Informazione
Tante scuse
(si veda anche:
"TANTE SCUSE" DA PARTE DEI SERBI
di Bane Popovic, Belgrado, 27 maggio 2002
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1838
Bane Popovic: Srpska izvinjotina
Beograd, 27 maj 2002.
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1810
Bane Popovic: A Serb Apology
Belgrade, May 27, 2002
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1819 )
---
Scuse
Dopo le scuse reciproche tra Mesic e Marovic
I BOSGNACCHI (1) CHIEDONO DA MESIC LE SCUSE PER LA GUERRA IN
BOSNIA-ERZEGOVINA
Le scuse che a Belgrado si sono scambiati il Presidente della Croazia
Stjepan Mesic ed il Presidente della Unione di Serbia e Montenegro
Svetozar Marovic hanno suscitato una grande eco politica anche nella
Bosnia-Erzegovina. Oltre ad espressioni di approvazione, alcuni
rappresentanti del vertice politico bosgnacco ritornano ad esprimere
l’opinione secondo cui un gesto simile si dovrebbe fare in relazione
alla guerra in Bosnia-Erzegovina. Il segretario generale del partito
SDA (2), Sefik Dzaferovic, invita i presidenti della Repubblica di
Croazia e della Federazione Serbomontenegrina ad inviare le scuse alla
Bosnia-Erzegovina per i crimini ed i danni che, secondo le sue parole,
i paesi vicini hanno commesso durante la guerra. Egli ritiene che le
scuse belgradesi sono rimaste incomplete perche’ non si sono scusati
con la Bosnia-Erzegovina e con i suoi cittadini, che sono stati le piu’
grandi vittime della guerra sul territorio dell’ex-Jugoslavia. Il
segretario della SDA ritiene che contro la Bosnia-Erzegovina sia stata
commessa una aggressione, il che secondo lui si puo’ verificare sulla
base delle condanne finora emanate dal Tribunale dell’Aia.
Il Presidente del Club dei deputati dell’HDZ (3) nel parlamento della
Federazione [croato-musulmana] di Bosnia-Erzegovina, Ivica Madunic,
ritiene che Mesic non si dovesse scusare con nessuno a Belgrado e che
questo dimostra che egli e’ un pessimo politico. Sulla posizione dei
rappresentanti dell’SDA, secondo Madunic essi considerano la
Bosnia-Erzegovina come patria loro esclusiva.
- Bisogna porre la domanda di chi si scusera’ con le madri croate che
hanno perso i figli in questa guerra. Ritengo percio’ che neanche Mesic
dovrebbe scusarsi con nessuno. Non vedo perche’ egli dovrebbe scusarsi
con la Bosnia-Erzegovina, conclude Madunic.
Il segretario generale del Partito Radicale Serbo (4) Tadic ritiene che
le scuse tra i leader dei paesi della ex Jugoslavia sono benvenute. –
Ma quando e’ in questione la posizione dell’SDS, devo chiedermi: quando
sara’ che il loro capo, il criminale di guerra Alija Izetbegovic, si
scusera’ per le vittime serbe e croate, e per quelle musulmane che ha
condotto in questa guerra cruenta con le sue manovre?, conclude Tadic.
Il presidente della Comunita’ ebraica nella Bosnia-Erzegovina, Jakob
Finci, ritiene che non sia ancora il momento perche’ sul territorio
della ex Jugoslavia ci si scusi reciprocamente di qualcosa.
(Fonte: Vecernji List, Zagabria, 17/9/2003)
1. "Bosgnacchi" sono i musulmani della Bosnia – e non tutti gli
abitanti "bosniaci" - in base alla nuova dizione nazionalista.
2. L’SDA e’ il partito di Alija Izetbegovic.
3. L’HDZ e’ il partito dei nazionalisti croati, fondato da Tudjman; ci
si riferisce qui alla sezione della Bosnia.
4. Il partito di Seselj in Bosnia.
---
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=2438
Le scuse di Mesic diminuiscono la sua popolarita’
Il presidente croato si scusa in pubblico per i crimini commessi dai
cittadini croati nei confronti della popolazione serba in risposta ad
una medesima dichiarazione del presidente della Serbia e Montenegro nei
confronti dei cittadini Croati
(12/09/2003) In un solo giorno il presidente croato Stjepan Mesic ha
perso lo status di politico piu’ positivo in Croazia di cui, secondo i
sondaggi di opinione pubblica, beneficiava da ormai quattro anni. Il
motivo e quello delle scuse porte a Belgrado durante una conversazione
con il presidente della Serbia e Montenegro Svetozar Marovic. Mesic ha
dichiarato: “Mi scuso con tutti gli individui a cui i cittadini Croati
abbiano recato danno mentre svolgevano azioni in violazione della
legge e abusavano della loro posizione”.
Con questa dichiarazione, Mesic ha solo risposto alle scuse porte da
Marovic durante l’incontro di Belgrado avvenuto il 10 settembre. “Mi
scuso per tutto il male che i cittadini della Serbia e Montenegro hanno
causato ai cittadini della Croazia” ha detto il presidente Marovic e
Mesic ha risposto in modo simile.
La sera stessa Mesic ha chiarito perche’ si e’ scusato “Stavo pensando
alla Prima e alla Seconda guerra mondiale, e anche ai crimini di Paulin
Dvor del 1991 quando i membri dell’Armata croata hanno tenuto in
custodia 19 Serbi e un Ungherese e poi e’ giunto un altro soldato
croato e a sangue freddo ha ucciso i civili tenuti in custodia. In
qualita’ di presidente della Croazia come avrei potuto non scusarmi per
questi fatti?”.
L’opinione pubblica in Croazia in gran parte crede ancora che il
proprio paese sia stato vittima durante la recente guerra e che i
soldati, combattendo contro l’aggressione serba, non hanno potuto
comettere crimini di guerra. La dichiarazione di Mesic non e’ stata ben
accolta dall’opinione pubblica. I sondaggi mostrano che il giorno dopo
le scuse di Mesic la sua popolarita’ dall’iniziale indice del 16.3% e’
caduta al 10.9% e per la prima volta il presidente croato e’ diventato
popolare come qualsiasi altro politico. In questo sensdo, Mesic e’ ora
simile a Ivo Sanader, il presidente dell’Unione democratica croata
(HDZ), il piu’ forte partito d’opposizione.
Mentre i rappresentanti della NATO e della comunita’ internazionale,
come Javier Solana, l’alto rappresentante per la politica estera
dell’Unione Europea, hanno espresso la loro piena approvazione per le
reciproche scuse, l’opposizione in Croazia e’ stata molto dispiaciuta
dalla impresa di Mesic. Ivic Pasalic, per lungo tempo consigliere del
defunto presidente Franjo Tudjman per gli affari interni, ed ora il
leader di un piccolo paritito di destra denominato Blocco croato, ha
considerato la dichiarazione di Mesic come “vergognosa”. Jadranka
Kosor, la vice presidente del HDZ, ha detto che il partito si oppone
alla teoria di Mesic secondo la quale “ognuno deve scusarsi con ognuno”.
Gran parte della opinione pubblica non e’ ancora pronta per
confrontarsi col fatto che i Croati, anche tenendo in considerazione il
fato che sono stati attaccati e che hanno combattuto in difesa, possono
aver commesso crimini di guerra. Mesic ha posto l’attenzione su questo
tipo di crimini riferendosi a quelli commessi a Paulin Dvor, vicino ad
Osijek nel sud-est della Croazia. Gli individui responsabili di tale
azione sono attualmente sotto processo.
Al tempo del predecessore di Mesic, Franjo Tudjman, la dottrina
ufficiale sentenziava che i Croati non possono aver commesso crimini di
guerra perche’ hanno difeso ilm paese. Questo e’ il motivo per cui una
buona parte dell’opinione pubblica croata vede ancora il latitante
generale Ante Gotovina, incriminato dal Tribunale dell’Aia per crimini
di guerra commessi durante l’azione militare del 1995 denominata
“Oluja” in cui la Croazia ha liberata una ampia fascia del suo
territorio, come un eroe nazionale.
La parte liberale dell’opinione pubblica ha ben accolto le scuse di
Mesic come una saggia mossa diplomatica. La maggioranza della
popolazione, comunque, ha valutato negativamente la dichiarazione di
Mesic, che gli e’ costata il calo di popolarita’
» Fonte: da Osijek, Drago Hedl ©
Osservatorio sui Balcani
(si veda anche:
"TANTE SCUSE" DA PARTE DEI SERBI
di Bane Popovic, Belgrado, 27 maggio 2002
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1838
Bane Popovic: Srpska izvinjotina
Beograd, 27 maj 2002.
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1810
Bane Popovic: A Serb Apology
Belgrade, May 27, 2002
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1819 )
---
Scuse
Dopo le scuse reciproche tra Mesic e Marovic
I BOSGNACCHI (1) CHIEDONO DA MESIC LE SCUSE PER LA GUERRA IN
BOSNIA-ERZEGOVINA
Le scuse che a Belgrado si sono scambiati il Presidente della Croazia
Stjepan Mesic ed il Presidente della Unione di Serbia e Montenegro
Svetozar Marovic hanno suscitato una grande eco politica anche nella
Bosnia-Erzegovina. Oltre ad espressioni di approvazione, alcuni
rappresentanti del vertice politico bosgnacco ritornano ad esprimere
l’opinione secondo cui un gesto simile si dovrebbe fare in relazione
alla guerra in Bosnia-Erzegovina. Il segretario generale del partito
SDA (2), Sefik Dzaferovic, invita i presidenti della Repubblica di
Croazia e della Federazione Serbomontenegrina ad inviare le scuse alla
Bosnia-Erzegovina per i crimini ed i danni che, secondo le sue parole,
i paesi vicini hanno commesso durante la guerra. Egli ritiene che le
scuse belgradesi sono rimaste incomplete perche’ non si sono scusati
con la Bosnia-Erzegovina e con i suoi cittadini, che sono stati le piu’
grandi vittime della guerra sul territorio dell’ex-Jugoslavia. Il
segretario della SDA ritiene che contro la Bosnia-Erzegovina sia stata
commessa una aggressione, il che secondo lui si puo’ verificare sulla
base delle condanne finora emanate dal Tribunale dell’Aia.
Il Presidente del Club dei deputati dell’HDZ (3) nel parlamento della
Federazione [croato-musulmana] di Bosnia-Erzegovina, Ivica Madunic,
ritiene che Mesic non si dovesse scusare con nessuno a Belgrado e che
questo dimostra che egli e’ un pessimo politico. Sulla posizione dei
rappresentanti dell’SDA, secondo Madunic essi considerano la
Bosnia-Erzegovina come patria loro esclusiva.
- Bisogna porre la domanda di chi si scusera’ con le madri croate che
hanno perso i figli in questa guerra. Ritengo percio’ che neanche Mesic
dovrebbe scusarsi con nessuno. Non vedo perche’ egli dovrebbe scusarsi
con la Bosnia-Erzegovina, conclude Madunic.
Il segretario generale del Partito Radicale Serbo (4) Tadic ritiene che
le scuse tra i leader dei paesi della ex Jugoslavia sono benvenute. –
Ma quando e’ in questione la posizione dell’SDS, devo chiedermi: quando
sara’ che il loro capo, il criminale di guerra Alija Izetbegovic, si
scusera’ per le vittime serbe e croate, e per quelle musulmane che ha
condotto in questa guerra cruenta con le sue manovre?, conclude Tadic.
Il presidente della Comunita’ ebraica nella Bosnia-Erzegovina, Jakob
Finci, ritiene che non sia ancora il momento perche’ sul territorio
della ex Jugoslavia ci si scusi reciprocamente di qualcosa.
(Fonte: Vecernji List, Zagabria, 17/9/2003)
1. "Bosgnacchi" sono i musulmani della Bosnia – e non tutti gli
abitanti "bosniaci" - in base alla nuova dizione nazionalista.
2. L’SDA e’ il partito di Alija Izetbegovic.
3. L’HDZ e’ il partito dei nazionalisti croati, fondato da Tudjman; ci
si riferisce qui alla sezione della Bosnia.
4. Il partito di Seselj in Bosnia.
---
http://auth.unimondo.org/cfdocs/obportal/
index.cfm?fuseaction=news.notizia&NewsID=2438
Le scuse di Mesic diminuiscono la sua popolarita’
Il presidente croato si scusa in pubblico per i crimini commessi dai
cittadini croati nei confronti della popolazione serba in risposta ad
una medesima dichiarazione del presidente della Serbia e Montenegro nei
confronti dei cittadini Croati
(12/09/2003) In un solo giorno il presidente croato Stjepan Mesic ha
perso lo status di politico piu’ positivo in Croazia di cui, secondo i
sondaggi di opinione pubblica, beneficiava da ormai quattro anni. Il
motivo e quello delle scuse porte a Belgrado durante una conversazione
con il presidente della Serbia e Montenegro Svetozar Marovic. Mesic ha
dichiarato: “Mi scuso con tutti gli individui a cui i cittadini Croati
abbiano recato danno mentre svolgevano azioni in violazione della
legge e abusavano della loro posizione”.
Con questa dichiarazione, Mesic ha solo risposto alle scuse porte da
Marovic durante l’incontro di Belgrado avvenuto il 10 settembre. “Mi
scuso per tutto il male che i cittadini della Serbia e Montenegro hanno
causato ai cittadini della Croazia” ha detto il presidente Marovic e
Mesic ha risposto in modo simile.
