that the ownership of the personage might have for
either group. And so Mother Teresa, the perhaps Daughter of Macedonia
(DOM).
Why diminished, why debased? If we believe the wicked denunciation of
Vanity Fair’s Christopher Hitchens [http://slate.msn.com/id/2090083/%5d,
Mother Teresa was nothing more than a "fanatic, a fundamentalist and a
fraud."
Wait a minute! Do we have a real DOM on our hands, or what?
In his latest savaging, Teresa expert Hitchens
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984054X/balkanalysisc-20%5d
begins with the most recent event- the sanctification itself. Hitchens
discloses that the strong-willed John Paul II defied centuries of
canonical custom and began the sanctification process one year after
Teresa’s death in 1997- though the rule says he should have waited
five years. And the throngs of credulous pilgrims massed in Rome on
Sunday were perhaps unaware that the requisite miracle in Teresa’s
case was fraudulent:
"…as for the "miracle" that had to be attested, what can one say?
Surely any respectable Catholic cringes with shame at the obviousness
of the fakery. A Bengali woman named Monica Besra claims that a beam
of light emerged from a picture of MT, which she happened to have in
her home, and relieved her of a cancerous tumor. Her physician, Dr.
Ranjan Mustafi, says that she didn't have a cancerous tumor in the
first place and that the tubercular cyst she did have was cured by a
course of prescription medicine. Was he interviewed by the Vatican's
investigators? No. (As it happens, I myself was interviewed by them
but only in the most perfunctory way. The procedure still does demand a
show of consultation with doubters, and a show of consultation was
what, in this case, it got.)"
As with Dubya’s obsession with waging war on Iraq, the Pope’s policy of
saint-creation seems to be driven fundamentally by his desire to write
his own place in history. The present pope has, after all, created
more saints than all of his predecessors combined for the past 400
years- many with equally sketchy claims to sanctity as Teresa:
"According to an uncontradicted report in the Italian paper L'Eco di
Bergamo, the Vatican's secretary of state sent a letter to senior
cardinals in June, asking on behalf of the pope whether they favored
making MT a saint right away. The pope's clear intention has been to
speed the process up in order to perform the ceremony in his own
lifetime. The response was in the negative, according to Father
Brian Kolodiejchuk, the Canadian priest who has acted as postulator
or advocate for the "canonization." But the damage, to such
integrity as the process possesses, has already been done."
But Vatican skullduggery alone cannot account for the nun’s true
DOM-ness. After all, she had no part in the posthumous whitewash. What
is salient, however, is Mother Teresa’s fundamentalism; upon winning
the Nobel Peace Prize [http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1979%5d, she
called abortion the greatest threats to world peace
[http://www.nobel.se/peace/laureates/1979/teresa-lecture.html%5d. And by
founding convent after convent, she used other people’s money to
propel this fundamentalism- rather than improve clinical standards
where she herself was, says Hitchens. Like a preacher raining down
hellfire and brimstone, he charges:
"…MT was not a friend of the poor. She was a friend of poverty. She
said that suffering was a gift from God. She spent her life opposing
the only known cure for poverty, which is the empowerment of women
and the emancipation of them from a livestock version of compulsory
reproduction. And she was a friend to the worst of the rich, taking
misappropriated money from the atrocious Duvalier family in Haiti
(whose rule she praised in return) and from Charles Keating of the
Lincoln Savings and Loan. Where did that money, and all the other
donations, go? The primitive hospice in Calcutta was as run down when
she died as it always had been—she preferred California clinics when
she got sick herself—and her order always refused to publish any
audit. But we have her own claim that she opened 500 convents in
more than a hundred countries, all bearing the name of her own
order. Excuse me, but this is modesty and humility?"
Okay, fundamentalism does not reign in today’s Macedonia. Yet could it
be said that in the last respect, at least, we have a clear forerunner
to the current reality, to the world of unaccountable NGO’s and
mysteriously disappearing millions? As Hitchens asks, "where did that
money, and all the other donations, go?" We are asking the same thing
today in Skopje, hometown of the crafty nun. Could Mother Teresa
somehow have guided, through some gentle and ineffable grace, the
purposeful requisitioning of funds so characteristic of Macedonia ever
since- her very death? Now that would be something truly supernatural.
Through the whole sorry affair, the main point has been obscured. And
it’s not Mother Teresa herself, whoever that may be, that the divided
denizens of Skopje are concerned with. No, we have two ethnic groups
that want her for their own symbolic purposes, a pontiff concerned
with his place in history, and a media that would like to have its own
whimsical way with her too.
We may never know her "complete" ethnicity, or who what kind of
offspring "Mother" Teresa- herself a "Daughter" of Macedonia- begat.
(For Hitchens, her singular contribution is that "…many more people
are poor and sick because of the life of MT (and) even more will be
poor and sick if her example is followed.)"
The moral of this story may simply be that, when commodifying
historical characters, the bidders had better do their market research
first, so that they can be better prepared in the eventuality that
they end up buying the whole package.
Compare and contrast! Read the nun’s side of the story:
Mother Teresa: In My Own Words
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0517201690/balkanalysisc-20%5d
Then read her get roasted by the above-cited author:
Christopher Hitchens: The Missionary Position: Mother Teresa in Theory
and Practice"
[http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/185984054X/balkanalysisc-20%5d
This article comes from Analyses and articles from the Balkans and
beyond
http://www.balkanalysis.com
The URL for this story is:
http://www.balkanalysis.com/modules.php?name=News&file=article&sid=169
( italiano / deutsch / english )
Varvarin 30/5/1999
1. Serbia/Germania: Un paesino fa causa alla Nato
2. Nur Kollateralschäden (J. Elsässer)
3. Bedauern oder mehr? Gericht läßt Klage wegen deutscher Beteiligung
am NATO-Krieg gegen Jugoslawien zu
(J. Elsässer, Junge Welt, 16/10/2003)
4. Germany on Trial for NATO
Vedi anche su
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2867 :
NATO: Primo processo per i raid del 1999 (Il Manifesto)
KOSOVO: PROCESSO A STATO TEDESCO PER STRAGE SERBI IN 1999 (ANSA)
GERMANIA: KOSOVO, STATO CHIAMATO IN CAUSA PER ATTACCHI NATO (ANSA)
Serbian families seek payout from Germany over 1999
NATO bombing (AFP)
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2867
=== 1 ===
il manifesto - 19 Ottobre 2003
MADE IN GERMANY
Un paesino fa causa alla Nato
GUIDO AMBROSINO
Il 15 ottobre si è aperto di fronte al Landgericht di Bonn un processo
che potrebbe riscrivere il diritto internazionale. Trentacinque
abitanti di Varvarin, una piccola cittadina della Serbia, hanno
intentato causa alla Repubblica federale tedesca e le chiedono un
risarcimento. Diciassette di loro vennero feriti dagli aerei della Nato
che il 30 maggio del 1999 distrussero un ponte senza alcuna importanza
militare. Gli altri sono parenti delle dieci persone uccise da quel
bombardamento, avvenuto di giorno, in perfette condizioni di
visibilità. A essere citato in giudizio è il ministero della difesa,
che ha mantenuto a Bonn la sua sede principale. Per questo la causa
sarà discussa nella città renana. Il presidente della corte, Heinz
Sonnenberger, ha preannunciato una sentenza per il 10 dicembre.
I giuristi del ministero scrollarono le spalle quando, nel giugno del
2001, l'avvocato berlinese Ulrich Dost avanzò una prima richiesta di
risarcimento per conto delle vittime di Varvarin. Gli risposero che,
secondo una consolidata tradizione, i danni di guerra sono una materia
che gli stati regolano tra loro, senza curarsi di pretese individuali.
E che a lanciare missili contro quel ponte non furono aerei tedeschi, e
quindi la Rft non c'entrava nulla.
Ulrich Dost e i suoi colleghi, l'avvocatessa Gül Pinar e l'avvocato
Hans-Jürgen Schneider, sanno che di regola, in passato, gli stati non
si sono abbassati a negoziare direttamente risarcimenti con le vittime
delle loro guerre. Ritengono però che gli sviluppi del diritto
internazionale dopo la seconda guerra mondiale impongano ormai di
rendere conto anche alle vittime per le offese da loro patite. Quanto
ai "danni collaterali" consumati nei 78 giorni di bombardamenti sulla
Serbia, la responsabilità - secondo i legali di Varvarin - ricade in
solido sugli stati membri dell'Alleanza atlantica.
Gli avvocati di Varvarin credano che giochi a loro favore anche una
sentenza con cui, nel giugno scorso, la corte di cassazione tedesca ha
respinto le richieste di risarcimento degli abitanti di Distomo, un
villaggio greco insaguinato nel 1944 da un massacro perpetrato dalle
Ss. «all'epoca», si legge nella motivazione, mancavano i presupposti
per diritti individuali. Ma i giudici del Bundesgerichtshof lasciano
espressamente aperta la questione se ciò valga anche oggi.
Il tribunale di Bonn si dovrà dunque avventurare su un terreno
giuridico inesplorato. E' la prima volta che, in materia di danni di
guerra, la Rft viene citata in giudizio non come erede del Reich
hitleriano, ma per un conflitto condotto da un suo governo.
Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale sono intervenute, a tutelare
ulteriormente i civili dalla guerra, la convenzione di Ginevra del 12
agosto 1949 e, soprattutto, il primo protocollo aggiuntivo dell'8
giugno 1977 sulla tutela delle vittime di conflitti armati
internazionali. Il protocollo aggiuntivo recita: «Per assicurare
l'incolumità e la tutela della popolazione civile e di oggetti
civili... (le parti in conflitto possono) indirizzare le loro azioni
belliche solo contro obiettivi militari». E ancora: «Né la popolazione
civile in quanto tale, né singole persone, possono essere obiettivo di
attacchi». Inoltre: «Luoghi indifesi non possono essere attaccati dalle
parti in conflitto».