La sera stessa Mesic ha chiarito perche’ si e’ scusato “Stavo pensando
alla Prima e alla Seconda guerra mondiale, e anche ai crimini di Paulin
Dvor del 1991 quando i membri dell’Armata croata hanno tenuto in
custodia 19 Serbi e un Ungherese e poi e’ giunto un altro soldato
croato e a sangue freddo ha ucciso i civili tenuti in custodia. In
qualita’ di presidente della Croazia come avrei potuto non scusarmi per
questi fatti?”.
L’opinione pubblica in Croazia in gran parte crede ancora che il
proprio paese sia stato vittima durante la recente guerra e che i
soldati, combattendo contro l’aggressione serba, non hanno potuto
comettere crimini di guerra. La dichiarazione di Mesic non e’ stata ben
accolta dall’opinione pubblica. I sondaggi mostrano che il giorno dopo
le scuse di Mesic la sua popolarita’ dall’iniziale indice del 16.3% e’
caduta al 10.9% e per la prima volta il presidente croato e’ diventato
popolare come qualsiasi altro politico. In questo sensdo, Mesic e’ ora
simile a Ivo Sanader, il presidente dell’Unione democratica croata
(HDZ), il piu’ forte partito d’opposizione.
Mentre i rappresentanti della NATO e della comunita’ internazionale,
come Javier Solana, l’alto rappresentante per la politica estera
dell’Unione Europea, hanno espresso la loro piena approvazione per le
reciproche scuse, l’opposizione in Croazia e’ stata molto dispiaciuta
dalla impresa di Mesic. Ivic Pasalic, per lungo tempo consigliere del
defunto presidente Franjo Tudjman per gli affari interni, ed ora il
leader di un piccolo paritito di destra denominato Blocco croato, ha
considerato la dichiarazione di Mesic come “vergognosa”. Jadranka
Kosor, la vice presidente del HDZ, ha detto che il partito si oppone
alla teoria di Mesic secondo la quale “ognuno deve scusarsi con ognuno”.
Gran parte della opinione pubblica non e’ ancora pronta per
confrontarsi col fatto che i Croati, anche tenendo in considerazione il
fato che sono stati attaccati e che hanno combattuto in difesa, possono
aver commesso crimini di guerra. Mesic ha posto l’attenzione su questo
tipo di crimini riferendosi a quelli commessi a Paulin Dvor, vicino ad
Osijek nel sud-est della Croazia. Gli individui responsabili di tale
azione sono attualmente sotto processo.
Al tempo del predecessore di Mesic, Franjo Tudjman, la dottrina
ufficiale sentenziava che i Croati non possono aver commesso crimini di
guerra perche’ hanno difeso ilm paese. Questo e’ il motivo per cui una
buona parte dell’opinione pubblica croata vede ancora il latitante
generale Ante Gotovina, incriminato dal Tribunale dell’Aia per crimini
di guerra commessi durante l’azione militare del 1995 denominata
“Oluja” in cui la Croazia ha liberata una ampia fascia del suo
territorio, come un eroe nazionale.
La parte liberale dell’opinione pubblica ha ben accolto le scuse di
Mesic come una saggia mossa diplomatica. La maggioranza della
popolazione, comunque, ha valutato negativamente la dichiarazione di
Mesic, che gli e’ costata il calo di popolarita’
» Fonte: da Osijek, Drago Hedl ©
Osservatorio sui Balcani
(NOTA: Luc Michel ed il suo partito PCN sono tra l'altro gli ideatori
di un falso e provocatorio "Comitato francofono per la Difesa di
Slobodan Milosevic", che non e' riconosciuto dal comitato
internazionale ICDSM)
---
Réponse de Michel Collon aux calomnies de Luc Michel,
le fasciste qui crie "Au fasciste!"
Certains d’entre vous ont pu recevoir un mail intitulé “Belgique
France: les dérives rouge-brunes“. J’y suis accusé de collaborer avec
des réseaux d’extrême droite (sic)!
Ces calomnies grotesques émanent de Luc Michel qui dirige un groupe
fasciste, le “Parti Communautaire national-européen”. Ce qui est
intéressant, c’est d’éclairer les tactiques bizarres employées par
certains mouvements fascistes pour se déguiser et tromper des jeunes.
Merci donc de diffuser ma mise au point à ceux qui auraient reçu ce
torchon de mail !
Mise au point:
Luc Michel est d’une totale mauvaise foi. Il avance deux “preuves” de
ma collusion avec l’extrême-droite:
1. La présence d’un certain Marlaud, personnalité d’extrême droite,
parmi les personnes ayant reçu mes mails. Il faut savoir que je diffuse
régulièrement infos et analyses par Internet. N’importe qui peut
demander à s’inscrire sur cette liste qui compte environ dix mille
destinataires, après dix années d’action anti-guerre et de voyages dans
de nombreux pays. Il faut être particulièrement malhonnête pour
supposer que j’aurais les moyens de vérifier l’identité et le passé de
dix mille personnes.
2. L’autre “preuve” serait le fait qu’un site fasciste (voxnr) s’est
permis de reprendre un de mes articles qui a largement circulé sur
Internet. Mais je ne suis pas le seul auteur de gauche victime de ce
genre de détournements. Et, comme à chaque fois, je viens d’exiger
qu’il cesse immédiatement.
Luc Michel est le roi des hypocrites. Il sait très bien que partout où
je vais, je refuse d’être en que ce soit mêlé à une intervention de
l’extrême droite. Même quand un Le Pen fait semblant de soutenir telle
ou telle résistance à l’impérialisme US. D’ailleurs, l’acharnement de
Luc Michel vient précisément du fait que j’ai dénoncé ses tentatives de
s’infiltrer dans des mouvements internationaux opposés à l’attaque de
l’Otan contre la Yougoslavie et d’y créer une confusion “rouges-bruns”.
C’est pour cela qu’il m’en veut.
Luc Michel est le fasciste qui crie “Au fasciste!”, comme nous
allons le voir...
Qui est Luc Michel ?
“Créé en 1983 à partir de la section belge de Jeune Europe , le PCN se
veut l'héritier du national-bolchévisme du collaborateur belge Jean
Thiriart . (...) Luc Michel, actuel leader du PCN, est l'ancien
correspondant de la FANE (ex-parti nazi) en Belgique.] “ (site réseau
Voltaire.)
L’Etat français classe le PCN parmi les organisations d’extrême
droite, mais ce groupe fait tout pour échapper à cette qualification :
verbiage “progressiste”, accusations contre certains groupes fascistes
(en réalité surtout pour des raisons de rivalités), allant même jusqu’à
des éloges envers Marx, Lénine ou Che Guevara, bien entendu dénaturés
et tirés de tout contexte ! Une tactique pour favoriser l’entrisme ou
la manipulation de jeunes révoltés sans formation politique.
Consultable sur son site, le manifeste du PCN est très éloquent par
sa prose typique de l’extrême - droite, mais au service d’un courant
fasciste opposé à l’impérialisme US. Il revendique la création d’une
sorte de “Très Grande Europe” annexant la Russie et le Maghreb”.
Extraits :
L'EUROPE AUX EUROPEENS !
“Jean THIRIART développe le thème de la dimension vitale des Etats
nécessaire pour garantir leur indépendance et qui requiert à l'époque
moderne la taille des états continentaux. Théoricien de l'Etat unitaire
paneuropéen, Thiriart, face à la superpuissance américaine, plaide pour
la fusion de la Russie (sur ses frontières sibériennes en Orient) avec
l'Europe occidentale dans le cadre d'un Empire unitaire allant de
Reykjavik à Vladivostok et du Groenland au Sahara.
L'important étant de donner à l'Europe la Morale qui lui manque,
l'Ethique et l'Esthétique qui lui font défaut, la question est simple à
poser : il nous suffit d'être maîtres chez nous. La liberté est
garantie par la force. L'Europe doit être aux Européens.
L'unification de l'Europe ne pourra se faire qu'autour de plusieurs
moteurs : une mystique - la Nation européenne, une volonté politique -
l'Etat européen, seul capable d'assurer la puissance et la force -, des
moyens, en particulier un parti unique ayant la DIMENSION EUROPEENNE.
FIN DE CITATION
La “dimension vitale des Etats”, c’était le langage d’Hitler. Très
logiquement, en octobre 2000, Luc Michel a appelé à voter pour le parti
fasciste flamand Vlaams Blok.
La place de Luc Michel est dans les poubelles, et il est normal que ses
méthodes en aient les odeurs!
Michel Collon
PS. J’ai appris que les autres personnes calomniées par Luc Michel
avaient également réfuté ces stupidités. Ceux qui désireraient en
savoir davantage peuvent contacter :
- David Pestieau <david.pestieau@...> avec un dossier PCN sur
le site solidaire.org
http://www.ptb.be/scripts/article.phtml?section=A1AAAABG&obid=21095
- Roger Romain <r.romain@...>
- Oliver Rittweger <editions@...>
---
Luc Michel, continuateur de Thiriart,
est un fasciste de la “Très Grande Europe”
HERWIG LEROUGE
Luc Michel est le continuateur de Thiriart créateur des organisations
facistes Jeune Europe. Idélogue de la “très grande Europe” A propos de
Thiriart, il écrit sur le site du PCN :
“Fondateur de l'"Ecole euro-soviétique" au début des Années 80, Jean
THIRIART développe le thème de la dimension vitale des Etats nécessaire
pour garantir leur indépendance et qui requiert à l'époque moderne la
taille des états continentaux. Théoricien de l'Etat unitaire
paneuropéen, THIRIART étudie les causes de l'échec de l'Union
Soviétique, qu'il pressent dès 1980 et dont il stigmatise le
fédéralisme. Face à la superpuissance américaine, il plaide pour la
fusion de la Russie (sur ses frontières sibériennes en Orient) avec
l'Europe occidentale dans le cadre d'un Empire unitaire allant de
Reykjavik à Vladivostok et du Groenland au Sahara.
THIRIART développe sa thèse sur la construction de l'Europe contre les
Etats-Unis et son bras armé de l'OTAN. L'Europe unitaire se fera dans
le cadre d'une guerre de libération nationale contre l'occupant
américain et ses collaborateurs "européens".
THIRIART insiste sur la nécessité de l'organisation économique de
l'Europe sur une base autarcique, reprenant les théories de Friedrich
LIST.
THIRIART dénonce les vues limitées des politiciens européens, qui à la
suite du général de Gaulle, envisagent une Europe tronquée jusqu'à
l'Oural. L'Empire européen devra inclure la Sibérie et l'extrême-orient
ex-soviétique.
THIRIART s'en prend aux conceptions de l'Europe basées sur la religion
ou des théories pseudo-racistes. Ce sont les impératifs de la
Géopolitique et de la Géoéconomie qui déterminent les dimensions de la
Grande-Europe et par-là les populations qu'elle unifiera dans un Etat
unitaire. Pour lui, par exemple, la Turquie c'est aussi l'Europe. Il
insiste à ce sujet sur l'exogamie au sein de peuple européen.
THIRIART qui conçoit l'Empire européen comme une nouvelle Rome, la
quatrième Rome qui fait écho au concept messianique russe de la
"troisième Rome" (Moscou après Rome et Byzanze), expose la nécessité de
faire de la Méditerranée un Lac européen, une nouvelle "Mare nostrum".
Dans sa conception géopolitique de l'Europe unifiée, les deux rives de
la Méditerranée, avec leurs populations, font partie de l'Europe, dont
les frontières sud sont sur le Sahara. »
Michel a donc été le correspondant en Belgique du groupe nazi FANE en
Belgique.
L’anti-américanisme de ce courant ne sert qu’à la propagation de leur
“Très Grande Europe”, de l’Atlantique à l’Oural. Un thème cher à
Hitler. Leur Europe ne peut être, dans les circonstances actuelles,
que l’Europe allemande. Ils combattent les régionalismes européens qui
s’opposent à l’intégration européenne. Mais ils soutiennent les
régionalismes qui s’intègrent à l’Europe (L'organisation de cet Etat
européen en Provinces ou en Régions (s'appuyant essentiellement sur
des critères géo-économiques) disposant d'une autonomie de gestion, et
culturelle).
Cette vue est celle de la droite allemande qui soutient ce genre de
régionalisme à travers “l’association des régions frontalières
européennes”, exemple l’eurégio, “l’assemblée des régions d’Europe” et
autres.
Au lieu du racisme flamand ou français, ils propagent le racisme
européen : “L'important étant de donner à l'Europe la Morale qui lui
manque, l'Ethique et l'Esthétique qui lui font défaut, la question est
simple à poser : il nous suffit d'être maîtres chez nous”. En
n’hésitant pas à utiliser les mêmes slogans que le Vlaams Blok ou Agir.
Leur antifascisme n’est que de façade. C’est une lutte contre d’autres
courants fascistes. Ils ne soutiennent la résistance de Saddam ou de
Milosevic que dans la mesure où ils se tournent contre les USA. Ils ne
défendent pas l’indépendance de ces pays face à tout impérialisme.
di un falso e provocatorio "Comitato francofono per la Difesa di
Slobodan Milosevic", che non e' riconosciuto dal comitato
internazionale ICDSM)
---
Réponse de Michel Collon aux calomnies de Luc Michel,
le fasciste qui crie "Au fasciste!"
Certains d’entre vous ont pu recevoir un mail intitulé “Belgique
France: les dérives rouge-brunes“. J’y suis accusé de collaborer avec
des réseaux d’extrême droite (sic)!
Ces calomnies grotesques émanent de Luc Michel qui dirige un groupe
fasciste, le “Parti Communautaire national-européen”. Ce qui est
intéressant, c’est d’éclairer les tactiques bizarres employées par
certains mouvements fascistes pour se déguiser et tromper des jeunes.
Merci donc de diffuser ma mise au point à ceux qui auraient reçu ce
torchon de mail !
Mise au point:
Luc Michel est d’une totale mauvaise foi. Il avance deux “preuves” de
ma collusion avec l’extrême-droite:
1. La présence d’un certain Marlaud, personnalité d’extrême droite,
parmi les personnes ayant reçu mes mails. Il faut savoir que je diffuse
régulièrement infos et analyses par Internet. N’importe qui peut
demander à s’inscrire sur cette liste qui compte environ dix mille
destinataires, après dix années d’action anti-guerre et de voyages dans
de nombreux pays. Il faut être particulièrement malhonnête pour
supposer que j’aurais les moyens de vérifier l’identité et le passé de
dix mille personnes.
2. L’autre “preuve” serait le fait qu’un site fasciste (voxnr) s’est
permis de reprendre un de mes articles qui a largement circulé sur
Internet. Mais je ne suis pas le seul auteur de gauche victime de ce
genre de détournements. Et, comme à chaque fois, je viens d’exiger
qu’il cesse immédiatement.
Luc Michel est le roi des hypocrites. Il sait très bien que partout où
je vais, je refuse d’être en que ce soit mêlé à une intervention de
l’extrême droite. Même quand un Le Pen fait semblant de soutenir telle
ou telle résistance à l’impérialisme US. D’ailleurs, l’acharnement de
Luc Michel vient précisément du fait que j’ai dénoncé ses tentatives de
s’infiltrer dans des mouvements internationaux opposés à l’attaque de
l’Otan contre la Yougoslavie et d’y créer une confusion “rouges-bruns”.
C’est pour cela qu’il m’en veut.
Luc Michel est le fasciste qui crie “Au fasciste!”, comme nous
allons le voir...
Qui est Luc Michel ?
“Créé en 1983 à partir de la section belge de Jeune Europe , le PCN se
veut l'héritier du national-bolchévisme du collaborateur belge Jean
Thiriart . (...) Luc Michel, actuel leader du PCN, est l'ancien
correspondant de la FANE (ex-parti nazi) en Belgique.] “ (site réseau
Voltaire.)
L’Etat français classe le PCN parmi les organisations d’extrême
droite, mais ce groupe fait tout pour échapper à cette qualification :
verbiage “progressiste”, accusations contre certains groupes fascistes
(en réalité surtout pour des raisons de rivalités), allant même jusqu’à
des éloges envers Marx, Lénine ou Che Guevara, bien entendu dénaturés
et tirés de tout contexte ! Une tactique pour favoriser l’entrisme ou
la manipulation de jeunes révoltés sans formation politique.
Consultable sur son site, le manifeste du PCN est très éloquent par
sa prose typique de l’extrême - droite, mais au service d’un courant
fasciste opposé à l’impérialisme US. Il revendique la création d’une
sorte de “Très Grande Europe” annexant la Russie et le Maghreb”.
Extraits :
L'EUROPE AUX EUROPEENS !
“Jean THIRIART développe le thème de la dimension vitale des Etats
nécessaire pour garantir leur indépendance et qui requiert à l'époque
moderne la taille des états continentaux. Théoricien de l'Etat unitaire
paneuropéen, Thiriart, face à la superpuissance américaine, plaide pour
la fusion de la Russie (sur ses frontières sibériennes en Orient) avec
l'Europe occidentale dans le cadre d'un Empire unitaire allant de
Reykjavik à Vladivostok et du Groenland au Sahara.
L'important étant de donner à l'Europe la Morale qui lui manque,
l'Ethique et l'Esthétique qui lui font défaut, la question est simple à
poser : il nous suffit d'être maîtres chez nous. La liberté est
garantie par la force. L'Europe doit être aux Européens.
L'unification de l'Europe ne pourra se faire qu'autour de plusieurs
moteurs : une mystique - la Nation européenne, une volonté politique -
l'Etat européen, seul capable d'assurer la puissance et la force -, des
moyens, en particulier un parti unique ayant la DIMENSION EUROPEENNE.
FIN DE CITATION
La “dimension vitale des Etats”, c’était le langage d’Hitler. Très
logiquement, en octobre 2000, Luc Michel a appelé à voter pour le parti
fasciste flamand Vlaams Blok.
La place de Luc Michel est dans les poubelles, et il est normal que ses
méthodes en aient les odeurs!
Michel Collon
PS. J’ai appris que les autres personnes calomniées par Luc Michel
avaient également réfuté ces stupidités. Ceux qui désireraient en
savoir davantage peuvent contacter :
- David Pestieau <david.pestieau@...> avec un dossier PCN sur
le site solidaire.org
http://www.ptb.be/scripts/article.phtml?section=A1AAAABG&obid=21095
- Roger Romain <r.romain@...>
- Oliver Rittweger <editions@...>
---
Luc Michel, continuateur de Thiriart,
est un fasciste de la “Très Grande Europe”
HERWIG LEROUGE
Luc Michel est le continuateur de Thiriart créateur des organisations
facistes Jeune Europe. Idélogue de la “très grande Europe” A propos de
Thiriart, il écrit sur le site du PCN :
“Fondateur de l'"Ecole euro-soviétique" au début des Années 80, Jean
THIRIART développe le thème de la dimension vitale des Etats nécessaire
pour garantir leur indépendance et qui requiert à l'époque moderne la
taille des états continentaux. Théoricien de l'Etat unitaire
paneuropéen, THIRIART étudie les causes de l'échec de l'Union
Soviétique, qu'il pressent dès 1980 et dont il stigmatise le
fédéralisme. Face à la superpuissance américaine, il plaide pour la
fusion de la Russie (sur ses frontières sibériennes en Orient) avec
l'Europe occidentale dans le cadre d'un Empire unitaire allant de
Reykjavik à Vladivostok et du Groenland au Sahara.
THIRIART développe sa thèse sur la construction de l'Europe contre les
Etats-Unis et son bras armé de l'OTAN. L'Europe unitaire se fera dans
le cadre d'une guerre de libération nationale contre l'occupant
américain et ses collaborateurs "européens".
THIRIART insiste sur la nécessité de l'organisation économique de
l'Europe sur une base autarcique, reprenant les théories de Friedrich
LIST.
THIRIART dénonce les vues limitées des politiciens européens, qui à la
suite du général de Gaulle, envisagent une Europe tronquée jusqu'à
l'Oural. L'Empire européen devra inclure la Sibérie et l'extrême-orient
ex-soviétique.
THIRIART s'en prend aux conceptions de l'Europe basées sur la religion
ou des théories pseudo-racistes. Ce sont les impératifs de la
Géopolitique et de la Géoéconomie qui déterminent les dimensions de la
Grande-Europe et par-là les populations qu'elle unifiera dans un Etat
unitaire. Pour lui, par exemple, la Turquie c'est aussi l'Europe. Il
insiste à ce sujet sur l'exogamie au sein de peuple européen.
THIRIART qui conçoit l'Empire européen comme une nouvelle Rome, la
quatrième Rome qui fait écho au concept messianique russe de la
"troisième Rome" (Moscou après Rome et Byzanze), expose la nécessité de
faire de la Méditerranée un Lac européen, une nouvelle "Mare nostrum".
Dans sa conception géopolitique de l'Europe unifiée, les deux rives de
la Méditerranée, avec leurs populations, font partie de l'Europe, dont
les frontières sud sont sur le Sahara. »
Michel a donc été le correspondant en Belgique du groupe nazi FANE en
Belgique.
L’anti-américanisme de ce courant ne sert qu’à la propagation de leur
“Très Grande Europe”, de l’Atlantique à l’Oural. Un thème cher à
Hitler. Leur Europe ne peut être, dans les circonstances actuelles,
que l’Europe allemande. Ils combattent les régionalismes européens qui
s’opposent à l’intégration européenne. Mais ils soutiennent les
régionalismes qui s’intègrent à l’Europe (L'organisation de cet Etat
européen en Provinces ou en Régions (s'appuyant essentiellement sur
des critères géo-économiques) disposant d'une autonomie de gestion, et
culturelle).
Cette vue est celle de la droite allemande qui soutient ce genre de
régionalisme à travers “l’association des régions frontalières
européennes”, exemple l’eurégio, “l’assemblée des régions d’Europe” et
autres.
Au lieu du racisme flamand ou français, ils propagent le racisme
européen : “L'important étant de donner à l'Europe la Morale qui lui
manque, l'Ethique et l'Esthétique qui lui font défaut, la question est
simple à poser : il nous suffit d'être maîtres chez nous”. En
n’hésitant pas à utiliser les mêmes slogans que le Vlaams Blok ou Agir.
Leur antifascisme n’est que de façade. C’est une lutte contre d’autres
courants fascistes. Ils ne soutiennent la résistance de Saddam ou de
Milosevic que dans la mesure où ils se tournent contre les USA. Ils ne
défendent pas l’indépendance de ces pays face à tout impérialisme.
CARO SINDACO
(si veda:
ALBANIA: PETIZIONE A VELTRONI SU STATUA DI MADRE TERESA
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2641 )
Al Signor Walter Veltroni
Sindaco di Roma
(Via fax)
Egregio Signor Sindaco,
Non potreste, Lei e gli assessori della Sua corrente politica,
occuparVi piuttosto delle cose sociali e "terrestri", e lasciare quelle
ecclesiastiche allo Stato Città del Vaticano?!
Mi riferisco alla Sua decisione di innalzare una statua a Madre Teresa
di Calcutta a Roma. Come mai si decide di erigere un monumento, con
tanta premura, ad una persona che è stata al servizio dello Stato Città
del Vaticano, mentre si trovano tante difficoltà a dedicare una via a
Carla Capponi, patriota, combattente antifascista?!
Ma giacché ormai avete posto la questione, e poiché la targa da apporre
ha sollevato proteste presso i nazionalisti albanesi, per non subire i
ricatti dei soliti "capi tribù" faccia scrivere semplicemente "nata a
Skoplje", e basta. Per amore di verità storica e geografica, Le ricordo
che all’epoca della nascita della suddetta, Skoplje era una cittadina
della Serbia del Sud (esattamente "Povardarje"). Questa regione della
Serbia diventò poi, nella Jugoslavia Socialista e Federativa,
Repubblica Socialista di Macedonia con Skoplje per capitale. Ora
Skoplje è la capitale del FYROM (Ex Repubblica Jugoslava della
Macedonia). Adesso che avete spaccato tutto, decida un po’ Lei in che
Paese preferisce "inquadrare" la città di Skoplje…
Ivan Pavicevac, nato in Istria
(si veda:
ALBANIA: PETIZIONE A VELTRONI SU STATUA DI MADRE TERESA
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2641 )
Al Signor Walter Veltroni
Sindaco di Roma
(Via fax)
Egregio Signor Sindaco,
Non potreste, Lei e gli assessori della Sua corrente politica,
occuparVi piuttosto delle cose sociali e "terrestri", e lasciare quelle
ecclesiastiche allo Stato Città del Vaticano?!
Mi riferisco alla Sua decisione di innalzare una statua a Madre Teresa
di Calcutta a Roma. Come mai si decide di erigere un monumento, con
tanta premura, ad una persona che è stata al servizio dello Stato Città
del Vaticano, mentre si trovano tante difficoltà a dedicare una via a
Carla Capponi, patriota, combattente antifascista?!
Ma giacché ormai avete posto la questione, e poiché la targa da apporre
ha sollevato proteste presso i nazionalisti albanesi, per non subire i
ricatti dei soliti "capi tribù" faccia scrivere semplicemente "nata a
Skoplje", e basta. Per amore di verità storica e geografica, Le ricordo
che all’epoca della nascita della suddetta, Skoplje era una cittadina
della Serbia del Sud (esattamente "Povardarje"). Questa regione della
Serbia diventò poi, nella Jugoslavia Socialista e Federativa,
Repubblica Socialista di Macedonia con Skoplje per capitale. Ora
Skoplje è la capitale del FYROM (Ex Repubblica Jugoslava della
Macedonia). Adesso che avete spaccato tutto, decida un po’ Lei in che
Paese preferisce "inquadrare" la città di Skoplje…
Ivan Pavicevac, nato in Istria
COME E' ANDATA POI A FINIRE
Posticipata a data indefinita la pubblicazione del rapporto sulle armi
Londra: Gli USA e la Gran Bretagna hanno deciso di posticipare a data
indefinita la pubblicazione di un rapporto completo sulle armi di
distruzione di massa dell'Iraq.
Il londinese Sunday Times ha riportato che gli ispettori non hanno
trovato alcuna evidenza della esistenza di queste armi...
Indefinite Delay on Weapons Report
The London Advertiser, Monday 15 September 2003
LONDON: The US and Britain have decided to delay indefinitely the
publication of a full report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The London-based Sunday Times newspaper said inspectors had found no
evidence any such arms exist.