A Varvarin, un centro agricolo di 4000 abitanti, che sorge 180
chilometri a sud-est di Belgrado e a circa 200 chilometri dal Kosovo,
non c'erano uomini in armi, a parte i tre poliziotti di servizio nella
stazione della milizia. La caserma più vicina dell'esercito jugoslavo
distava 22 chilometri. Durante le guerre balcaniche il paese non fu mai
attraversato da truppe o da trasporti militari. Il ponte sul fiume
Morava serviva solo come via di accesso a Varvarin, e non era collegato
a strade importanti. Con una portata massima di 12 tonnellate, avrebbe
sopportato solo il passaggio di automobili o camion leggeri. Sotto il
peso di un carro armato sarebbe crollato.
=== 2 ===
Nur Kollateralschäden
http://www.artel.co.yu/de/izbor/jugoslavija/2003-10-19.html
Jürgen Elsässer
Berlin, 15 Oktober 2003
Landgericht Bonn verhandelt über die Klage serbischer Opfer und
Hinterbliebener des NATO-Bombenkrieges
Am heutigen Mittwoch beginnt vor dem Landgericht Bonn ein Prozeß, der
Rechtsgeschichte machen könnte: Zum ersten Mal wird nicht über
Verbrechen des nationalsozialistischen Deutschland, sondern der
Bundesrepublik verhandelt. Serbische Bürger klagen gegenüber der
Bundesregierung auf Schadensersatz, weil bei einem NATO-Bombardement
ihres Heimatortes Varvarin am 30. Mai 1999 zehn Menschen getötet und 30
zum Teil schwer verletzt wurden, allesamt Zivilisten. Die
Schröder-Regierung hat die Opfer "aufrichtig bedauert", im übrigen aber
über ihre Anwälte mitteilen lassen, daß die 14 kriegsbeteiligten
Tornados der Bundesluftwaffe genau jenen Angriff nicht mitgeflogen
haben. Die Bundesregierung sei somit nicht haftbar zu machen, auch
nicht "gesamtschuldnerisch" als NATO-Mitglied für das Bündnis
insgesamt, wie die Kläger behaupten. Diese wiederum verweisen auf die
Verantwortung, die die deutsche Führung bei der Auswahl des Zieles
Varvarin trugen.
Der Ort hatte keinerlei militärische Bedeutung, das Bombardement fand
zum Zeitpunkt und in unmittelbarer Nähe eines großen Kirchenfestes
statt. Trotzdem sprach die NATO von einem "legitimen Angriff auf eine
Hauptnachschublinie der serbischen Armee". NATO-Pressesprecher Jamie
Shea nannte Varvarin "ein ausgewähltes und gerechtfertigtes Ziel".
Oberstleutnant Michael Kämmerer, in der Öffentlichkeitszentrale des
NATO-Oberkommandos Europa im südbelgischen Mons für die deutsche Presse
zuständig, räumte allerdings ein, daß Varvarin lediglich ein
"Sekundärziel" gewesen ist. Mit anderen Worten: Das eigentlich
ausgewählte Angriffsobjekt war schon zerstört gewesen, deshalb hat man
einen Ersatz gesucht.
Wer hat Varvarin als Bombenziel ausgewählt? Die NATO weigerte sich
gegenüber Reiner Luyken von der "Zeit", die Namen der Piloten zu
nennen, selbst ihre Nationalität wurde verschwiegen. Wer gab den
Piloten die Befehle? Die Ziele für jeden Einsatz wurden vom Deskofficer
des Combined Allied Operations Command im italienischen Vicenca
zusammengestellt. Grundlagen waren Ziellisten, die - so die "Washington
Post" - ein NATO-Planungsstab angefertigt hatte und die von den
politischen Spitzen der NATO-Staaten - Clinton, Blair, Jospin und auch
Schröder - abgesegnet worden sind. Bekannt ist, daß die französische
Regierung in einigen Fällen erfolgreich ihr Veto gegen die
Bombardierung ziviler Ziele, etwa von Donaubrücken, eingelegt hat.
Sekundärziele, so Oberstleutnant Kämmerer, wurden allerdings ohne
politische Gegenkontrolle festgelegt. Nach Meinung von Paul Beaver von
der Fachzeitschrift "Jane's Defense Weekly" wurden die Koordinaten
dieser Ausweichziele den Piloten von den Awacs-Flugzeugen mitgeteilt,
also den fliegenden NATO-Kommandozentralen. An Bord waren auch deutsche
Spezialisten und Offiziere.
Die Bundesregierung hat sich über ihre Anwälte gegen die Behauptung
verwahrt, die NATO habe 1999 "einen gegen die Zivilbevölkerung
gerichteten Angriffskrieg geführt". "Der Umstand, daß es nur in 0,4 bis
0,9 Prozent der Einsatzfälle zu zivilen Opfer kam", wird als Beleg
angeführt. Diese Statistik verschweigt das Verhältnis zwischen
militärischen Treffen und den sogenannten Kollateralschäden: In 78
Tagen Bombenkrieg zerstörte die NATO nur 14 jugoslawische Panzer, aber
48 Krankenhäuser, 74 TV-Stationen und 422 Schulen. 20.000
Splitterbomben liegen noch heute als Blindgänger in der Erde und können
jederzeit explodieren. Über 2.000 jugoslawische Zivilisten wurden
getötet, ein Drittel davon Kinder. Dem stehen 1.000 gefallene Polizei-
und Armeeangehörige gegenüber.
Wenn das Bonner Landgericht die Klage nicht gleich zu Beginn abweist,
müßte in einer umfangreichen Beweisaufnahme geklärt werden, welche
Rolle deutsche Stellen bei der Auswahl der Bombenziele trugen.
Generäle, Verteidigungsminister und Kanzler im Zeugenstand, womöglich
im Kreuzverhör, schließlich auf der Anklagebank - das hätte die
Republik noch nicht gesehen.
=== 3 ===
Junge Welt, 16/10/2003
Bedauern oder mehr?
Gericht läßt Klage wegen deutscher Beteiligung am NATO-Krieg gegen
Jugoslawien zu
Ein übervoller Gerichtsaal, ein riesiges Medienaufgebot, Rosen für die
Serben, die Anwälte der Bundesregierung finster und wortkarg – dies ist
ein Prozeß, der schon jetzt Geschichte macht. Zum ersten Mal wird in
Deutschland nicht wegen der Verbrechen des Naziregimes, sondern denen
der Bundesrepublik verhandelt. Es geht um den ersten Krieg der
Deutschen nach 1945, den Angriff der NATO-Verbündeten auf Jugoslawien
im Jahre 1999.
Im NATO-Bombenhagel starben im Verlaufe des 78tägigen Krieges insgesamt
2000 jugoslawische Zivilisten, darunter etwa 700 Kinder, des weiteren
fielen etwa 1000 Militärangehörige. Stellvertretend für alle
Hinterbliebenen klagen jetzt 34 Bewohner der mittelserbischen Ortschaft
Varvarin auf Schadensersatz. Der Fall ist besonders eklatant: Am 30.
Mai 1999 flogen NATO-Bomber einen Angriff auf die Brücke des
Städtchens. »Hätten die Piloten nur gewollt, hätten sie sehen müssen,
daß unmittelbar neben der Brücke ein großes Kirchenfest mit mehreren
tausend Besuchern stattfand«, legte Bürgermeister Zoran Milenkovic dem
Richter dar. Seine Tochter Sanja war unter den Toten des ersten
Angriffes. Als dann Hilfswillige herbeiströmten, um die Verletzten zu
bergen, kehrte der NATO-Bomber zurück und feuerte weitere Raketen ab.
Dabei starben noch mehr Menschen. Insgesamt verloren an jenem Tag zehn
Varvariner Bürger ihr Leben, weitere 17 wurden schwer verletzt.
»Ich kann mich nicht damit abfinden, daß meine Tochter ein
Kollateralschaden sein soll«, rief Milenkovic aus. An ein Versehen will
er nicht glauben, vielmehr habe die NATO an jenem Tag absichtlich den
serbischen Blutzoll in die Höhe treiben wollen. »Zu dieser Zeit hatten
die heimlichen Verhandlungen mit Milosevic schon begonnen. Es ging der
NATO darum, den Druck auf Milosevic zu erhöhen, in einen Friedensschluß
zu ihren Bedingungen einzuwilligen. Dafür brauchte man entsprechende
Bilder.«
Die Anwälte der Bundesregierung sprachen den Hinterbliebenen auch
gestern wieder ihr »ausdrückliches Bedauern« aus, betonten aber, daß es
sich nicht um eine »NATO-Aggression« gehandelt habe und Soldaten der
Bundeswehr an jenem 30. Mai nicht tatbeteiligt waren. »Dieses
Mitleidsgejammer halte ich für unehrlich«, entgegnete Anwalt Ulrich
Dost. »Die Bundesregierung hat im Verlaufe des Krieges wirklich alles
unterlassen, um zu erreichen, daß zivile Opfer vermieden werden
können.« Folge man etwa den Aufzeichnungen des damaligen
Verteidigungsministers Rudolf Scharping (SPD) in seinem
»Kriegstagebuch«, so habe die Zielplanung immer auf der Tagesordnung
des NATO-Rates gestanden. »Die Bundesregierung hatte also jeden Tag die
Möglichkeit, im NATO-Rat ihr Veto gegen bestimmte Ziele einzulegen. Sie
hat es nie gemacht.« Deswegen erfülle die Bundesregierung »eindeutig
die Voraussetzung der Mittäterschaft«.