Efforts by the Iraq Survey Group, an Anglo-American team of 1400
scientists, military and intelligence experts, to scour Iraq for the
past four months to uncover evidence of chemical or biological weapons
had so far ended in failure.
The newspaper reported British defence intelligence sources had
confirmed that the group's final report had been delayed and may not
even be published.
(segnalato da M. Zucchetti)
Posticipata a data indefinita la pubblicazione del rapporto sulle armi
Londra: Gli USA e la Gran Bretagna hanno deciso di posticipare a data
indefinita la pubblicazione di un rapporto completo sulle armi di
distruzione di massa dell'Iraq.
Il londinese Sunday Times ha riportato che gli ispettori non hanno
trovato alcuna evidenza della esistenza di queste armi...
Indefinite Delay on Weapons Report
The London Advertiser, Monday 15 September 2003
LONDON: The US and Britain have decided to delay indefinitely the
publication of a full report on Iraq's weapons of mass destruction.
The London-based Sunday Times newspaper said inspectors had found no
evidence any such arms exist.
Efforts by the Iraq Survey Group, an Anglo-American team of 1400
scientists, military and intelligence experts, to scour Iraq for the
past four months to uncover evidence of chemical or biological weapons
had so far ended in failure.
The newspaper reported British defence intelligence sources had
confirmed that the group's final report had been delayed and may not
even be published.
(segnalato da M. Zucchetti)
--> URL:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
aikor9.9.03.txt
Von: "Klaus von Raussendorff"
Milosevic fordert Prozessunterbrechung -
Aufruf zur 2. Demo in Den Haag, Samstag, 8. Nov. 03
Liebe Leute,
in Vorschau auf die zweite internationale Demonstration in Den Haag am
Samstag, 8. November 2003, zur Unterstützung des Kampfes von Präsident
Slobodan Milosevic gegen das „Tribunal“ dokumentiere ich
BEFREIT DIE WELT VON “TRIBUNALEN” À LA DEN HAAG!
FREIHEIT FÜR SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC!
FREIHEIT FÜR SERBIEN UND JUGOSLAWIEN!
Aufruf zur internationalen Demonstration in Den Haag am Samstag, 8.
November 2003
[ 1 ]
BRASILIANISCHE ARBEITER FÜR PRÄSIDENT MILOSEVIC
Protestschreiben des Allgemeinen Gewerkschaftsbundes Brasiliens an das
Haager Tribunal vom 29. August 2003
http://www.icdsm.org/more/brazil.htm
[ 2 ]
BEWEISNOT IM FALL MILOSEVIC:
GROSSE TÖNE UND NICHTS DAHINTER?*
Von Cathrin Schütz
erschien leicht gekürzt in „junge Welt“ v. 19. 08. 03
[ 3 ]
SCHREIBEN VON SLOBODA (FREEDOM) ASSOCIATION AN INTERNATIONALE
ORGANISATIONEN MIT DER AUFFORDERUNG, ZUR ERHALTUNG VON LEBEN UND
GESUNDHEIT VON SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC UND FÜR SEINE GRUNDRECHTE AKIV ZU
WERDEN.
(29. August 2003)
URL des Originalschreibens in Englisch:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html
[ 4 ]
"DA GIBT ES KEINE VERTEIDIGUNG, NUR ANKLAGE!"
- Slobodan Milosevic am 2. September 2003 -
(Erklärung der Deutschen Sektion des Internationalen Komitees für die
Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM), gestützt auf:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html)
[ 5 ]
DER SKANDALÖSE TERROR GEGEN MEINE FAMILIE IST TEIL DER KRIMINELLEN
GESETZLOSIGKEIT UND TYRANNEI, MIT DER DAS BELGRADER REGIME DEM HAAGER
“TRIBUNAL” UND SEINEM ANSCHLAG AUF UNSER LAND UND UNSER VOLK ZU HILFE
KOMMT
Slobodan Milosevic’s öffentliche Antwort auf die vom Belgrader Regime
fabrizierten Anschuldigungen
Quelle des Originals in Englisch auf der Webseite von SLOBODA (Freedom)
Association, der jugoslawischen Menschenrechtsorganisation für die
Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html
[ 6 ]
Die Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic hängt ganz von Ihrer Spende ab:
c/o Peter Betscher, Finanzbeauftragter der Vereinigung für
Internationale Solidarität (VIS) e.V. Kto-Nr.: 102013409 bei Volksbank
Darmstadt, BLZ: 508 90 000 (Kennwort „Verteidigung“)
Weitere Informationen:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (Internationales Komitee für die Verteidigung von
Slobodan Milosevic - ICDSM - )
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (Deutsche Sektion des ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Irland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (Weltfriedensratl)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
Mit internationalistischen Grüßen
Klaus von Raussendorff
--> URL:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
aikor9.9.03.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Anti-Imperialistische Korrespondenz (AIK), Redaktion: Klaus von
Raussendorff
Postfach 210172, 53156 Bonn; Tel.&Fax: 0228 - 34.68.50;
Email: redaktion@...
AIK-Infos können auf der Seite der AIK http://www.aikor.de
unter "Info-Dienst der AIK" runtergeladen werden
Webmaster: Dieter Vogel, Email: webmaster@...
Wer die AIK nicht empfangen möchte, schicke bitte eine Mail mit dem
Betreff
"unsubscribe" an redaktion@...
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
aikor9.9.03.txt
Von: "Klaus von Raussendorff"
Milosevic fordert Prozessunterbrechung -
Aufruf zur 2. Demo in Den Haag, Samstag, 8. Nov. 03
Liebe Leute,
in Vorschau auf die zweite internationale Demonstration in Den Haag am
Samstag, 8. November 2003, zur Unterstützung des Kampfes von Präsident
Slobodan Milosevic gegen das „Tribunal“ dokumentiere ich
BEFREIT DIE WELT VON “TRIBUNALEN” À LA DEN HAAG!
FREIHEIT FÜR SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC!
FREIHEIT FÜR SERBIEN UND JUGOSLAWIEN!
Aufruf zur internationalen Demonstration in Den Haag am Samstag, 8.
November 2003
[ 1 ]
BRASILIANISCHE ARBEITER FÜR PRÄSIDENT MILOSEVIC
Protestschreiben des Allgemeinen Gewerkschaftsbundes Brasiliens an das
Haager Tribunal vom 29. August 2003
http://www.icdsm.org/more/brazil.htm
[ 2 ]
BEWEISNOT IM FALL MILOSEVIC:
GROSSE TÖNE UND NICHTS DAHINTER?*
Von Cathrin Schütz
erschien leicht gekürzt in „junge Welt“ v. 19. 08. 03
[ 3 ]
SCHREIBEN VON SLOBODA (FREEDOM) ASSOCIATION AN INTERNATIONALE
ORGANISATIONEN MIT DER AUFFORDERUNG, ZUR ERHALTUNG VON LEBEN UND
GESUNDHEIT VON SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC UND FÜR SEINE GRUNDRECHTE AKIV ZU
WERDEN.
(29. August 2003)
URL des Originalschreibens in Englisch:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html
[ 4 ]
"DA GIBT ES KEINE VERTEIDIGUNG, NUR ANKLAGE!"
- Slobodan Milosevic am 2. September 2003 -
(Erklärung der Deutschen Sektion des Internationalen Komitees für die
Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM), gestützt auf:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html)
[ 5 ]
DER SKANDALÖSE TERROR GEGEN MEINE FAMILIE IST TEIL DER KRIMINELLEN
GESETZLOSIGKEIT UND TYRANNEI, MIT DER DAS BELGRADER REGIME DEM HAAGER
“TRIBUNAL” UND SEINEM ANSCHLAG AUF UNSER LAND UND UNSER VOLK ZU HILFE
KOMMT
Slobodan Milosevic’s öffentliche Antwort auf die vom Belgrader Regime
fabrizierten Anschuldigungen
Quelle des Originals in Englisch auf der Webseite von SLOBODA (Freedom)
Association, der jugoslawischen Menschenrechtsorganisation für die
Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/indexeng1.html
[ 6 ]
Die Verteidigung von Slobodan Milosevic hängt ganz von Ihrer Spende ab:
c/o Peter Betscher, Finanzbeauftragter der Vereinigung für
Internationale Solidarität (VIS) e.V. Kto-Nr.: 102013409 bei Volksbank
Darmstadt, BLZ: 508 90 000 (Kennwort „Verteidigung“)
Weitere Informationen:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (Internationales Komitee für die Verteidigung von
Slobodan Milosevic - ICDSM - )
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (Deutsche Sektion des ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Irland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (Weltfriedensratl)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
Mit internationalistischen Grüßen
Klaus von Raussendorff
--> URL:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/AIA/
aikor9.9.03.txt
------------------------------------------------------------------------
----
Anti-Imperialistische Korrespondenz (AIK), Redaktion: Klaus von
Raussendorff
Postfach 210172, 53156 Bonn; Tel.&Fax: 0228 - 34.68.50;
Email: redaktion@...
AIK-Infos können auf der Seite der AIK http://www.aikor.de
unter "Info-Dienst der AIK" runtergeladen werden
Webmaster: Dieter Vogel, Email: webmaster@...
Wer die AIK nicht empfangen möchte, schicke bitte eine Mail mit dem
Betreff
"unsubscribe" an redaktion@...
Serbia: tutto e' in svendita (english / italiano)
1. La Beopetrol andra' alla russa Lukoil
2. Alla conquista del tabacco serbo
3. Links ad altra documentazione
=== 1: La Beopetrol andra' alla russa Lukoil ===
Russia's Lukoil buys Belgrade's oil company
http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=ehot&NID=ehot/gospodarstvo/
H8257246.4ya
---
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/serbiamontenegro.shtml
SERBIA: RUSSA LUKOIL VINCE GARA PRIVATIZZAZIONE BEOPETROL
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 25 AGO - Il gigante petrolifero russo 'Lukoil' ha
vinto la gara per la privatizzazione del 79,53% del capitale di
Beopetrol, per dimensioni la seconda industria energetica della
Serbia. Lo ha annunciato il ministro delle privatizzazioni
Aleksandar Vlahovic, precisando che Lukoil versera' a Belgrado 117
milioni di euro e investira' in Beopetrol, in un periodo di cinque
anni, altri 85 milioni di euro. Per l'acquisto del capitale
Beopetrol, che possiede in Serbia una rete di distribuzione di 176
pompe, era in corsa anche l'ungherese Mola. (ANSA). OT
25/08/2003 16:05
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, CROATA INA CONTESTA VENDITA BEOPETROL
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 26 AGO - La compagnia petrolifera croata Ina ha
annunciato che chiedera' un arbitrato internazionale sulla vendita
del 79,53% del pacchetto azionario della serba Beopetrol al gigante
energetico russo Lukoil. Ina avanza rivendicazioni sulla proprieta'
di Beopetrol, la seconda compagnia petrolifera serba per dimensioni,
che tratta ogni anno circa 400.000 tonnellate di petrolio e derivati.
Ieri l'asta indetta dal ministero per le privatizzazioni serbo
per la cessione del pacchetto di controllo e' stata vinta da Lukoil,
che ha offerto un totale di 210 milioni di euro - di cui 117 milioni
in valuta, 85 milioni in investimenti quinquennali e 8 milioni per un
programma sociale - battendo l'altra pretendente, la ungherese Mol.
Le trattative per la vendita di Beopetrol dovranno essere
perfezionate nei prossimi giorni ed essere eventualmente ratificate
entro il 24 settembre. Il ministro delle privatizzazioni Aleksandar
Vlahovic ha minimizzato la protesta di Ina, affermando che gli
assetti di Beopetrol erano stati gia' definiti nel 1988, prima della
disintegrazione della Jugoslavia, e che la compagnia non e' quindi un
soggetto incluso negli accordi di successione. Vlahovic
ha sottolineato la buona riuscita dell'asta, che se perfezionata
portera' nelle casse dello stato il doppio di quanto inizialmente
previsto. Commentando l'operazione, il settimanale 'Reporter' ha
messo l'accento sul grande attivismo manifestato recentemente da
Lukoil nell'area balcanica. 'Reporter' ha ricordato fra l'altro la
recente acquisizione in Bulgaria da parte del gigante russo di molte
raffinerie e stazioni di distribuzione. (ANSA). OT
26/08/2003 11:34
=== 2 : Alla conquista del tabacco serbo ===
DIN, Philip Morris sign sell-off agreement
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/02/330678.html
---
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/serbiamontenegro.shtml
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, BAT COMPRA TABACCHI VRANJE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 3 SET - Dopo la compagnia dei tabacchi di Nis,
acquistata ieri dalla Philip Morris, un'altra grande industria serba
del settore tabacchi, quella di Vranje, e' stata privatizzata. La
British American Tobacco company (Bat) ha acquistato il 67,81% del
pacchetto azionario della compagnia. La Bat ha vinto l'asta con
una offerta di 87 milioni di euro,di cui 50 milioni per la quota
capitale, 24 milioni per investimenti e 13,14 milioni per programmi
sociali. (ANSA). OT 03/09/2003 19:11
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, PHILIP MORRIS COMPRA NIS TABACCHI
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 2 SET - La statunitense Philip Morris si e'
aggiudicata il 66,45 % delle azioni della Nis Tobacco Industry in
un'asta per la privatizzazione della maggiore azienda di tabacchi
della Serbia. L'offerta del gigante Usa e' stata di 518 milioni di
euro, di cui 387 per l'acquisto del pacchetto azionario, 64,85 per
investimenti, 59,11 per programmi sociali e altri 7,07 milioni di
euro per altri programmi. Alla firma del contratto erano presenti
il primo ministro serbo Zoran Zivkovic, il quale ha definito
l'accordo ''una prova di come le riforme siano portate a termine con
successo'', e i ministri delle privatizzazioni Aleksandar Vlahovic e
delle finanze Bozidar Djelic. (ANSA). OT
02/09/2003 17:17
---
Sui traffici, leciti ed illeciti, della Philips Morris nei Balcani si
veda anche:
DJUKANOVIC SMUGGLING CLAIMS PERSIST. Italian prosecutors still want to
arrest Montenegrin premier despite court's immunity ruling. By: Hugh
Griffiths and Gordana Igric in London with the IWPR team in the Balkans
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 446, July 23, 2003
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2687
<<...The EU's European Anti-Fraud Office, known by its French acronym,
OLAF, is pursuing its own investigation into links between the
Montenegrin government, cigarette smugglers and multinational tobacco
companies. This prompted a legal action which the EU brought against
the American firms RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris plus the Japan Tobacco
Company, for loss of tax revenue due to illicit trading through
countries including Montenegro...>>
<<...L'ufficio della UE contro le frodi, noto con il suo acronimo
francese OLAF, sta conducendo una sua propria indagine sui legami tra
il governo montenegrino, i trafficanti di sigarette e le compagnie
mulotinazionali del tabacco. Questa indagine e' sfociata in una azione
legale intentata dalla UE contro le ditte statunitensi RJ Reynolds e
Philip Morris piu' la giapponese Japan Tobacco Company, per le perdite
di entrate fiscali causate dal commercio illegale attraverso paesi
quali il Montenegro...>>
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2687
=== 3 : Links ad altra documentazione ===
Successful talks with Siemens, Bechtel, Merchal
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/02/330688.html
Interbrew, Apatinska Pivara sign 326.9mln euros strategic partnership
deal
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/11/330832.html
Arrival of Russian companies to Serbia sign of successful bilateral
cooperation
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/11/330830.html
New Silk Road eyes Serbia as important transit country
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/10/330802.html
MORE AT:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2129
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2680
1. La Beopetrol andra' alla russa Lukoil
2. Alla conquista del tabacco serbo
3. Links ad altra documentazione
=== 1: La Beopetrol andra' alla russa Lukoil ===
Russia's Lukoil buys Belgrade's oil company
http://www.hina.hr/nws-bin/genews.cgi?TOP=ehot&NID=ehot/gospodarstvo/
H8257246.4ya
---
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/serbiamontenegro.shtml
SERBIA: RUSSA LUKOIL VINCE GARA PRIVATIZZAZIONE BEOPETROL
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 25 AGO - Il gigante petrolifero russo 'Lukoil' ha
vinto la gara per la privatizzazione del 79,53% del capitale di
Beopetrol, per dimensioni la seconda industria energetica della
Serbia. Lo ha annunciato il ministro delle privatizzazioni
Aleksandar Vlahovic, precisando che Lukoil versera' a Belgrado 117
milioni di euro e investira' in Beopetrol, in un periodo di cinque
anni, altri 85 milioni di euro. Per l'acquisto del capitale
Beopetrol, che possiede in Serbia una rete di distribuzione di 176
pompe, era in corsa anche l'ungherese Mola. (ANSA). OT
25/08/2003 16:05
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, CROATA INA CONTESTA VENDITA BEOPETROL
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 26 AGO - La compagnia petrolifera croata Ina ha
annunciato che chiedera' un arbitrato internazionale sulla vendita
del 79,53% del pacchetto azionario della serba Beopetrol al gigante
energetico russo Lukoil. Ina avanza rivendicazioni sulla proprieta'
di Beopetrol, la seconda compagnia petrolifera serba per dimensioni,
che tratta ogni anno circa 400.000 tonnellate di petrolio e derivati.
Ieri l'asta indetta dal ministero per le privatizzazioni serbo
per la cessione del pacchetto di controllo e' stata vinta da Lukoil,
che ha offerto un totale di 210 milioni di euro - di cui 117 milioni
in valuta, 85 milioni in investimenti quinquennali e 8 milioni per un
programma sociale - battendo l'altra pretendente, la ungherese Mol.
Le trattative per la vendita di Beopetrol dovranno essere
perfezionate nei prossimi giorni ed essere eventualmente ratificate
entro il 24 settembre. Il ministro delle privatizzazioni Aleksandar
Vlahovic ha minimizzato la protesta di Ina, affermando che gli
assetti di Beopetrol erano stati gia' definiti nel 1988, prima della
disintegrazione della Jugoslavia, e che la compagnia non e' quindi un
soggetto incluso negli accordi di successione. Vlahovic
ha sottolineato la buona riuscita dell'asta, che se perfezionata
portera' nelle casse dello stato il doppio di quanto inizialmente
previsto. Commentando l'operazione, il settimanale 'Reporter' ha
messo l'accento sul grande attivismo manifestato recentemente da
Lukoil nell'area balcanica. 'Reporter' ha ricordato fra l'altro la
recente acquisizione in Bulgaria da parte del gigante russo di molte
raffinerie e stazioni di distribuzione. (ANSA). OT
26/08/2003 11:34
=== 2 : Alla conquista del tabacco serbo ===
DIN, Philip Morris sign sell-off agreement
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/02/330678.html
---
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/serbiamontenegro/serbiamontenegro.shtml
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, BAT COMPRA TABACCHI VRANJE
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 3 SET - Dopo la compagnia dei tabacchi di Nis,
acquistata ieri dalla Philip Morris, un'altra grande industria serba
del settore tabacchi, quella di Vranje, e' stata privatizzata. La
British American Tobacco company (Bat) ha acquistato il 67,81% del
pacchetto azionario della compagnia. La Bat ha vinto l'asta con
una offerta di 87 milioni di euro,di cui 50 milioni per la quota
capitale, 24 milioni per investimenti e 13,14 milioni per programmi
sociali. (ANSA). OT 03/09/2003 19:11
SERBIA: PRIVATIZZAZIONI, PHILIP MORRIS COMPRA NIS TABACCHI
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 2 SET - La statunitense Philip Morris si e'
aggiudicata il 66,45 % delle azioni della Nis Tobacco Industry in
un'asta per la privatizzazione della maggiore azienda di tabacchi
della Serbia. L'offerta del gigante Usa e' stata di 518 milioni di
euro, di cui 387 per l'acquisto del pacchetto azionario, 64,85 per
investimenti, 59,11 per programmi sociali e altri 7,07 milioni di
euro per altri programmi. Alla firma del contratto erano presenti
il primo ministro serbo Zoran Zivkovic, il quale ha definito
l'accordo ''una prova di come le riforme siano portate a termine con
successo'', e i ministri delle privatizzazioni Aleksandar Vlahovic e
delle finanze Bozidar Djelic. (ANSA). OT
02/09/2003 17:17
---
Sui traffici, leciti ed illeciti, della Philips Morris nei Balcani si
veda anche:
DJUKANOVIC SMUGGLING CLAIMS PERSIST. Italian prosecutors still want to
arrest Montenegrin premier despite court's immunity ruling. By: Hugh
Griffiths and Gordana Igric in London with the IWPR team in the Balkans
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT, No. 446, July 23, 2003
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2687
<<...The EU's European Anti-Fraud Office, known by its French acronym,
OLAF, is pursuing its own investigation into links between the
Montenegrin government, cigarette smugglers and multinational tobacco
companies. This prompted a legal action which the EU brought against
the American firms RJ Reynolds and Philip Morris plus the Japan Tobacco
Company, for loss of tax revenue due to illicit trading through
countries including Montenegro...>>
<<...L'ufficio della UE contro le frodi, noto con il suo acronimo
francese OLAF, sta conducendo una sua propria indagine sui legami tra
il governo montenegrino, i trafficanti di sigarette e le compagnie
mulotinazionali del tabacco. Questa indagine e' sfociata in una azione
legale intentata dalla UE contro le ditte statunitensi RJ Reynolds e
Philip Morris piu' la giapponese Japan Tobacco Company, per le perdite
di entrate fiscali causate dal commercio illegale attraverso paesi
quali il Montenegro...>>
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2687
=== 3 : Links ad altra documentazione ===
Successful talks with Siemens, Bechtel, Merchal
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/02/330688.html
Interbrew, Apatinska Pivara sign 326.9mln euros strategic partnership
deal
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/11/330832.html
Arrival of Russian companies to Serbia sign of successful bilateral
cooperation
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/11/330830.html
New Silk Road eyes Serbia as important transit country
http://www.serbia.sr.gov.yu/cgi-bin/printpage.cgi?filename=/news/2003-
09/10/330802.html
MORE AT:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2129
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2680
TV: LA TERZA RETE PUBBLICA CROATA ALLA RTL TEDESCA
(ANSA) - ZAGABRIA, 16 SET - La societa' tedesca Rtl si e' aggiudicata
oggi, battendo altri cinque offerenti, la concessione per la terza
rete televisiva croata a diffusione nazionale. Lo ha reso noto
l'agenzia di stampa Hina. La Rtl ha vinto il concorso battendo, tra
gli altri, la News Corporation di Rupert Murdoch e la Sbs scandinava,
e tra sei mesi iniziera' con le trasmissioni. Poiche' l'apposita legge
sulla privatizzazione del terzo canale della tv pubblica prevede che
uno dei proprietari non possieda piu' del 33 per cento delle azioni,
la Rtl ha formato un consorzio, la Hrtl, nel quale figurano alcune tra
le piu' importanti societa' locali. I dirigenti del Hrtl hanno
annunciato che la nuova emittente trasmettera' programmi
d'informazione, telenovele di produzione croata e trasmissioni di
varieta'. L'investimento per il primo anno di attivita' ammontera' a
30 milioni di euro e verranno assunti 150 dipendenti. Il costo
della concessione e' di 50 mila euro all'anno, cifra criticata
dall'opinione pubblica poiche' solo nel 2002 in Croazia sono stati
spesi circa 200 milioni di euro per la pubblicita' televisiva. Per
la tv pubblica la nuova rete sara' la prima vera concorrente, finora
rappresentata da un canale privato, che trasmette telegiornali solo
da pochi mesi, e da una decina di piccole stazioni locali con poche
ore di trasmissioni al giorno. La Rtl e' controllata dalla
Bertelsmann che a sua volta e' coproprietaria della Waz, il gigante
editoriale tedesco che in Croazia possiede il 50 per cento della Eph,
la casa editrice che pubblica il quotidiano Jutarni list e il
settimanale Globus. (ANSA). COR*VD
16/09/2003 16:30
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/croazia/20030916163032690783.html
(ANSA) - ZAGABRIA, 16 SET - La societa' tedesca Rtl si e' aggiudicata
oggi, battendo altri cinque offerenti, la concessione per la terza
rete televisiva croata a diffusione nazionale. Lo ha reso noto
l'agenzia di stampa Hina. La Rtl ha vinto il concorso battendo, tra
gli altri, la News Corporation di Rupert Murdoch e la Sbs scandinava,
e tra sei mesi iniziera' con le trasmissioni. Poiche' l'apposita legge
sulla privatizzazione del terzo canale della tv pubblica prevede che
uno dei proprietari non possieda piu' del 33 per cento delle azioni,
la Rtl ha formato un consorzio, la Hrtl, nel quale figurano alcune tra
le piu' importanti societa' locali. I dirigenti del Hrtl hanno
annunciato che la nuova emittente trasmettera' programmi
d'informazione, telenovele di produzione croata e trasmissioni di
varieta'. L'investimento per il primo anno di attivita' ammontera' a
30 milioni di euro e verranno assunti 150 dipendenti. Il costo
della concessione e' di 50 mila euro all'anno, cifra criticata
dall'opinione pubblica poiche' solo nel 2002 in Croazia sono stati
spesi circa 200 milioni di euro per la pubblicita' televisiva. Per
la tv pubblica la nuova rete sara' la prima vera concorrente, finora
rappresentata da un canale privato, che trasmette telegiornali solo
da pochi mesi, e da una decina di piccole stazioni locali con poche
ore di trasmissioni al giorno. La Rtl e' controllata dalla
Bertelsmann che a sua volta e' coproprietaria della Waz, il gigante
editoriale tedesco che in Croazia possiede il 50 per cento della Eph,
la casa editrice che pubblica il quotidiano Jutarni list e il
settimanale Globus. (ANSA). COR*VD
16/09/2003 16:30
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/croazia/20030916163032690783.html
Vesti Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica:
1. ICDSM-US (Nacionalna sekcija SAD Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu
Slobodana Milosevica):
Saopstenje za stampu #1, 13. septembar 2003.
2. "Sloboda" Generalnom sekretaru i stalnim clanicama SB UN (Beograd,
3. septembra 2003)
3. Deputati Dume za dvogodisnji prekid sudjenja Predsedniku Milosevicu
(Moskva, 12. septembra)
=== 1 ===
ICDSM-US
Nacionalna sekcija SAD
Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica
Saopstenje za stampu
#1
13. septembar 2003.
Telefon: +1 212-726-1260
Email: icdsm_us@...