Richter Heinz Sonnenberg machte die Bedeutung des »Musterprozesses«
deutlich. Es gehe darum, ob Individualkläger ihr Recht gegen einen
Staat durchsetzen könnten. Die bisherige Rechtsprechung in der
Bundesrepublik habe dies verneint, zuletzt im Sommer dieses Jahres im
sogenannten Distomo-Prozeß. Hinterbliebene eines SS-Massakers in dieser
griechischen Ortschaft waren mit ihren Ansprüchen gegenüber Deutschland
abgewiesen worden. Sie wurden, wie andere NS-Opfergruppen, an ihren
eigenen Staat verwiesen, der zunächst ein Reparationsabkommen mit der
BRD aushandeln müsse und sie dann mit den zwischenstaatlichen
Ausgleichszahlungen entschädigen könne. Doch der Richter betonte, daß
der Bundesgerichtshof »ausdrücklich offen gelassen« habe, ob diese
Rechtsprechung über Verbrechen des Zweiten Weltkrieges auch für die
heutige Zeit gilt. Wie stark das Völkerrecht im Umbruch ist, zeigt die
Einrichtung des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofes in Den Haag (ICC),
vor dem Staaten auch wegen individueller Menschenrechtsverletzungen
beklagt werden können. Die Bundesregierung gehört, im Unterschied zur
US-Regierung, zu den energischen Förderern des ICC. Nun wird sich
zeigen, ob sie dessen Prinzipien auch für ihre eigene Justiz anzuwenden
bereit ist. »Wir sind optimistisch, daß der Richter zu unseren Gunsten
entscheidet«, sagte Anwältin Gül Pinar. »Immerhin hat er unsere
Tatsachenfeststellung und die Zuständigkeit eines deutschen Gerichtes
anerkannt und die Klage nicht aus formalen Gründen abgewiesen.«
Das Urteil wird bereits beim nächsten Verhandlungstermin am 10.
Dezember verkündet werden.
Jürgen Elsässer
=== 4 ===
http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10826
Transitions Online
October 20, 2003
Germany on Trial for NATO
by Sasa Grubanovic
BELGRADE, Serbia and Montenegro--In a landmark trial
that opened last week in Bonn, 35 Serbs are suing
Germany over the 1999 NATO bombing of the Serbian town
of Varvarin, which killed 10 civilians and wounded 17.
The lawsuit--supported by the human rights group
Amnesty International--is the first of its kind in
Europe. It could open the way for trials against other
NATO member states that participated in the 1999
bombings against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(now Serbia and Montenegro) at the height of the
Kosovo conflict.
The trial opened on 15 October at a Bonn tribunal with
a request for 1 million euros ($1.17 million) in
compensation for the wounded and the families of those
killed in the NATO bombardment. Pacifists demonstrated
in support of the victims in front of the courthouse.
Germany has refused to admit responsibility, claiming
that its soldiers did not participate directly in the
bombing of Serbia. But German lawyers representing the
plaintiffs say that Berlin, as a NATO member, is
responsible for the attacks. According to the victims’
lawyer, Ulrich Dost, Germany is being sued because it
“neglected to avoid civilian victims.”
NATO cannot be sued as an organization, but NATO
member countries can be sued individually.
FESTIVAL FATALITIES
The plaintiffs and Amnesty International are arguing
that on 30 May 1999, NATO bombed a purely civilian
target in the town of Varvarin. The bombing occurred
in the midst of the NATO campaign aimed at pushing
Yugoslav troops, led by Slobodan Milosevic, out of the
southern Serbian province of Kosovo. At the time,
Kosovo was wracked by a violent conflict between
Belgrade security forces and Albanian separatist
guerrillas.
Varvarin, with 4,000 inhabitants, is situated some 150
kilometers (about 75 miles) south of Belgrade and 150
kilometers north of Kosovo. It contained no military
or industrial bases and was not being used at the time
for any military transports.
On Sunday, 30 May 1999, the country was celebrating
one of the holiest Orthodox holidays, Duhovi (Day of
the Spirits), and throngs of people had gathered at
the market near the town’s bridge.
At 1:25 p.m., two F-16 NATO warplanes appeared in the
sky over Varvarin. Suddenly, they fired two
2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, sending vehicles and
people crashing into the river below. Then the planes
doubled back and fired two more bombs, hitting the
bridge's central support column. The bridge collapsed
into the Morava River, along with all the vehicles and
pedestrians that were on it.
According to a New York Times report that cited
eyewitness accounts, “After the first strike, people
rushed from the nearby market to help those injured on
the bridge. Then the planes came back and struck
again, unleashing two bombs that smashed the bridge
off its concrete supports and sent lethal shrapnel
flying up the street into the marketplace.”
The casualties continued to pile up. Rescuers who went
to help the first victims were hit in the second wave
of bombings. Witnesses said blood and body parts were
everywhere. A total of 10 people died in the attack
and 17 were seriously wounded. The youngest fatality
was a 15-year-old girl named Sanja Milenkovic.
NATO: BRIDGE WAS LEGITIMATE TARGET
“There was no military excuse for the attack,"
plaitiffs' lawyer Dost told the Bonn court last week.
"It was directed at civilians. This is a crime.”
Dost said the lawsuit is based on a 1977 protocol of
the Geneva Convention. Article 52 of Protocol 1 states
that "Attacks shall be limited strictly to military
objectives," defined as "those objects which by their
nature, location, purpose or use make effective
contribution to military action."
At the time of the bombardment, NATO defended its
actions. Spokesperson Jamie Shea said, “NATO does not
attack civilian targets, we attack exclusively
military targets and take every precaution to avoid
inflicting harm on civilians.”
“This was a major line of communication and a
designated and legitimate target,” NATO said in a
statement from its supreme commander at the time,
General Wesley Clark.
Amnesty International doesn't agree, and has called
the Varvarin bombing proof that NATO “did not always
[sic] meet its legal obligations in selecting targets
and in choosing means and methods of attack.”
A follow-up investigation showed the Varvarin bridge
could support weight only up to 12 tons, less than the
weight of most military vehicles.
Immediately after the Varvarin bombing, NATO decided
it would no longer attack certain objectives, such as
bridges, when many civilians were likely to be in the
vicinity.
Amnesty International argues that such policy changes
were “basic precautions that should have been adopted
from the start of the campaign, in order to ensure
that NATO’s rules of engagement did not allow for
breaches of the laws of war.”
The Varvarin bombing came after a series of other
deadly "erroneous" bombings by NATO. More than 150
people died when two refugee columns in Western Kosovo
were bombed (Meja on 14 April, Korisa on 14 May); more
than 80 civilians died in attacks on buses (Luzane on
1 May, Savine Vode on 3 May) and trains (Grdelica, 12
May); and hundreds of civilians died in bombings in
Aleksinac, Surdulica, and Nis. In Belgrade, employees
of RTS state television and the Chinese Embassy were
also killed by NATO bombs.
When the NATO bombing campaign ended, Carla Del Ponte,
chief prosecutor for the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
Hague, told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
that there was “no basis” to open an investigation
into NATO’s actions.
Without elaborating, the ICTY review committee
concluded that “neither an in-depth investigation
related to the bombing campaign as a whole nor
investigations related to specific incidents are
justified.”
German pacifists demonstrated in support of the
victims on the trial's opening day, carrying banners
that read, “Pay damages to the victims of NATO
bombings in Varvarin.”
NO LEGAL PRECEDENT
For reasons similar to the ITCY’s, NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson rejected calls for
an investigation, and he denounced Amnesty
International’s allegations as “baseless and
ill-founded.”
When the Serb families first asked German lawyers to
help them seek a legal judgement against NATO, few
observers believed the case would make it to trial.
But after more than a year of painstaking work
gathering evidence and making the necessary legal
submissions, Dost was able to file the Varvarin
victims’ claim for damages.
The case has drawn considerable atttention. Even the
German Defense Ministry felt obligated to respond, in
2002, that “not a single German soldier or plane of
the Bundeswehr participated in the attack.”
But Dost argues that no matter which nation’s planes
carried out the assault on Varvarin, Germany is guilty
of illegally causing damages to the population by
virtue of its membership in NATO and its acquiescence
in the bombing raids.
At the Bonn trial, a representative of the ministry,
Holger Zetzsche, expressed “deep regret” for the death
of civilians. The president of the Bonn tribunal,
Heinz Sonnenberger, admitted the case was “a new area”
for the German justice system.
Citing German World War II casualties, Sonnenberger
also noted that in the past, the courts have ruled
against individuals seeking compensation from
governments for wartime victims. “Our fathers could
not sue Russia or other countries,” he said at a Bonn
press conference.
But Zoran Milenkovic, the father of the youngest
Varvarin victim, 15-year old Sanja, called for the
setting of a new legal precedent. "It is important
that the world knows what happened that day," he said.
"This crime should not be forgotten.”
The court expects to reach a decision by 10 December.
Varvarin 30/5/1999
1. Serbia/Germania: Un paesino fa causa alla Nato
2. Nur Kollateralschäden (J. Elsässer)
3. Bedauern oder mehr? Gericht läßt Klage wegen deutscher Beteiligung
am NATO-Krieg gegen Jugoslawien zu
(J. Elsässer, Junge Welt, 16/10/2003)
4. Germany on Trial for NATO
Vedi anche su
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2867 :
NATO: Primo processo per i raid del 1999 (Il Manifesto)
KOSOVO: PROCESSO A STATO TEDESCO PER STRAGE SERBI IN 1999 (ANSA)
GERMANIA: KOSOVO, STATO CHIAMATO IN CAUSA PER ATTACCHI NATO (ANSA)
Serbian families seek payout from Germany over 1999
NATO bombing (AFP)
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2867
=== 1 ===
il manifesto - 19 Ottobre 2003
MADE IN GERMANY
Un paesino fa causa alla Nato
GUIDO AMBROSINO
Il 15 ottobre si è aperto di fronte al Landgericht di Bonn un processo
che potrebbe riscrivere il diritto internazionale. Trentacinque
abitanti di Varvarin, una piccola cittadina della Serbia, hanno
intentato causa alla Repubblica federale tedesca e le chiedono un
risarcimento. Diciassette di loro vennero feriti dagli aerei della Nato
che il 30 maggio del 1999 distrussero un ponte senza alcuna importanza
militare. Gli altri sono parenti delle dieci persone uccise da quel
bombardamento, avvenuto di giorno, in perfette condizioni di
visibilità. A essere citato in giudizio è il ministero della difesa,
che ha mantenuto a Bonn la sua sede principale. Per questo la causa
sarà discussa nella città renana. Il presidente della corte, Heinz
Sonnenberger, ha preannunciato una sentenza per il 10 dicembre.