· FORMIRANJE NACIONALNOG KOMITETA SAD
· IZJAVA PROTIV NAJNOVIJIH KRSENJA MEDJUNARODNIH PRAVNIH NORMI I
LJUDSKIH PRAVA OD STRANE HASKOG TRIBUNALA
Dvadesetak pisaca, profesora, advokata, aktivista i boraca za mir i
ljudska prava objavljuju formiranje nove organizacije koja ce se boriti
za momentalno ukidanje sramnog politickog sudjenja jugoslovenskom
Predsedniku Slobodanu Milosevicu od strane Medjunarodnog krivicnog
tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju u Hagu.
Nacionalni komitet SAD sa punim nazivom - Nacionalna sekcija SAD
Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica ce delovati u
punoj saradnji sa rukovodstvom Medjunarodnog komiteta u Beougradu i
Evropi, kao zvanicni ogranak u SAD.Predsednik komiteta je Dr Majkl
Parenti iz Berklija (Kalifornija), stvaralac iz oblasti drustvenih
nauka sa medjunarodnim ugledom, autor knjige “UBITI NACIJU – Napad na
Jugoslaviju”.
Nacionalni komitet SAD smatra nelegitimnim i sudjenje Predsedniku
Milosevicu i sam haski tribunal. I pored toga, izrazavamo protest
protiv teskih krsenja osnovnih pravnih, demokratskih i ljudskih prava
g. Milosevica od strane tribunala. Proces u Hagu vidimo kao akt
politickog rata protiv naroda Srbije i protiv osnovnih demokratskih
prava citavog covecanstva, sto se ne moze tolerisati.
Nacionalni komitet SAD okrivljuje americku vladu za falsifikovanje
optuzbi za ratne zlocine protiv Predsednika Milosevica, sa jedinim
ciljem – da manipulacijom okrene svetsko javno mnjenje protiv naroda
Srbije i da opravda NATO-ovu varvarsku 78-dnevnu kampanju terora protiv
Jugoslavije 1999, kao i da odvuce paznju sa stvarnih zlocina protiv
naroda Jugoslavije koje su pocinili SAD i njeni NATO saveznici tokom
trinaest godina. Tu su ukljuceni i razbijanje Jugoslavije i nametanje
neokolonijalnih rezima svim njenim bivsim republikama. Haski tribunal
predstavlja nastavak ove politike agresije i okupacije, ali i opasni
presedan usmeren protiv svih nacija koje se usude da se suprotstave
spoljnoj politici SAD, odnosno Zapada.
Kao svoju prvu aktivnost,Nacionalni komitet SAD izrazava snazan javni
protest protiv najnovijih krsenja medjunarodnih pravnih normi i
ljudskih prava od strane haskog tribunala.
Poslednjih nedelja tribunal je flagrantno prekrsio medjunarodno
prihvacene pravne norme odbijajuci da obezbedi adekvatnu zastitu
zdravlja Predsednika Milosevica, uskracujuci njegovim najblizim
saradnicima pravo da ga posete i konacno, ovih dana, odbijajuci zahtev
Predsednika Milosevica da se sudjenje prekine na dve godine radi
adekvatnih priprema odbrane. U sva tri slucaja, ponasanje tribunala je
usmereno da onemoguci odbranu Predsednika Milosevica.
Povrh svega, odbijajuci da pruzi adekvatnu medicinsku pomoc i prekid
sudjenja, tribunal namerno ugrozava zdravlje i fizicke sposobnosti
Predsednika Milosevica. Vise od dve godine tamnovanja su ozbiljno
ostetile njegovo zdravlje i ugrozile mu zivot. Osim toga, progon
porodice g. Milosevica od strane tribunala, odnosno njegovo nasilno
odvajanje od porodice je gnusni i sramni cin koji mora biti okoncan.
Ne odobravajuci Predsedniku Milosevicu prekid procesa i adekvatnu
zdravstvenu zastitu, tribunal je iskazao svu svoju brutalnost,
narusavajuci pritom fundamentalne norme medjunarodnog prava kao sto su
presumpcija nevinosti i pravo na pravedan proces. Clan 9 (3)
Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i politickim pravima kaze: “Ne treba
da bude pravilo da lica koja ocekuju sudjenje budu drzana u pritvoru, a
oslobodjenje moze biti predmet garancija da ce lice biti prisutno
sudjenju, drugim potrebnim fazama sudskog postupka, i ako se tako
dogodi, izvrsenju presude.” A u pogledu prava na pravedan proces, Clan
9 (1) Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i politickim pravima kaze:
“Niko ne moze biti lisen slobode osim na osnovu i u skladu sa
procedurom koju predvidja zakon.”
Poslednje odluke tribunala takodje krse princip “jednakosti oruzja”,
fundamentalni pravni princip, ciji je smisao da se osiguraju fer uslovi
za odbranu. Prema Clanu 14 (3) Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i
politickim pravima:
“optuzenom je garantovano: da ima adekvatno vreme i uslove za pripremu
svoje odbrane, kao i da komunicira sa advokatom koga sam izabere; da mu
se sudi u njegovom prisustvu i da se brani sam ili preko pravnog
zastupnika po svom izboru; takodje i da mu bude dodeljen advokat u
slucajevima kada interes pravde to zahteva, i to bez placanja ako
optuzeni nema mogucnosti da plati; da ispituje svedoke koji svedoce
protiv njega i da se svedoci u njegovu korist pojave i budu ispitani
pod istim uslovima kao i svedoci protiv njega.”
Haski tribunal se ruga ovim standardnim medjunarodnim pravnim
principima svojim potpunim ignorisanjem narusenog zdravlja Predsednika
Milosevica i njegovog zahteva za prekid procesa.
Osnovna pristojnost i pravednost zahtevaju da Nacionalni komitet SAD
apeluje na one koji upravljaju procesom protiv Predsednika Milosevica u
Hagu da taj proces prekinu bar na dve godine i da ukinu zabranu poseta.
Ali u prvom redu Nacionalni komitet SAD trazi neodlozno oslobodjenje
Predsednika Milosevica iz nezakonitog pritvora i okoncanje surovog
postupka politickog sudjenja od strane haskog tribunala. Medjunarodni
komitet za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica poziva gradjane svih zemalja
koji brinu o krsenju ljudskih prava da se pridruze ovom protestu.
Nacionalna sekcija SAD Medjunarodnog komiteta ce objaviti publikaciju o
nelegitimnosti i surovoj politickoj prirodi haskog tribunala, drzati
konferencije za stampu i otvoriti veb sajt u cilju edukovanja i
angazovanja americke javnosti protiv ovog skandaloznog suda
finansiranog dolarima americkih poreskih obveznika.
=== 2 ===
Generalnom sekretaru Organizacije Ujedinjenih Nacija
Nj.E. g. Kofi A. Ananu
(preko Kancelarije UN u Beogradu)
Vladama: Narodne Republike Kine
Republike Francuske
Ruske Federacije
Sjedinjenih Americkih Drzava
Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva Velike Britanije i Severne Irske
(preko njihovih ambasada u Beogradu)
Udruzenje gradjana "Sloboda" - Jugoslovenski komitet za
oslobodjenje Slobodana Milosevica, izrazavajuci misljenje ogromnog
broja gradjana, ukazuje na teska krsenja ljudskih prava, kao i
opsteprihvacenih pravnih, pravosudnih i moralnih normi od strane tzv.
Medjunarodnog krivicnog tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju u Hagu (koji
deluje na osnovu mandata Saveta Bezbednosti UN) u procesu koji se pred
tom ustanovom vodi protiv dugogodisnjeg Predsednika Savezne Republike
Jugoslavije i Republike Srbije, g. Slobodana Milosevica.
Na tzv. Statusnoj konferenciji, odrzanoj u Hagu 2. septembra
o.g., Tribunal je pokazao nespremnost da i u minimalnoj meri zdovolji
princip ravnopravnosti u odnosu izmedju sopstvenog tuzilastva i prava
na odbranu, koje navodno priznaje. Ako bi ova iskazana nespremnost
ostala na snazi, svaki objektivni i nepristrasni posmatrac ce doci do
zakljucka da u okviru sistema UN deluje inkvizicija modernog doba sa
jedinim ciljem da zastiti interese NATO pakta na Balkanu, kao i da su
za to najodgovornije stalne clanice Saveta Bezbednosti.
Tribunal je iskazao nespremnost da prihvati dzentlmenski predlog
Predsednika Milosevica i omoguci mu da se u dvogodisnjem periodu, sa
slobode, pripremi za iznosenje cinjenica i izvodjenje svedoka, za
pariranje istinom u drugoj fazi procesa, dvogodisnjem prezentiranju
izvitoperenih i laznih podataka od strane tzv. Tuzilastva, prikupljenih
visegodisnjim radom stotina ljudi uz koriscenje ogromnih budzetskih
sredstava UN i uz pomoc obavestajnih sluzbi nekih velikih zemalja.
Tuzilastvo je za svoj rad sa svim svojim prakticno neogranicenim
resursima, imalo najmanje cetiri ipo godine (od maja 1999), a poznato
je da je koristilo i mnoge materijale
prikupljene od momenta osnivanja Tribunala 1993.
Osim toga, Tribunal u Hagu duzinom i tempom procesa i
uskracivanjem adekvatne medicinske pomoci, ugrozava zivot i zdravlje
Predsednika Milosevica.
Predsedniku Milosevicu su uskracene posete clanova najuze
porodice, a od nedavno, odlukom Tribunala, ne mogu da ga posecuju ni
najblizi saradnici, clanovi Komiteta za njegovo oslobodjenje i clanovi
njegove partije, cime se takodje onemogucava ostvarivanje prava na
odbranu.
Takodje, Predsedniku Milosevicu je potpuno zabranjen kontakt sa
medijima, dok je, na drugoj strani, tuzilastvu svakodnevno garantovan.
Zahtevamo da se, zbog zdravstvenog stanja Predsednika
Milosevica, radi ostvarivanja ravnopravnosti i prava na odbranu, i u
interesu istine, proces u Hagu prekine na dve godine, a Predsednik
Milosevic pusti na slobodu, kako bi se saniralo njegovo zdravstveno
stanje i kako bi imao minimalne uslove za pripremu materijala i
svedoka za drugu fazu procesa, kao i da se prekine sa ostalim krsenjima
njegovih prava.
Jedina alternativa ovome, koja ne bi najozbiljnije ugrozila
ugled svetske organizacije i vlada najodgovornijih za njene odluke,
bilo bi momentalno raspustanje haskog Tribunala.
S postovanjem,
U Beogradu, 3. septembra 2003.
U ime Udruzenja "Sloboda" -
Jugoslovenskog komiteta za oslobodjenje
Slobodana Milosevica
Bogoljub Bjelica, predsednik
=== 3 ===
Moskva, 12. septembra
Nekoliko desetina deputata Drzavne Dume Ruske Federacije, iz vise
parlamentarnih grupa, potpisalo je zajednicku izjavu kojom se
najostrije reaguje na uskracivanje osnovnih prava Predsedniku
Milosevicu u Hagu i izrazava snazna podrska Predsednikovom zahtevu da
process bude prekinut na dve godine, a on pusten na slobodu.
Medju potpisnicima su Genadij Zjuganov, sef parlamentarne grupe
Komunisticke partije, koja je najveca u Dumi, Nikolaj Haritonov, sef
Agroindustrijske parlamentarne grupe, Nikolaj Rizkov, bivsi premijer
SSSR i predsednik Komisije Dume za Jugoslaviju, general Andrej
Nikolajev, predsednik Komiteta za odbranu Dume, predsednici i zamenici
predsednika vise
dumskih komiteta.
U izjavi se konstatuje da je optuznica protiv Predsednika
Milosevica vec dozivela potpuni krah, uprkos ogromnim resursima
ulozenim u njeno pripremanje. Ako sada Predsedniku Milosevicu ne budu
obezbedjeni uslovi za pripremu odbrane I ako se nastavi sa zabranom
poseta I drugim formama pritiska, a posebno sa uskracivanjem lecenja,
bice to definitivna potvrda da politicki obracun koji se odvija u Hagu
nema niceg zajednickog sa pravosudjem.
S obzirom da jesenje zasedanje Drzavne Dume jos nije pocelo, istaknuti
poslanici su pribegli ovakvoj formi reagovanja (zajednicka izjava) zbog
neophodnosti da se hitno reaguje na proslonedeljni nagovestaj sudija da
ce svojom odlukom odrediti uslove za pripremu odbrane koji su daleko
ispod
neophodnog minimuma. Potpisivanje izjave jos uvek traje.
U nastavku dajemo ceo tekst zajednicke izjave.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC MORA DOBITI NEOPHODNO VREME I USLOVE ZA PRIPREMU
SVOJE
ODBRANE
- z a j e d n i c k a i z j a v a -
Vec gotovo dve godine u Hagu traje process protiv bivseg
Predsednika Savezne Republike Jugoslavije Slobodana Milosevica. Za sve
to vreme, iako su podneli brda sumnjivih dokumenata, izveli stotine
laznih svedoka i potrosili stotine miliona dolara iz budzeta UN,
tuzioci Medjunarodnog krivicnog tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju nisu
uspeli da dodju do bilo kakvih dokaza krivice srpskog lidera za zlocine
koje su mu
pripisali.
Optuzba je dozivela potpuni krah. Uskoro treba da pocne faza
odbrane Slobodana Milosevica, kojem je do sada bilo dozvoljeno samo da
ucestvuje u ispitivanju svedoka optuzbe.
Na strani Slobodana Milosevica su mnogobrojne i uverljive
potvrde njegove nevinosti. Ipak, organizovanje odbrane zahteva temeljne
pripreme. Optuznica protiv Slobodana Milosevica pripremana je vise od
cetiri godine uz ucesce stotina cinovnika tribunala. A Slobodan
Milosevic se brani
sam. I ima pravo da se priprema onoliko vremena koliko su tuzioci
tribunala imali za pripremanje optuznice. To je apsolutno neophodno da
bi bila obezbedjena ravnopravnost obe strane u procesu.
Ravnopravnost uslova za optuzene i tuzioce jedna je od kljucnih normi
medjunarodnog prava, garantovana mnogobrojnim dokumentima, ukljucujuci
Evropsku konvenciju o ljudskim pravima. A to podrazumeva i potrebu da
optuzeni ima na raspolaganju adekvatno vreme i neophodne uslove za
pripremu odbrane.
Osudjujemo nedavnu odluku tribunala da zabrani posete Slobodanu
Milosevicu clanovima Socijalisticke partije Srbije, ciji je on
predsednik i clanovima drustvenog komiteta "Sloboda". Ta odluka je
usmerena na jacanje izolacije Slobodana Milosevica i nesumnjivo
predstavlja opasnu meru
moralno-psiholoskog pritiska na politickog zatvorenika.
Slobodan Milosevic mora imati mogucnost da se brani, ne iz
zatvorske celije, vec sa slobode. U suprotnom, adekvatna priprema
odbrane je nemoguca.
U isto vreme on mora da dobije mogucnost za oporavak svog
zdravlja, podrivenog sa vise godina tamnovanja, iznurujucim sudskim
procesom i odsustvom kvalifikovane medicinske pomoci. Duboko smo
zabrinuti sto je Slobodan Milosevic i dalje lisen kvalifikovane
medicinske pomoci. Time je stvarno ugrozen i njegov zivot.
Uzimajuci u obzir sve te okolnosti, a takodje i tezinu i razmere
iznesenih optuzbi, zahtevamo prekid procesa pritiv Slobodana Milosevica
na bar dve godine. Zahtevamo njegovo neodlozno oslobodjenje i povratak
u Beograd radi zdravstvenog oporavka i prekid progona njegove porodice.
Bez ispunjenja ovih zahteva proces protiv Slobodana Milosevica
nastavice da bude samo otvoreni politicki obracun, koji nema nista
zajednicko sa pravosudjem.
===
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.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
1. ICDSM-US (Nacionalna sekcija SAD Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu
Slobodana Milosevica):
Saopstenje za stampu #1, 13. septembar 2003.
2. "Sloboda" Generalnom sekretaru i stalnim clanicama SB UN (Beograd,
3. septembra 2003)
3. Deputati Dume za dvogodisnji prekid sudjenja Predsedniku Milosevicu
(Moskva, 12. septembra)
=== 1 ===
ICDSM-US
Nacionalna sekcija SAD
Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica
Saopstenje za stampu
#1
13. septembar 2003.
Telefon: +1 212-726-1260
Email: icdsm_us@...
· FORMIRANJE NACIONALNOG KOMITETA SAD
· IZJAVA PROTIV NAJNOVIJIH KRSENJA MEDJUNARODNIH PRAVNIH NORMI I
LJUDSKIH PRAVA OD STRANE HASKOG TRIBUNALA
Dvadesetak pisaca, profesora, advokata, aktivista i boraca za mir i
ljudska prava objavljuju formiranje nove organizacije koja ce se boriti
za momentalno ukidanje sramnog politickog sudjenja jugoslovenskom
Predsedniku Slobodanu Milosevicu od strane Medjunarodnog krivicnog
tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju u Hagu.
Nacionalni komitet SAD sa punim nazivom - Nacionalna sekcija SAD
Medjunarodnog komiteta za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica ce delovati u
punoj saradnji sa rukovodstvom Medjunarodnog komiteta u Beougradu i
Evropi, kao zvanicni ogranak u SAD.Predsednik komiteta je Dr Majkl
Parenti iz Berklija (Kalifornija), stvaralac iz oblasti drustvenih
nauka sa medjunarodnim ugledom, autor knjige “UBITI NACIJU – Napad na
Jugoslaviju”.
Nacionalni komitet SAD smatra nelegitimnim i sudjenje Predsedniku
Milosevicu i sam haski tribunal. I pored toga, izrazavamo protest
protiv teskih krsenja osnovnih pravnih, demokratskih i ljudskih prava
g. Milosevica od strane tribunala. Proces u Hagu vidimo kao akt
politickog rata protiv naroda Srbije i protiv osnovnih demokratskih
prava citavog covecanstva, sto se ne moze tolerisati.
Nacionalni komitet SAD okrivljuje americku vladu za falsifikovanje
optuzbi za ratne zlocine protiv Predsednika Milosevica, sa jedinim
ciljem – da manipulacijom okrene svetsko javno mnjenje protiv naroda
Srbije i da opravda NATO-ovu varvarsku 78-dnevnu kampanju terora protiv
Jugoslavije 1999, kao i da odvuce paznju sa stvarnih zlocina protiv
naroda Jugoslavije koje su pocinili SAD i njeni NATO saveznici tokom
trinaest godina. Tu su ukljuceni i razbijanje Jugoslavije i nametanje
neokolonijalnih rezima svim njenim bivsim republikama. Haski tribunal
predstavlja nastavak ove politike agresije i okupacije, ali i opasni
presedan usmeren protiv svih nacija koje se usude da se suprotstave
spoljnoj politici SAD, odnosno Zapada.
Kao svoju prvu aktivnost,Nacionalni komitet SAD izrazava snazan javni
protest protiv najnovijih krsenja medjunarodnih pravnih normi i
ljudskih prava od strane haskog tribunala.
Poslednjih nedelja tribunal je flagrantno prekrsio medjunarodno
prihvacene pravne norme odbijajuci da obezbedi adekvatnu zastitu
zdravlja Predsednika Milosevica, uskracujuci njegovim najblizim
saradnicima pravo da ga posete i konacno, ovih dana, odbijajuci zahtev
Predsednika Milosevica da se sudjenje prekine na dve godine radi
adekvatnih priprema odbrane. U sva tri slucaja, ponasanje tribunala je
usmereno da onemoguci odbranu Predsednika Milosevica.
Povrh svega, odbijajuci da pruzi adekvatnu medicinsku pomoc i prekid
sudjenja, tribunal namerno ugrozava zdravlje i fizicke sposobnosti
Predsednika Milosevica. Vise od dve godine tamnovanja su ozbiljno
ostetile njegovo zdravlje i ugrozile mu zivot. Osim toga, progon
porodice g. Milosevica od strane tribunala, odnosno njegovo nasilno
odvajanje od porodice je gnusni i sramni cin koji mora biti okoncan.
Ne odobravajuci Predsedniku Milosevicu prekid procesa i adekvatnu
zdravstvenu zastitu, tribunal je iskazao svu svoju brutalnost,
narusavajuci pritom fundamentalne norme medjunarodnog prava kao sto su
presumpcija nevinosti i pravo na pravedan proces. Clan 9 (3)
Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i politickim pravima kaze: “Ne treba
da bude pravilo da lica koja ocekuju sudjenje budu drzana u pritvoru, a
oslobodjenje moze biti predmet garancija da ce lice biti prisutno
sudjenju, drugim potrebnim fazama sudskog postupka, i ako se tako
dogodi, izvrsenju presude.” A u pogledu prava na pravedan proces, Clan
9 (1) Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i politickim pravima kaze:
“Niko ne moze biti lisen slobode osim na osnovu i u skladu sa
procedurom koju predvidja zakon.”
Poslednje odluke tribunala takodje krse princip “jednakosti oruzja”,
fundamentalni pravni princip, ciji je smisao da se osiguraju fer uslovi
za odbranu. Prema Clanu 14 (3) Medjunarodnog pakta o gradjanskim i
politickim pravima:
“optuzenom je garantovano: da ima adekvatno vreme i uslove za pripremu
svoje odbrane, kao i da komunicira sa advokatom koga sam izabere; da mu
se sudi u njegovom prisustvu i da se brani sam ili preko pravnog
zastupnika po svom izboru; takodje i da mu bude dodeljen advokat u
slucajevima kada interes pravde to zahteva, i to bez placanja ako
optuzeni nema mogucnosti da plati; da ispituje svedoke koji svedoce
protiv njega i da se svedoci u njegovu korist pojave i budu ispitani
pod istim uslovima kao i svedoci protiv njega.”
Haski tribunal se ruga ovim standardnim medjunarodnim pravnim
principima svojim potpunim ignorisanjem narusenog zdravlja Predsednika
Milosevica i njegovog zahteva za prekid procesa.
Osnovna pristojnost i pravednost zahtevaju da Nacionalni komitet SAD
apeluje na one koji upravljaju procesom protiv Predsednika Milosevica u
Hagu da taj proces prekinu bar na dve godine i da ukinu zabranu poseta.
Ali u prvom redu Nacionalni komitet SAD trazi neodlozno oslobodjenje
Predsednika Milosevica iz nezakonitog pritvora i okoncanje surovog
postupka politickog sudjenja od strane haskog tribunala. Medjunarodni
komitet za odbranu Slobodana Milosevica poziva gradjane svih zemalja
koji brinu o krsenju ljudskih prava da se pridruze ovom protestu.
Nacionalna sekcija SAD Medjunarodnog komiteta ce objaviti publikaciju o
nelegitimnosti i surovoj politickoj prirodi haskog tribunala, drzati
konferencije za stampu i otvoriti veb sajt u cilju edukovanja i
angazovanja americke javnosti protiv ovog skandaloznog suda
finansiranog dolarima americkih poreskih obveznika.
=== 2 ===
Generalnom sekretaru Organizacije Ujedinjenih Nacija
Nj.E. g. Kofi A. Ananu
(preko Kancelarije UN u Beogradu)
Vladama: Narodne Republike Kine
Republike Francuske
Ruske Federacije
Sjedinjenih Americkih Drzava
Ujedinjenog Kraljevstva Velike Britanije i Severne Irske
(preko njihovih ambasada u Beogradu)
Udruzenje gradjana "Sloboda" - Jugoslovenski komitet za
oslobodjenje Slobodana Milosevica, izrazavajuci misljenje ogromnog
broja gradjana, ukazuje na teska krsenja ljudskih prava, kao i
opsteprihvacenih pravnih, pravosudnih i moralnih normi od strane tzv.
Medjunarodnog krivicnog tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju u Hagu (koji
deluje na osnovu mandata Saveta Bezbednosti UN) u procesu koji se pred
tom ustanovom vodi protiv dugogodisnjeg Predsednika Savezne Republike
Jugoslavije i Republike Srbije, g. Slobodana Milosevica.
Na tzv. Statusnoj konferenciji, odrzanoj u Hagu 2. septembra
o.g., Tribunal je pokazao nespremnost da i u minimalnoj meri zdovolji
princip ravnopravnosti u odnosu izmedju sopstvenog tuzilastva i prava
na odbranu, koje navodno priznaje. Ako bi ova iskazana nespremnost
ostala na snazi, svaki objektivni i nepristrasni posmatrac ce doci do
zakljucka da u okviru sistema UN deluje inkvizicija modernog doba sa
jedinim ciljem da zastiti interese NATO pakta na Balkanu, kao i da su
za to najodgovornije stalne clanice Saveta Bezbednosti.
Tribunal je iskazao nespremnost da prihvati dzentlmenski predlog
Predsednika Milosevica i omoguci mu da se u dvogodisnjem periodu, sa
slobode, pripremi za iznosenje cinjenica i izvodjenje svedoka, za
pariranje istinom u drugoj fazi procesa, dvogodisnjem prezentiranju
izvitoperenih i laznih podataka od strane tzv. Tuzilastva, prikupljenih
visegodisnjim radom stotina ljudi uz koriscenje ogromnih budzetskih
sredstava UN i uz pomoc obavestajnih sluzbi nekih velikih zemalja.
Tuzilastvo je za svoj rad sa svim svojim prakticno neogranicenim
resursima, imalo najmanje cetiri ipo godine (od maja 1999), a poznato
je da je koristilo i mnoge materijale
prikupljene od momenta osnivanja Tribunala 1993.
Osim toga, Tribunal u Hagu duzinom i tempom procesa i
uskracivanjem adekvatne medicinske pomoci, ugrozava zivot i zdravlje
Predsednika Milosevica.
Predsedniku Milosevicu su uskracene posete clanova najuze
porodice, a od nedavno, odlukom Tribunala, ne mogu da ga posecuju ni
najblizi saradnici, clanovi Komiteta za njegovo oslobodjenje i clanovi
njegove partije, cime se takodje onemogucava ostvarivanje prava na
odbranu.
Takodje, Predsedniku Milosevicu je potpuno zabranjen kontakt sa
medijima, dok je, na drugoj strani, tuzilastvu svakodnevno garantovan.