I giuristi del ministero scrollarono le spalle quando, nel giugno del
2001, l'avvocato berlinese Ulrich Dost avanzò una prima richiesta di
risarcimento per conto delle vittime di Varvarin. Gli risposero che,
secondo una consolidata tradizione, i danni di guerra sono una materia
che gli stati regolano tra loro, senza curarsi di pretese individuali.
E che a lanciare missili contro quel ponte non furono aerei tedeschi, e
quindi la Rft non c'entrava nulla.
Ulrich Dost e i suoi colleghi, l'avvocatessa Gül Pinar e l'avvocato
Hans-Jürgen Schneider, sanno che di regola, in passato, gli stati non
si sono abbassati a negoziare direttamente risarcimenti con le vittime
delle loro guerre. Ritengono però che gli sviluppi del diritto
internazionale dopo la seconda guerra mondiale impongano ormai di
rendere conto anche alle vittime per le offese da loro patite. Quanto
ai "danni collaterali" consumati nei 78 giorni di bombardamenti sulla
Serbia, la responsabilità - secondo i legali di Varvarin - ricade in
solido sugli stati membri dell'Alleanza atlantica.
Gli avvocati di Varvarin credano che giochi a loro favore anche una
sentenza con cui, nel giugno scorso, la corte di cassazione tedesca ha
respinto le richieste di risarcimento degli abitanti di Distomo, un
villaggio greco insaguinato nel 1944 da un massacro perpetrato dalle
Ss. «all'epoca», si legge nella motivazione, mancavano i presupposti
per diritti individuali. Ma i giudici del Bundesgerichtshof lasciano
espressamente aperta la questione se ciò valga anche oggi.
Il tribunale di Bonn si dovrà dunque avventurare su un terreno
giuridico inesplorato. E' la prima volta che, in materia di danni di
guerra, la Rft viene citata in giudizio non come erede del Reich
hitleriano, ma per un conflitto condotto da un suo governo.
Dopo la seconda guerra mondiale sono intervenute, a tutelare
ulteriormente i civili dalla guerra, la convenzione di Ginevra del 12
agosto 1949 e, soprattutto, il primo protocollo aggiuntivo dell'8
giugno 1977 sulla tutela delle vittime di conflitti armati
internazionali. Il protocollo aggiuntivo recita: «Per assicurare
l'incolumità e la tutela della popolazione civile e di oggetti
civili... (le parti in conflitto possono) indirizzare le loro azioni
belliche solo contro obiettivi militari». E ancora: «Né la popolazione
civile in quanto tale, né singole persone, possono essere obiettivo di
attacchi». Inoltre: «Luoghi indifesi non possono essere attaccati dalle
parti in conflitto».
A Varvarin, un centro agricolo di 4000 abitanti, che sorge 180
chilometri a sud-est di Belgrado e a circa 200 chilometri dal Kosovo,
non c'erano uomini in armi, a parte i tre poliziotti di servizio nella
stazione della milizia. La caserma più vicina dell'esercito jugoslavo
distava 22 chilometri. Durante le guerre balcaniche il paese non fu mai
attraversato da truppe o da trasporti militari. Il ponte sul fiume
Morava serviva solo come via di accesso a Varvarin, e non era collegato
a strade importanti. Con una portata massima di 12 tonnellate, avrebbe
sopportato solo il passaggio di automobili o camion leggeri. Sotto il
peso di un carro armato sarebbe crollato.
=== 2 ===
Nur Kollateralschäden
http://www.artel.co.yu/de/izbor/jugoslavija/2003-10-19.html
Jürgen Elsässer
Berlin, 15 Oktober 2003
Landgericht Bonn verhandelt über die Klage serbischer Opfer und
Hinterbliebener des NATO-Bombenkrieges
Am heutigen Mittwoch beginnt vor dem Landgericht Bonn ein Prozeß, der
Rechtsgeschichte machen könnte: Zum ersten Mal wird nicht über
Verbrechen des nationalsozialistischen Deutschland, sondern der
Bundesrepublik verhandelt. Serbische Bürger klagen gegenüber der
Bundesregierung auf Schadensersatz, weil bei einem NATO-Bombardement
ihres Heimatortes Varvarin am 30. Mai 1999 zehn Menschen getötet und 30
zum Teil schwer verletzt wurden, allesamt Zivilisten. Die
Schröder-Regierung hat die Opfer "aufrichtig bedauert", im übrigen aber
über ihre Anwälte mitteilen lassen, daß die 14 kriegsbeteiligten
Tornados der Bundesluftwaffe genau jenen Angriff nicht mitgeflogen
haben. Die Bundesregierung sei somit nicht haftbar zu machen, auch
nicht "gesamtschuldnerisch" als NATO-Mitglied für das Bündnis
insgesamt, wie die Kläger behaupten. Diese wiederum verweisen auf die
Verantwortung, die die deutsche Führung bei der Auswahl des Zieles
Varvarin trugen.
Der Ort hatte keinerlei militärische Bedeutung, das Bombardement fand
zum Zeitpunkt und in unmittelbarer Nähe eines großen Kirchenfestes
statt. Trotzdem sprach die NATO von einem "legitimen Angriff auf eine
Hauptnachschublinie der serbischen Armee". NATO-Pressesprecher Jamie
Shea nannte Varvarin "ein ausgewähltes und gerechtfertigtes Ziel".
Oberstleutnant Michael Kämmerer, in der Öffentlichkeitszentrale des
NATO-Oberkommandos Europa im südbelgischen Mons für die deutsche Presse
zuständig, räumte allerdings ein, daß Varvarin lediglich ein
"Sekundärziel" gewesen ist. Mit anderen Worten: Das eigentlich
ausgewählte Angriffsobjekt war schon zerstört gewesen, deshalb hat man
einen Ersatz gesucht.
Wer hat Varvarin als Bombenziel ausgewählt? Die NATO weigerte sich
gegenüber Reiner Luyken von der "Zeit", die Namen der Piloten zu
nennen, selbst ihre Nationalität wurde verschwiegen. Wer gab den
Piloten die Befehle? Die Ziele für jeden Einsatz wurden vom Deskofficer
des Combined Allied Operations Command im italienischen Vicenca
zusammengestellt. Grundlagen waren Ziellisten, die - so die "Washington
Post" - ein NATO-Planungsstab angefertigt hatte und die von den
politischen Spitzen der NATO-Staaten - Clinton, Blair, Jospin und auch
Schröder - abgesegnet worden sind. Bekannt ist, daß die französische
Regierung in einigen Fällen erfolgreich ihr Veto gegen die
Bombardierung ziviler Ziele, etwa von Donaubrücken, eingelegt hat.
Sekundärziele, so Oberstleutnant Kämmerer, wurden allerdings ohne
politische Gegenkontrolle festgelegt. Nach Meinung von Paul Beaver von
der Fachzeitschrift "Jane's Defense Weekly" wurden die Koordinaten
dieser Ausweichziele den Piloten von den Awacs-Flugzeugen mitgeteilt,
also den fliegenden NATO-Kommandozentralen. An Bord waren auch deutsche
Spezialisten und Offiziere.
Die Bundesregierung hat sich über ihre Anwälte gegen die Behauptung
verwahrt, die NATO habe 1999 "einen gegen die Zivilbevölkerung
gerichteten Angriffskrieg geführt". "Der Umstand, daß es nur in 0,4 bis
0,9 Prozent der Einsatzfälle zu zivilen Opfer kam", wird als Beleg
angeführt. Diese Statistik verschweigt das Verhältnis zwischen
militärischen Treffen und den sogenannten Kollateralschäden: In 78
Tagen Bombenkrieg zerstörte die NATO nur 14 jugoslawische Panzer, aber
48 Krankenhäuser, 74 TV-Stationen und 422 Schulen. 20.000
Splitterbomben liegen noch heute als Blindgänger in der Erde und können
jederzeit explodieren. Über 2.000 jugoslawische Zivilisten wurden
getötet, ein Drittel davon Kinder. Dem stehen 1.000 gefallene Polizei-
und Armeeangehörige gegenüber.
Wenn das Bonner Landgericht die Klage nicht gleich zu Beginn abweist,
müßte in einer umfangreichen Beweisaufnahme geklärt werden, welche
Rolle deutsche Stellen bei der Auswahl der Bombenziele trugen.
Generäle, Verteidigungsminister und Kanzler im Zeugenstand, womöglich
im Kreuzverhör, schließlich auf der Anklagebank - das hätte die
Republik noch nicht gesehen.
=== 3 ===
Junge Welt, 16/10/2003
Bedauern oder mehr?
Gericht läßt Klage wegen deutscher Beteiligung am NATO-Krieg gegen
Jugoslawien zu
Ein übervoller Gerichtsaal, ein riesiges Medienaufgebot, Rosen für die
Serben, die Anwälte der Bundesregierung finster und wortkarg – dies ist
ein Prozeß, der schon jetzt Geschichte macht. Zum ersten Mal wird in
Deutschland nicht wegen der Verbrechen des Naziregimes, sondern denen
der Bundesrepublik verhandelt. Es geht um den ersten Krieg der
Deutschen nach 1945, den Angriff der NATO-Verbündeten auf Jugoslawien
im Jahre 1999.
Im NATO-Bombenhagel starben im Verlaufe des 78tägigen Krieges insgesamt
2000 jugoslawische Zivilisten, darunter etwa 700 Kinder, des weiteren
fielen etwa 1000 Militärangehörige. Stellvertretend für alle
Hinterbliebenen klagen jetzt 34 Bewohner der mittelserbischen Ortschaft
Varvarin auf Schadensersatz. Der Fall ist besonders eklatant: Am 30.
Mai 1999 flogen NATO-Bomber einen Angriff auf die Brücke des
Städtchens. »Hätten die Piloten nur gewollt, hätten sie sehen müssen,
daß unmittelbar neben der Brücke ein großes Kirchenfest mit mehreren
tausend Besuchern stattfand«, legte Bürgermeister Zoran Milenkovic dem
Richter dar. Seine Tochter Sanja war unter den Toten des ersten
Angriffes. Als dann Hilfswillige herbeiströmten, um die Verletzten zu
bergen, kehrte der NATO-Bomber zurück und feuerte weitere Raketen ab.
Dabei starben noch mehr Menschen. Insgesamt verloren an jenem Tag zehn
Varvariner Bürger ihr Leben, weitere 17 wurden schwer verletzt.
»Ich kann mich nicht damit abfinden, daß meine Tochter ein
Kollateralschaden sein soll«, rief Milenkovic aus. An ein Versehen will
er nicht glauben, vielmehr habe die NATO an jenem Tag absichtlich den
serbischen Blutzoll in die Höhe treiben wollen. »Zu dieser Zeit hatten
die heimlichen Verhandlungen mit Milosevic schon begonnen. Es ging der
NATO darum, den Druck auf Milosevic zu erhöhen, in einen Friedensschluß
zu ihren Bedingungen einzuwilligen. Dafür brauchte man entsprechende
Bilder.«
Die Anwälte der Bundesregierung sprachen den Hinterbliebenen auch
gestern wieder ihr »ausdrückliches Bedauern« aus, betonten aber, daß es
sich nicht um eine »NATO-Aggression« gehandelt habe und Soldaten der
Bundeswehr an jenem 30. Mai nicht tatbeteiligt waren. »Dieses
Mitleidsgejammer halte ich für unehrlich«, entgegnete Anwalt Ulrich
Dost. »Die Bundesregierung hat im Verlaufe des Krieges wirklich alles
unterlassen, um zu erreichen, daß zivile Opfer vermieden werden
können.« Folge man etwa den Aufzeichnungen des damaligen
Verteidigungsministers Rudolf Scharping (SPD) in seinem
»Kriegstagebuch«, so habe die Zielplanung immer auf der Tagesordnung
des NATO-Rates gestanden. »Die Bundesregierung hatte also jeden Tag die
Möglichkeit, im NATO-Rat ihr Veto gegen bestimmte Ziele einzulegen. Sie
hat es nie gemacht.« Deswegen erfülle die Bundesregierung »eindeutig
die Voraussetzung der Mittäterschaft«.
Richter Heinz Sonnenberg machte die Bedeutung des »Musterprozesses«
deutlich. Es gehe darum, ob Individualkläger ihr Recht gegen einen
Staat durchsetzen könnten. Die bisherige Rechtsprechung in der
Bundesrepublik habe dies verneint, zuletzt im Sommer dieses Jahres im
sogenannten Distomo-Prozeß. Hinterbliebene eines SS-Massakers in dieser
griechischen Ortschaft waren mit ihren Ansprüchen gegenüber Deutschland
abgewiesen worden. Sie wurden, wie andere NS-Opfergruppen, an ihren
eigenen Staat verwiesen, der zunächst ein Reparationsabkommen mit der
BRD aushandeln müsse und sie dann mit den zwischenstaatlichen
Ausgleichszahlungen entschädigen könne. Doch der Richter betonte, daß
der Bundesgerichtshof »ausdrücklich offen gelassen« habe, ob diese
Rechtsprechung über Verbrechen des Zweiten Weltkrieges auch für die
heutige Zeit gilt. Wie stark das Völkerrecht im Umbruch ist, zeigt die
Einrichtung des Internationalen Strafgerichtshofes in Den Haag (ICC),
vor dem Staaten auch wegen individueller Menschenrechtsverletzungen
beklagt werden können. Die Bundesregierung gehört, im Unterschied zur
US-Regierung, zu den energischen Förderern des ICC. Nun wird sich
zeigen, ob sie dessen Prinzipien auch für ihre eigene Justiz anzuwenden
bereit ist. »Wir sind optimistisch, daß der Richter zu unseren Gunsten
entscheidet«, sagte Anwältin Gül Pinar. »Immerhin hat er unsere
Tatsachenfeststellung und die Zuständigkeit eines deutschen Gerichtes
anerkannt und die Klage nicht aus formalen Gründen abgewiesen.«
Das Urteil wird bereits beim nächsten Verhandlungstermin am 10.
Dezember verkündet werden.
Jürgen Elsässer
=== 4 ===
http://www.tol.cz/look/BRR/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=9&NrIssue=1&NrSection=1&NrArticle
=10826
Transitions Online
October 20, 2003
Germany on Trial for NATO
by Sasa Grubanovic
BELGRADE, Serbia and Montenegro--In a landmark trial
that opened last week in Bonn, 35 Serbs are suing
Germany over the 1999 NATO bombing of the Serbian town
of Varvarin, which killed 10 civilians and wounded 17.
The lawsuit--supported by the human rights group
Amnesty International--is the first of its kind in
Europe. It could open the way for trials against other
NATO member states that participated in the 1999
bombings against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
(now Serbia and Montenegro) at the height of the
Kosovo conflict.
The trial opened on 15 October at a Bonn tribunal with
a request for 1 million euros ($1.17 million) in
compensation for the wounded and the families of those
killed in the NATO bombardment. Pacifists demonstrated
in support of the victims in front of the courthouse.
Germany has refused to admit responsibility, claiming
that its soldiers did not participate directly in the
bombing of Serbia. But German lawyers representing the
plaintiffs say that Berlin, as a NATO member, is
responsible for the attacks. According to the victims’
lawyer, Ulrich Dost, Germany is being sued because it
“neglected to avoid civilian victims.”
NATO cannot be sued as an organization, but NATO
member countries can be sued individually.
FESTIVAL FATALITIES
The plaintiffs and Amnesty International are arguing
that on 30 May 1999, NATO bombed a purely civilian
target in the town of Varvarin. The bombing occurred
in the midst of the NATO campaign aimed at pushing
Yugoslav troops, led by Slobodan Milosevic, out of the
southern Serbian province of Kosovo. At the time,
Kosovo was wracked by a violent conflict between
Belgrade security forces and Albanian separatist
guerrillas.
Varvarin, with 4,000 inhabitants, is situated some 150
kilometers (about 75 miles) south of Belgrade and 150
kilometers north of Kosovo. It contained no military
or industrial bases and was not being used at the time
for any military transports.
On Sunday, 30 May 1999, the country was celebrating
one of the holiest Orthodox holidays, Duhovi (Day of
the Spirits), and throngs of people had gathered at
the market near the town’s bridge.
At 1:25 p.m., two F-16 NATO warplanes appeared in the
sky over Varvarin. Suddenly, they fired two
2,000-pound laser-guided bombs, sending vehicles and
people crashing into the river below. Then the planes
doubled back and fired two more bombs, hitting the
bridge's central support column. The bridge collapsed
into the Morava River, along with all the vehicles and
pedestrians that were on it.
According to a New York Times report that cited
eyewitness accounts, “After the first strike, people
rushed from the nearby market to help those injured on
the bridge. Then the planes came back and struck
again, unleashing two bombs that smashed the bridge
off its concrete supports and sent lethal shrapnel
flying up the street into the marketplace.”
The casualties continued to pile up. Rescuers who went
to help the first victims were hit in the second wave
of bombings. Witnesses said blood and body parts were
everywhere. A total of 10 people died in the attack
and 17 were seriously wounded. The youngest fatality
was a 15-year-old girl named Sanja Milenkovic.
NATO: BRIDGE WAS LEGITIMATE TARGET
“There was no military excuse for the attack,"
plaitiffs' lawyer Dost told the Bonn court last week.
"It was directed at civilians. This is a crime.”
Dost said the lawsuit is based on a 1977 protocol of
the Geneva Convention. Article 52 of Protocol 1 states
that "Attacks shall be limited strictly to military
objectives," defined as "those objects which by their
nature, location, purpose or use make effective
contribution to military action."
At the time of the bombardment, NATO defended its
actions. Spokesperson Jamie Shea said, “NATO does not
attack civilian targets, we attack exclusively
military targets and take every precaution to avoid
inflicting harm on civilians.”
“This was a major line of communication and a
designated and legitimate target,” NATO said in a
statement from its supreme commander at the time,
General Wesley Clark.
Amnesty International doesn't agree, and has called
the Varvarin bombing proof that NATO “did not always
[sic] meet its legal obligations in selecting targets
and in choosing means and methods of attack.”
A follow-up investigation showed the Varvarin bridge
could support weight only up to 12 tons, less than the
weight of most military vehicles.
Immediately after the Varvarin bombing, NATO decided
it would no longer attack certain objectives, such as
bridges, when many civilians were likely to be in the
vicinity.
Amnesty International argues that such policy changes
were “basic precautions that should have been adopted
from the start of the campaign, in order to ensure
that NATO’s rules of engagement did not allow for
breaches of the laws of war.”
The Varvarin bombing came after a series of other
deadly "erroneous" bombings by NATO. More than 150
people died when two refugee columns in Western Kosovo
were bombed (Meja on 14 April, Korisa on 14 May); more
than 80 civilians died in attacks on buses (Luzane on
1 May, Savine Vode on 3 May) and trains (Grdelica, 12
May); and hundreds of civilians died in bombings in
Aleksinac, Surdulica, and Nis. In Belgrade, employees
of RTS state television and the Chinese Embassy were
also killed by NATO bombs.
When the NATO bombing campaign ended, Carla Del Ponte,
chief prosecutor for the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The
Hague, told the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
that there was “no basis” to open an investigation
into NATO’s actions.
Without elaborating, the ICTY review committee
concluded that “neither an in-depth investigation
related to the bombing campaign as a whole nor
investigations related to specific incidents are
justified.”
German pacifists demonstrated in support of the
victims on the trial's opening day, carrying banners
that read, “Pay damages to the victims of NATO
bombings in Varvarin.”
NO LEGAL PRECEDENT
For reasons similar to the ITCY’s, NATO
Secretary-General George Robertson rejected calls for
an investigation, and he denounced Amnesty
International’s allegations as “baseless and
ill-founded.”
When the Serb families first asked German lawyers to
help them seek a legal judgement against NATO, few
observers believed the case would make it to trial.
But after more than a year of painstaking work
gathering evidence and making the necessary legal
submissions, Dost was able to file the Varvarin
victims’ claim for damages.
The case has drawn considerable atttention. Even the
German Defense Ministry felt obligated to respond, in
2002, that “not a single German soldier or plane of
the Bundeswehr participated in the attack.”
But Dost argues that no matter which nation’s planes
carried out the assault on Varvarin, Germany is guilty
of illegally causing damages to the population by
virtue of its membership in NATO and its acquiescence
in the bombing raids.
At the Bonn trial, a representative of the ministry,
Holger Zetzsche, expressed “deep regret” for the death
of civilians. The president of the Bonn tribunal,
Heinz Sonnenberger, admitted the case was “a new area”
for the German justice system.
Citing German World War II casualties, Sonnenberger
also noted that in the past, the courts have ruled
against individuals seeking compensation from
governments for wartime victims. “Our fathers could
not sue Russia or other countries,” he said at a Bonn
press conference.
But Zoran Milenkovic, the father of the youngest
Varvarin victim, 15-year old Sanja, called for the
setting of a new legal precedent. "It is important
that the world knows what happened that day," he said.
"This crime should not be forgotten.”
The court expects to reach a decision by 10 December.
GLI ASCARI ALBANESI
(see english summary at bottom)
Il Messaggero (Roma), Venerdì 17 Ottobre 2003
http://ilmessaggero.caltanet.it/
view.php?data=20031017&ediz=01_NAZIONALE&npag=15&file=A.xml&type=STANDAR
D
Martino: sì agli albanesi nell’Esercito italiano
Il ministro: «Non mi pare scandaloso». «L’Iraq? L’opposizione non sia
autolesionista»
di CARLO MERCURI
ROMA - «Una volta, in Albania, feci un pensiero ad alta voce. Dissi:
“Sarebbe bello arruolare una brigata albanese nell’Esercito italiano”.
Pensavo che la cosa fosse finita lì, invece qualche tempo dopo il mio
collega Pandeli Majko mi chiese conto di quell’affermazione. Mi disse:
“Vanno avanti i lavori per la Brigata albanese”? [SIC] A Tirana avevano
preso molto sul serio la mia idea».
Invece a Roma, ministro Martino, che effetto ha fatto la sua proposta?
«Guardi, io non ci trovo nulla di scandaloso. In Italia abbiamo una
situazione demografica disastrosa: aumentano gli anziani e diminuiscono
i giovani. L’idea di arruolare gli albanesi nell’Esercito italiano è
buona: alla fine dei cinque anni di ferma gli albanesi potrebbero
diventare cittadini italiani e, in più, avrebbero imparato un mestiere
[SIC]. D’altronde, i francesi hanno la Legione straniera, gli inglesi
hanno i “Gurkha”. Perché noi no? [SIC]».
A che punto è, ministro, l’Europa della Difesa?
«Preferirei parlare di Europa della sicurezza, essendo il concetto di
Difesa molto cambiato negli ultimi anni [SIC]. (...)».
Ministro, l’Onu ha appena varato una risoluzione che dà il via a una
Forza multinazionale in Iraq. Che ne pensa?
«Che è un fatto meraviglioso [SIC]. Io sono convinto che l’Iraq non
sarà, come ha detto qualcuno, un nuovo Vietnam per le forze della
coalizione. (...)».
Ministro, la previsione del bilancio della Difesa per il 2004 vede
ancora un taglio dei fondi. Ci sono dei programmi a rischio?
«(...) Certo, mi dispiace che là dove la spesa pubblica è giustificata,
come nella Difesa, si spenda di meno [SIC]. La Difesa non è un apparato
dello Stato, è lo Stato».
http://ilmessaggero.caltanet.it/
view.php?data=20031017&ediz=01_NAZIONALE&npag=1&file=GOLINI.xml&type=STA
NDARD
ARRIVA LA BRIGATA ALBANESE
di ANTONIO GOLINI
LA LEGIONE straniera: degli stranieri al servizio della Francia. Questa
è la definizione che campeggia sul sito Internet della famosissima
legione che finora ha visto morire, sacrificandosi per la Francia, 35
mila stranieri di tutte le parti del mondo. Una legione, singolare per
molti versi, che affonda le sue radici nel lontano 1831 e che finora è
rimasta unica, o quasi. Ma da qualche tempo si parla di un progetto per
crearne una anche in Italia. Almeno queste sembrano essere le proposte
contenute in una analisi dell’Istituto di studi e ricerche della difesa
e questa è una ipotesi cui ha fatto cenno il ministro della Difesa,
Antonio Martino, parlandone ieri ai giornalisti come di un fatto «che
non è assolutamente scandaloso». L’idea sarebbe quella di reclutare
extracomunitari dando così vita a un corpo simile alla legione
straniera francese.
La demografia è tutt’altro che estranea a questo progetto. I
diciottenni maschi sono calati da circa 500 mila nel 1982 a circa 320
mila nel 2002 e contemporaneamente gli obiettori di coscienza non
importa se del tutto convinti o meno convinti sono cresciuti
straordinariamente. Da qui la ”esigenza” di abolire la leva (la cui
fine è stata anticipata al 2005), una macchina costosa che non
garantiva più un reclutamento adeguato. Ma di nuovo la demografia ci
mette lo zampino: le pochissime nascite degli ultimi decenni si
riflettono in un decrescente numero di giovani. In particolare quelli
di età compresa fra i 20 e i 40 anni, che sono coloro da cui dovrebbero
provenire le forze armate professioniste, stanno calando a un ritmo di
300 mila all’anno e così continuerà ad essere per molti anni e così
continuerà ad essere per molti anni a venire. Questa fortissima
diminuzione dei giovani, che sta anche alla base della consistente
immigrazione straniera, crea da parte del ”mercato del lavoro civile”
una fortissima concorrenza al ”mercato del lavoro militare”. Si
ripropone così il problema di avere un numero adeguato di forze armate,
attive, fra l’altro, in un crescente numero di parti del mondo ad
assicurare o a mantenere la pace. Ed ecco la proposta di costituire una
brigata, per esempio, di albanesi, e più in generale di arruolare
immigrati che, per quello che si sa, dovrebbero essere muniti di
permesso di soggiorno di almeno un anno e avere la residenza in Italia;
otterrebbero la cittadinanza italiana dopo almeno cinque anni di
servizio volontario, svolto eventualmente anche all’estero nelle
numerose missioni di pace in cui siamo impegnati.
Sulla proposta si sono avute, a suo tempo, interpellanze parlamentari
che fra l’altro sottolineano la «inaccettabile prosa neocoloniale nei
confronti dell’Albania, quale ex ”protettorato” fascista del Re
d’Italia». Bisogna essere realisti però. Le condizioni di contesto sono
quelle sottolineate prima e gli albanesi sono, fra gli immigrati,
quelli che parlano di più e meglio l’italiano. E d’altra parte se si
guarda alla Francia si trova che i 7.770 legionari, che hanno un’età
media di 23 anni, provengono da 136 Paesi diversi, ma con una
nettissima maggioranza (50 per cento) di slavi.
Il problema più rilevante mi pare un altro, e cioè che i nostri
”legionari” acquisirebbero la cittadinanza italiana soltanto dopo
cinque anni di servizio. Come si può immaginare che si possa chiedere a
delle persone di entrare in un esercito che dovrebbe avere come quello
francese uno straordinario spirito di corpo e il culto della missione
da compiere da straniero e non da cittadino italiano? Come si può
pensare che in un Paese così vivace politicamente e socialmente come il
nostro non ci sarebbero manifestazioni di un giusto e netto disagio
morale per il fatto di richiedere a stranieri un servizio delicato e
oneroso, pericoloso in alcuni casi, prima ancora che siano stati
accettati come italiani?
--- ENGLISH ---
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bp/Qitaly-albania-army.RZTX_DOH.html
Italy may enlist Albanian recruits in the army
Friday, 17-Oct-2003 8:40AM
Story from AFP
Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
ROME, Oct 17 (AFP) - Italy could seek to recruit Albanians to reverse a
fall in numbers in the Italian army, Defense Minister Antonio Marzano
[read: Martino] said Friday in an interview.
"I think the idea of recruiting Albanians in the Italian army is a good
one and I don't think there is anything scandalous about it. Our
demography is disastrous: the number of elderly people is rising and
the number of young people is falling," Marzano [read: Martino] told Il
Messagero daily.
The Italian army is set to turn professional in 2005 with the end of
conscription and is having trouble recruiting new members.
"At the end of serving five years in the army, the Albanians could then
become Italian citizens, and on top of that they would have learnt a
profession," he added.
There are more than 144,000 Albanians in Italy and they form the second
largest immigrant group in the country. But Italians are sometimes wary
of them, as mafia gangs of Albanian origin are said to be operating in
Italy.
The Italian and Albanian police have already joined forces as the
result of an accord signed between both countries in 1997 whereby the
Italian police frequenty patrols Albanian waters looking for would-be
illegal immigrants.
clr/ebk/jkb
Italy-Albania-army
(see english summary at bottom)
Il Messaggero (Roma), Venerdì 17 Ottobre 2003
http://ilmessaggero.caltanet.it/
view.php?data=20031017&ediz=01_NAZIONALE&npag=15&file=A.xml&type=STANDAR
D
Martino: sì agli albanesi nell’Esercito italiano
Il ministro: «Non mi pare scandaloso». «L’Iraq? L’opposizione non sia
autolesionista»
di CARLO MERCURI
ROMA - «Una volta, in Albania, feci un pensiero ad alta voce. Dissi:
“Sarebbe bello arruolare una brigata albanese nell’Esercito italiano”.
Pensavo che la cosa fosse finita lì, invece qualche tempo dopo il mio
collega Pandeli Majko mi chiese conto di quell’affermazione. Mi disse:
“Vanno avanti i lavori per la Brigata albanese”? [SIC] A Tirana avevano
preso molto sul serio la mia idea».
Invece a Roma, ministro Martino, che effetto ha fatto la sua proposta?
«Guardi, io non ci trovo nulla di scandaloso. In Italia abbiamo una
situazione demografica disastrosa: aumentano gli anziani e diminuiscono
i giovani. L’idea di arruolare gli albanesi nell’Esercito italiano è
buona: alla fine dei cinque anni di ferma gli albanesi potrebbero
diventare cittadini italiani e, in più, avrebbero imparato un mestiere
[SIC]. D’altronde, i francesi hanno la Legione straniera, gli inglesi
hanno i “Gurkha”. Perché noi no? [SIC]».
A che punto è, ministro, l’Europa della Difesa?
«Preferirei parlare di Europa della sicurezza, essendo il concetto di
Difesa molto cambiato negli ultimi anni [SIC]. (...)».
Ministro, l’Onu ha appena varato una risoluzione che dà il via a una
Forza multinazionale in Iraq. Che ne pensa?
«Che è un fatto meraviglioso [SIC]. Io sono convinto che l’Iraq non
sarà, come ha detto qualcuno, un nuovo Vietnam per le forze della
coalizione. (...)».
Ministro, la previsione del bilancio della Difesa per il 2004 vede
ancora un taglio dei fondi. Ci sono dei programmi a rischio?
«(...) Certo, mi dispiace che là dove la spesa pubblica è giustificata,
come nella Difesa, si spenda di meno [SIC]. La Difesa non è un apparato
dello Stato, è lo Stato».
http://ilmessaggero.caltanet.it/
view.php?data=20031017&ediz=01_NAZIONALE&npag=1&file=GOLINI.xml&type=STA
NDARD
ARRIVA LA BRIGATA ALBANESE
di ANTONIO GOLINI
LA LEGIONE straniera: degli stranieri al servizio della Francia. Questa
è la definizione che campeggia sul sito Internet della famosissima
legione che finora ha visto morire, sacrificandosi per la Francia, 35
mila stranieri di tutte le parti del mondo. Una legione, singolare per
molti versi, che affonda le sue radici nel lontano 1831 e che finora è
rimasta unica, o quasi. Ma da qualche tempo si parla di un progetto per
crearne una anche in Italia. Almeno queste sembrano essere le proposte
contenute in una analisi dell’Istituto di studi e ricerche della difesa
e questa è una ipotesi cui ha fatto cenno il ministro della Difesa,
Antonio Martino, parlandone ieri ai giornalisti come di un fatto «che
non è assolutamente scandaloso». L’idea sarebbe quella di reclutare
extracomunitari dando così vita a un corpo simile alla legione
straniera francese.
La demografia è tutt’altro che estranea a questo progetto. I
diciottenni maschi sono calati da circa 500 mila nel 1982 a circa 320
mila nel 2002 e contemporaneamente gli obiettori di coscienza non
importa se del tutto convinti o meno convinti sono cresciuti
straordinariamente. Da qui la ”esigenza” di abolire la leva (la cui
fine è stata anticipata al 2005), una macchina costosa che non
garantiva più un reclutamento adeguato. Ma di nuovo la demografia ci
mette lo zampino: le pochissime nascite degli ultimi decenni si
riflettono in un decrescente numero di giovani. In particolare quelli
di età compresa fra i 20 e i 40 anni, che sono coloro da cui dovrebbero
provenire le forze armate professioniste, stanno calando a un ritmo di
300 mila all’anno e così continuerà ad essere per molti anni e così
continuerà ad essere per molti anni a venire. Questa fortissima
diminuzione dei giovani, che sta anche alla base della consistente
immigrazione straniera, crea da parte del ”mercato del lavoro civile”
una fortissima concorrenza al ”mercato del lavoro militare”. Si
ripropone così il problema di avere un numero adeguato di forze armate,
attive, fra l’altro, in un crescente numero di parti del mondo ad
assicurare o a mantenere la pace. Ed ecco la proposta di costituire una
brigata, per esempio, di albanesi, e più in generale di arruolare
immigrati che, per quello che si sa, dovrebbero essere muniti di
permesso di soggiorno di almeno un anno e avere la residenza in Italia;
otterrebbero la cittadinanza italiana dopo almeno cinque anni di
servizio volontario, svolto eventualmente anche all’estero nelle
numerose missioni di pace in cui siamo impegnati.
Sulla proposta si sono avute, a suo tempo, interpellanze parlamentari
che fra l’altro sottolineano la «inaccettabile prosa neocoloniale nei
confronti dell’Albania, quale ex ”protettorato” fascista del Re
d’Italia». Bisogna essere realisti però. Le condizioni di contesto sono
quelle sottolineate prima e gli albanesi sono, fra gli immigrati,
quelli che parlano di più e meglio l’italiano. E d’altra parte se si
guarda alla Francia si trova che i 7.770 legionari, che hanno un’età
media di 23 anni, provengono da 136 Paesi diversi, ma con una
nettissima maggioranza (50 per cento) di slavi.
Il problema più rilevante mi pare un altro, e cioè che i nostri
”legionari” acquisirebbero la cittadinanza italiana soltanto dopo
cinque anni di servizio. Come si può immaginare che si possa chiedere a
delle persone di entrare in un esercito che dovrebbe avere come quello
francese uno straordinario spirito di corpo e il culto della missione
da compiere da straniero e non da cittadino italiano? Come si può
pensare che in un Paese così vivace politicamente e socialmente come il
nostro non ci sarebbero manifestazioni di un giusto e netto disagio
morale per il fatto di richiedere a stranieri un servizio delicato e
oneroso, pericoloso in alcuni casi, prima ancora che siano stati
accettati come italiani?
--- ENGLISH ---
http://www.ptd.net/webnews/wed/bp/Qitaly-albania-army.RZTX_DOH.html
Italy may enlist Albanian recruits in the army
Friday, 17-Oct-2003 8:40AM
Story from AFP
Copyright 2003 by Agence France-Presse (via ClariNet)
ROME, Oct 17 (AFP) - Italy could seek to recruit Albanians to reverse a
fall in numbers in the Italian army, Defense Minister Antonio Marzano
[read: Martino] said Friday in an interview.
"I think the idea of recruiting Albanians in the Italian army is a good
one and I don't think there is anything scandalous about it. Our
demography is disastrous: the number of elderly people is rising and
the number of young people is falling," Marzano [read: Martino] told Il
Messagero daily.
The Italian army is set to turn professional in 2005 with the end of
conscription and is having trouble recruiting new members.
"At the end of serving five years in the army, the Albanians could then
become Italian citizens, and on top of that they would have learnt a
profession," he added.
There are more than 144,000 Albanians in Italy and they form the second
largest immigrant group in the country. But Italians are sometimes wary
of them, as mafia gangs of Albanian origin are said to be operating in
Italy.
The Italian and Albanian police have already joined forces as the
result of an accord signed between both countries in 1997 whereby the
Italian police frequenty patrols Albanian waters looking for would-be
illegal immigrants.
clr/ebk/jkb
Italy-Albania-army
I RETROSCENA DELLA DEPORTAZIONE DEI ROM
DALL’ UE IN SERBIA
(za verziju na srpskohrvatskom gledaj:
http://www.politika.co.yu/2003/1025/01_05.htm ili
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2901 )
Popolo senza indirizzo
In un mese, soltanto dalla Germania, 4000 rom sono stati deportati in
SMN [Serbia-Montenegro, denominazione imposta alla Repubblica Federale
di Jugoslavia in vista della sua liquidazione, ndT]
Atterrando all’aeroporto di Surcin a Belgrado, i rom deportati dalla
Germania rimangono praticamente da soli, abbandonati al proprio
destino. La maggiorparte quando esce dall’aereo non sa dove andare,
giacché alcuni sono stati per l’ultima volta a Belgrado 15 anni fa.
Quando chiedete loro: "Dove andrete ora?", vi rispondono: "Non lo so".
Molti di loro non sanno nemmeno la lingua serba, perché nati in
Germania.
È significativo, secondo l’attivista del movimento antiglobalizzazione
Andrej Grubacic, che la deportazione dei rom, ma anche di altre
nazionalità, si svolga "nel totale silenzio, e nemmeno qui nessuno ne
parla". Lui è uno dei pochi che si è trovato all’arrivo dell’aereo
delle linee JAT che di solito ogni secondo mercoledì trasportano questa
"gente senza indirizzo".
In un solo mese sono stati deportati dalla Germania in Serbia 4000 rom,
mentre nel corso dell’anno, da tutti i Paesi europei, sono stati 12000.
Molti sono stati cacciati dai loro posti di lavoro e dalle loro case,
dalle quali hanno potuto riprendere soltanto le cose personali. Sono
stati cacciati - dalla Svezia, dall'Olanda, dal Belgio, dal
Lussemburgo, dalla Repubblica Ceca, dall'Ungheria ed altri paesi -
tutti quelli che non hanno potuto regolarizzare il proprio status.
L’esodo dei rom
Entro la fine di quest’anno, 40.000 rom verranno deportati nel nostro
paese. La maggiorparte di loro è socialmente a rischio, ed, a causa
della mancanza di documenti regolari, non possono dimostrare di essere
cittadini della SMN.
"L’estromissione della popolazione rom dai paesi europei con accordi di
deportazione è un atto amorale", dice Dejan Markovic, collaboratore del
Centro per la affermazione dei rom con sede a Bonn. L’ accordo sul
rimpatrio, tra la Germania e la RF di Jugoslavia, è stato firmato gia'
nel 1996. E' stato sospeso durante i bombardamenti NATO e di nuovo
rinnovato nel 2001.
Markovic sottolinea come non solo la Germania, ma anche altri paesi
europei, nell’intento di "ripulire" il proprio paese, ripieghino su
questo esodo "moderno" dei rom. Secondo le sue parole "questo non è
democratico, perché alla firma dell’ Accordo non hanno partecipato i
rappresentanti della popolazione rom". Tale decisione è stata presa
senza tener conto di una ulteriore destinazione dei rom i quali non
possiedono nessun bene immobile in Serbia, mentre più di 180.000 mila
di loro sono scappati dal Kosovo [-Metohija, ndT] dove non possono
tornare a causa della situazione di terrore.
"I media tedeschi scrivono abbastanza sulla deportazione dei Rom. Io
stesso ho rilasciato 9 interviste per vari giornali tedeschi"
sottolinea Markovic. Dice, inoltre, che Rajko Djuric, fino a pochissimo
tempo fa presidente dell’Organizzazione mondiale dei rom , si sta
adoperando molto perché i rom, vittime del genocidio nel Kosovo, in
Germania ottengano il corrispondente status, e su questo si sta
adoperando anche la Società per i rifugiati a Goettingen. All’inizio il
governo tedesco teneva in considerazione che i rom del Kosovo fossero
esclusi dalla deportazione, e ciò è valso fino al 3 maggio 2002, quando
ad una conferenza dei ministri degli Interni è stato deciso che questa
decisione fosse tolta.
Ciò significa che i rom del Kosovo devono essere rimandati indietro.
Una certa dose di razzismo
Il presidente del Comitato dei giuristi per i diritti civili, Biljana
Kovacevic Vuco, ritiene che "l’Unione europea vuole ripulire i propri
paesi dalle altre popolazioni con metodi che sfiorano il razzismo". Lei
propone di formare una commissione statale che si occupi della gente
che viene con forza rimandata in Serbia e della realizzazione
dell’accordo nel quale sono fissati i diritti ed i doveri del nostro
governo e di quello tedesco in relazione all’assistenza dei rom, e
delle altre minoranze che si trovano in grande disaggio nella nuova
società.
Il Ministro per i diritti delle minoranze del Consiglio dei ministri
della federazione serbo-montenegrina, Rasim Ljajic, dice che
l’inserimento della Serbia e Montenegro nell’Unione Europea viene
condizionato al rispetto dei diritti delle minoranze ed in particolare
all’esistenza di una chiara strategia per il miglioramento della
situazione dei rom e delle altre minoranze nei propri paesi.
Questa è la strategia europea sul collocamento dei rom nei propri
paesi, perché si impedisca l’immigrazione dei rom nei paesi ricchi
d’Europa.
"Questa strategia viene osservata dall’Europa in modo tale che ai rom
vengono promesse grosse somme di denaro ma poi vengono date le
briciole", dice Rasim Ljajic. Abbiamo chiesto al governo tedesco che la
deportazione dei rom venga effettuata gradualmente, perché non abbiamo
soldi sufficienti e non ci sono nemmeno centri di accoglienza, e la
nostra sfera di azione è dunque limitata. I rom deportati, ma anche le
altre minoranze, rimangono a Belgrado oppure vanno nella Serbia
centrale, perché nel Kosovo per loro non è garantita l’incolumità. Ed è
proprio da questa regione che questi profughi provengono, in
maggioranza."
La Serbia ed il Montenegro, in collaborazione con l’OEBS, hanno
costituito un Consiglio nazionale dei rom. Il Ministero per i diritti
delle minoranze ha organizzato una strategia d’integrazione per
l’istruzione, l’occupazione dei rifugiati, l’accesso all’assistenza e
previdenza sociale e medica, come anche la possibilità di ottenere i
documenti necessari. Ma anche in questo ci sono problemi, in
particolare la rinuncia a iscrivere la residenza, senza la quale i rom
oltreché rimanere senza tetto, non possono nemmeno accedere
all’assistenza sociale e medica.
Nada Kovacevic
Traduzione di Ivan per il CNJ
DALL’ UE IN SERBIA
(za verziju na srpskohrvatskom gledaj:
http://www.politika.co.yu/2003/1025/01_05.htm ili
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2901 )
Popolo senza indirizzo
In un mese, soltanto dalla Germania, 4000 rom sono stati deportati in
SMN [Serbia-Montenegro, denominazione imposta alla Repubblica Federale
di Jugoslavia in vista della sua liquidazione, ndT]
Atterrando all’aeroporto di Surcin a Belgrado, i rom deportati dalla
Germania rimangono praticamente da soli, abbandonati al proprio
destino. La maggiorparte quando esce dall’aereo non sa dove andare,
giacché alcuni sono stati per l’ultima volta a Belgrado 15 anni fa.
Quando chiedete loro: "Dove andrete ora?", vi rispondono: "Non lo so".
Molti di loro non sanno nemmeno la lingua serba, perché nati in
Germania.
È significativo, secondo l’attivista del movimento antiglobalizzazione
Andrej Grubacic, che la deportazione dei rom, ma anche di altre
nazionalità, si svolga "nel totale silenzio, e nemmeno qui nessuno ne
parla". Lui è uno dei pochi che si è trovato all’arrivo dell’aereo
delle linee JAT che di solito ogni secondo mercoledì trasportano questa
"gente senza indirizzo".
In un solo mese sono stati deportati dalla Germania in Serbia 4000 rom,
mentre nel corso dell’anno, da tutti i Paesi europei, sono stati 12000.
Molti sono stati cacciati dai loro posti di lavoro e dalle loro case,
dalle quali hanno potuto riprendere soltanto le cose personali. Sono
stati cacciati - dalla Svezia, dall'Olanda, dal Belgio, dal
Lussemburgo, dalla Repubblica Ceca, dall'Ungheria ed altri paesi -
tutti quelli che non hanno potuto regolarizzare il proprio status.
L’esodo dei rom
Entro la fine di quest’anno, 40.000 rom verranno deportati nel nostro
paese. La maggiorparte di loro è socialmente a rischio, ed, a causa
della mancanza di documenti regolari, non possono dimostrare di essere
cittadini della SMN.
"L’estromissione della popolazione rom dai paesi europei con accordi di
deportazione è un atto amorale", dice Dejan Markovic, collaboratore del
Centro per la affermazione dei rom con sede a Bonn. L’ accordo sul
rimpatrio, tra la Germania e la RF di Jugoslavia, è stato firmato gia'
nel 1996. E' stato sospeso durante i bombardamenti NATO e di nuovo
rinnovato nel 2001.
Markovic sottolinea come non solo la Germania, ma anche altri paesi
europei, nell’intento di "ripulire" il proprio paese, ripieghino su
questo esodo "moderno" dei rom. Secondo le sue parole "questo non è
democratico, perché alla firma dell’ Accordo non hanno partecipato i
rappresentanti della popolazione rom". Tale decisione è stata presa
senza tener conto di una ulteriore destinazione dei rom i quali non
possiedono nessun bene immobile in Serbia, mentre più di 180.000 mila
di loro sono scappati dal Kosovo [-Metohija, ndT] dove non possono
tornare a causa della situazione di terrore.
"I media tedeschi scrivono abbastanza sulla deportazione dei Rom. Io
stesso ho rilasciato 9 interviste per vari giornali tedeschi"
sottolinea Markovic. Dice, inoltre, che Rajko Djuric, fino a pochissimo
tempo fa presidente dell’Organizzazione mondiale dei rom , si sta
adoperando molto perché i rom, vittime del genocidio nel Kosovo, in
Germania ottengano il corrispondente status, e su questo si sta
adoperando anche la Società per i rifugiati a Goettingen. All’inizio il
governo tedesco teneva in considerazione che i rom del Kosovo fossero
esclusi dalla deportazione, e ciò è valso fino al 3 maggio 2002, quando
ad una conferenza dei ministri degli Interni è stato deciso che questa
decisione fosse tolta.
Ciò significa che i rom del Kosovo devono essere rimandati indietro.
Una certa dose di razzismo
Il presidente del Comitato dei giuristi per i diritti civili, Biljana
Kovacevic Vuco, ritiene che "l’Unione europea vuole ripulire i propri
paesi dalle altre popolazioni con metodi che sfiorano il razzismo". Lei
propone di formare una commissione statale che si occupi della gente
che viene con forza rimandata in Serbia e della realizzazione
dell’accordo nel quale sono fissati i diritti ed i doveri del nostro
governo e di quello tedesco in relazione all’assistenza dei rom, e
delle altre minoranze che si trovano in grande disaggio nella nuova
società.
Il Ministro per i diritti delle minoranze del Consiglio dei ministri
della federazione serbo-montenegrina, Rasim Ljajic, dice che
l’inserimento della Serbia e Montenegro nell’Unione Europea viene
condizionato al rispetto dei diritti delle minoranze ed in particolare
all’esistenza di una chiara strategia per il miglioramento della
situazione dei rom e delle altre minoranze nei propri paesi.
Questa è la strategia europea sul collocamento dei rom nei propri
paesi, perché si impedisca l’immigrazione dei rom nei paesi ricchi
d’Europa.
"Questa strategia viene osservata dall’Europa in modo tale che ai rom
vengono promesse grosse somme di denaro ma poi vengono date le
briciole", dice Rasim Ljajic. Abbiamo chiesto al governo tedesco che la
deportazione dei rom venga effettuata gradualmente, perché non abbiamo
soldi sufficienti e non ci sono nemmeno centri di accoglienza, e la
nostra sfera di azione è dunque limitata. I rom deportati, ma anche le
altre minoranze, rimangono a Belgrado oppure vanno nella Serbia
centrale, perché nel Kosovo per loro non è garantita l’incolumità. Ed è
proprio da questa regione che questi profughi provengono, in
maggioranza."
La Serbia ed il Montenegro, in collaborazione con l’OEBS, hanno
costituito un Consiglio nazionale dei rom. Il Ministero per i diritti
delle minoranze ha organizzato una strategia d’integrazione per
l’istruzione, l’occupazione dei rifugiati, l’accesso all’assistenza e
previdenza sociale e medica, come anche la possibilità di ottenere i
documenti necessari. Ma anche in questo ci sono problemi, in
particolare la rinuncia a iscrivere la residenza, senza la quale i rom
oltreché rimanere senza tetto, non possono nemmeno accedere
all’assistenza sociale e medica.
Nada Kovacevic
Traduzione di Ivan per il CNJ
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