Zahtevamo da se, zbog zdravstvenog stanja Predsednika
Milosevica, radi ostvarivanja ravnopravnosti i prava na odbranu, i u
interesu istine, proces u Hagu prekine na dve godine, a Predsednik
Milosevic pusti na slobodu, kako bi se saniralo njegovo zdravstveno
stanje i kako bi imao minimalne uslove za pripremu materijala i
svedoka za drugu fazu procesa, kao i da se prekine sa ostalim krsenjima
njegovih prava.
Jedina alternativa ovome, koja ne bi najozbiljnije ugrozila
ugled svetske organizacije i vlada najodgovornijih za njene odluke,
bilo bi momentalno raspustanje haskog Tribunala.
S postovanjem,
U Beogradu, 3. septembra 2003.
U ime Udruzenja "Sloboda" -
Jugoslovenskog komiteta za oslobodjenje
Slobodana Milosevica
Bogoljub Bjelica, predsednik
=== 3 ===
Moskva, 12. septembra
Nekoliko desetina deputata Drzavne Dume Ruske Federacije, iz vise
parlamentarnih grupa, potpisalo je zajednicku izjavu kojom se
najostrije reaguje na uskracivanje osnovnih prava Predsedniku
Milosevicu u Hagu i izrazava snazna podrska Predsednikovom zahtevu da
process bude prekinut na dve godine, a on pusten na slobodu.
Medju potpisnicima su Genadij Zjuganov, sef parlamentarne grupe
Komunisticke partije, koja je najveca u Dumi, Nikolaj Haritonov, sef
Agroindustrijske parlamentarne grupe, Nikolaj Rizkov, bivsi premijer
SSSR i predsednik Komisije Dume za Jugoslaviju, general Andrej
Nikolajev, predsednik Komiteta za odbranu Dume, predsednici i zamenici
predsednika vise
dumskih komiteta.
U izjavi se konstatuje da je optuznica protiv Predsednika
Milosevica vec dozivela potpuni krah, uprkos ogromnim resursima
ulozenim u njeno pripremanje. Ako sada Predsedniku Milosevicu ne budu
obezbedjeni uslovi za pripremu odbrane I ako se nastavi sa zabranom
poseta I drugim formama pritiska, a posebno sa uskracivanjem lecenja,
bice to definitivna potvrda da politicki obracun koji se odvija u Hagu
nema niceg zajednickog sa pravosudjem.
S obzirom da jesenje zasedanje Drzavne Dume jos nije pocelo, istaknuti
poslanici su pribegli ovakvoj formi reagovanja (zajednicka izjava) zbog
neophodnosti da se hitno reaguje na proslonedeljni nagovestaj sudija da
ce svojom odlukom odrediti uslove za pripremu odbrane koji su daleko
ispod
neophodnog minimuma. Potpisivanje izjave jos uvek traje.
U nastavku dajemo ceo tekst zajednicke izjave.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC MORA DOBITI NEOPHODNO VREME I USLOVE ZA PRIPREMU
SVOJE
ODBRANE
- z a j e d n i c k a i z j a v a -
Vec gotovo dve godine u Hagu traje process protiv bivseg
Predsednika Savezne Republike Jugoslavije Slobodana Milosevica. Za sve
to vreme, iako su podneli brda sumnjivih dokumenata, izveli stotine
laznih svedoka i potrosili stotine miliona dolara iz budzeta UN,
tuzioci Medjunarodnog krivicnog tribunala za bivsu Jugoslaviju nisu
uspeli da dodju do bilo kakvih dokaza krivice srpskog lidera za zlocine
koje su mu
pripisali.
Optuzba je dozivela potpuni krah. Uskoro treba da pocne faza
odbrane Slobodana Milosevica, kojem je do sada bilo dozvoljeno samo da
ucestvuje u ispitivanju svedoka optuzbe.
Na strani Slobodana Milosevica su mnogobrojne i uverljive
potvrde njegove nevinosti. Ipak, organizovanje odbrane zahteva temeljne
pripreme. Optuznica protiv Slobodana Milosevica pripremana je vise od
cetiri godine uz ucesce stotina cinovnika tribunala. A Slobodan
Milosevic se brani
sam. I ima pravo da se priprema onoliko vremena koliko su tuzioci
tribunala imali za pripremanje optuznice. To je apsolutno neophodno da
bi bila obezbedjena ravnopravnost obe strane u procesu.
Ravnopravnost uslova za optuzene i tuzioce jedna je od kljucnih normi
medjunarodnog prava, garantovana mnogobrojnim dokumentima, ukljucujuci
Evropsku konvenciju o ljudskim pravima. A to podrazumeva i potrebu da
optuzeni ima na raspolaganju adekvatno vreme i neophodne uslove za
pripremu odbrane.
Osudjujemo nedavnu odluku tribunala da zabrani posete Slobodanu
Milosevicu clanovima Socijalisticke partije Srbije, ciji je on
predsednik i clanovima drustvenog komiteta "Sloboda". Ta odluka je
usmerena na jacanje izolacije Slobodana Milosevica i nesumnjivo
predstavlja opasnu meru
moralno-psiholoskog pritiska na politickog zatvorenika.
Slobodan Milosevic mora imati mogucnost da se brani, ne iz
zatvorske celije, vec sa slobode. U suprotnom, adekvatna priprema
odbrane je nemoguca.
U isto vreme on mora da dobije mogucnost za oporavak svog
zdravlja, podrivenog sa vise godina tamnovanja, iznurujucim sudskim
procesom i odsustvom kvalifikovane medicinske pomoci. Duboko smo
zabrinuti sto je Slobodan Milosevic i dalje lisen kvalifikovane
medicinske pomoci. Time je stvarno ugrozen i njegov zivot.
Uzimajuci u obzir sve te okolnosti, a takodje i tezinu i razmere
iznesenih optuzbi, zahtevamo prekid procesa pritiv Slobodana Milosevica
na bar dve godine. Zahtevamo njegovo neodlozno oslobodjenje i povratak
u Beograd radi zdravstvenog oporavka i prekid progona njegove porodice.
Bez ispunjenja ovih zahteva proces protiv Slobodana Milosevica
nastavice da bude samo otvoreni politicki obracun, koji nema nista
zajednicko sa pravosudjem.
===
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.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
Sex slavery in the Balkans (english / italiano)
1. Prostitution Rampage Through Macedonia: Teenagers Bought, Raped,
Sold (Vest, FYROM, 24/6/2003)
2. Macedonia: 'Obvious Mishap' - Ethnic Albanian Slaver Escapes Prison
(A1 TV, FYROM, 23/6/2003)
3. SERBIA/MONTENEGRO: POLIZIA SCOPRE 24 DONNE VITTIME DI SFRUTTATORI
(ANSA, 23/7/2003)
4. Sex Trafficking Victims Find Refuge in Belgrade (Politika/TOL,
24/7/2003)
5. Letter from the Balkans: An Underreported Horror Story.
Writing about the sex-slave trade is a dangerous assignment.
(Sherry Ricchiardi, American Journalism Review, Aug. 2003)
6. TRADING IN MISERY. Tens of thousands of Eastern European women are
falling victim to the Balkan sex trade.
(IWPR'S Balkan Crisis Report, No. 460, Sept. 15, 2003)
See also / vedi anche:
Albanian connection to the teenage sex slaves in London
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2584
Sex Slave Recounts Her Ordeal (by Nidzara Ahmetasevic)
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200303_415_3_eng.txt
Europe's cash and carry sex slaves (by Gaby Rado)
http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4641858,00.html
Sex Slavery / La tratta delle bianche nei Balcani - LINKS:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2384
=== 1 ===
http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2641
Web posted
June 24, 2003
Source: Vest, #888
Prostitution Rampage Through Macedonia: Teenagers Bought, Raped, Sold
Bitola police arrested a gang of seven who used to buy and sell
juveniles, forcing them to offer sex services for money. The suspects
Sh.K. (46) from Kichevo, owner of the cafe bar "Sedum Brakja" (7
Brothers), D.B. (56) from Ohrid, owner of cafe bar "Persa," M.A. (32)
and D.N. (28) from Bitola, the woman S.I. from Kichevo, and her lady
friend R.I. (44) from Bitola who used to trade three teenage girls
among themselves. After the arrest, the investigative judge detained
the cafe owners Sh.K. and D.B. for 30 days.
The police discovered the group after one of the abused girls reported
that she's been a victim of human trafficking. According the
preliminary reports, the girl R.A. was forced twice into whoring with
Greek citizens. In March this year, the suspects M.A. and A.N. sold
the girl to Sh.K. from Kichevo for 150 Euros. He and his unwed wife
forced the girl to serve them in their bar. The bosses sold the girl
to the Ohrid resident D.B. for 100 Euros June 6, 2003. He also forced
the girl into prostitution in his bar "Persa."
The same day, the accused Sh.K. bought the 14-year old girl A.M.
(native of Prilep) from some man from Bitola, paying 50 Euros. Sh.K.
forced the girl to prostitute herself. Several days afterward, D.B.
bought the girl A.N., also to force her to work as a servant and
prostitute. Since she refused the orders of her owners, she endured
repeated raping between June 14 and June 17, 2003.
(K.M.)
=== 2 ===
http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2634
Web posted
June 23, 2003
Source: A1 TV
Macedonia: 'Obvious Mishap' - Ethnic Albanian Slaver Escapes Prison
Background: Ali Ahmeti, the amnestied Albanian terrorist turned
favorite politician of Great Powers, basically admitted in an interview
for MSNBC that money comming from sex slavery financed his "human
rights" war, confirming numerous reports about the connections of
Albanian mafia with Albanian nationalist militants.
From the report by Vasko Popetrevski
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21399
Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska, Deputy Justice Minister, raises doubts
about whole Leku's case.
There has been obvious mishaps in the transport procedure of Dilaver
Bojku, AKA Leku, from the Struga to Ohrid prison, including not
implementing all necessary meaures, remarked Deputy Minister of Justice
Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska, after she talked to the management of
the prison and the officers who escorted the "boss pimp."
"The claim that Bojku wasn't handcuffed is true, although it should
have been necessary. This is not a major violation of the regulations,
but considering the identity of the convict, the wardens should have
assumed what could happen and should have taken more serious measures
to secure him," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
The Ministry of Justice has not made a decision about the disciplinary
measures for the resposnible officers, including wether Dragan Petreski
will continue working as the prison manager. The Ministry of Interior
also conducts a parallel investigation on the responsibility of prison
employees for the Friday debacle.
When asked if Dilaver Bojku's escape was well organized, the Deputy
Minister did not reply directly, but repeated the testimony of the
prison employees, which leads to such a conclusion.
"About hundred meters from the prison van, a black car appeared. Bojku
entered the car and dissapeared," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska designated the whole case of Dilaver Bojku -
Leku as "specific" - starting from the proceedings to the judgement.
She considers his 6-months-only sentence [for pimping] as "debatable."
"Judiciary which considers itself an anarchy does not mean
independence, but turns into the other extreme of what it should be. If
the judiciary branch does not fulfill it's profesional and expert
obligations, all efforts by the executive and legislative parts of the
Goverment are in vain," said Mladenovska Gjorgjievska.
From the report by Nina Kepevska
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21398
Dilaver Bojku, AKA Leku
Dilaver Bojku, AKA Leku, is still at large. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs issued a national warant for his arrest, and intensified the
police controls around Struga region, especially his village of
Veleshta, and at the border crossings.
The investigation of the escape continues. The manager of Struga prison
could not be reached for comments.
Following details about the event surfaced: Leku was accompanied by the
prisoner Veljanovski who was standing at the prison gate just prior to
the incident. The warden Gjore Pejchinovski and his assistants
accompanied the Albanian slaver [whose involvement in human trafficking
was proven in a court of law]. When one of the officers wanted to open
the van which was supposed to transport Bojku to Ohrid prison, the
mafiozo used his arms to push his gards and run to a black car parked
about 100 meters from the prison.
All this confirms the suspicions that the whole action was planned in
advance. The news of Leku's escape didn't stir the local public too
much. People of struga consider the whole thing a set-up. They are not
surprised, since during his stay in the minimum-security prison
facility in Struga, Bojku would often spend his time in the city pubs
during the day, and go to prison only to get a good night's rest.
=== 3 ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/
SERBIA/MONTENEGRO: POLIZIA SCOPRE 24 DONNE VITTIME DI SFRUTTATORI
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 23 LUG - La polizia di Belgrado ha scoperto presso
alberghi serbi 24 donne provenienti da Moldavia, Romania e Ukraina
costrette alla prostituzione da una rete di sfruttatori.
Le donne si trovavano in un gruppo di 133 stranieri fermati e trovati
senza permesso di soggiorno. Molti di essi saranno espulsi.
La polizia ha anche denunciato i proprietari degli alberghi in cui le
giovani si vendevano.
Serbia e Montenegro, che costituiscono un unico stato, sono una meta
costante del traffico di esseri umani.
COR 23/07/2003 17:23
=== 4 ===
http://www.tol.cz/look/wire/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=10&NrIssue=733&NrSection=1&NrArti
cle=10185
posted on TOL Wire on 24 July 2003
Sex Trafficking Victims Find Refuge in Belgrade
from Politika
Editor's note: Politika was founded in 1904 and is the oldest newspaper
publisher in the Balkans, and one of the oldest in Europe.
It is just one of many statistics that make it clear why human
trafficking is not only a problem for the police and justice system.
European Union countries are paying more attention to the problem
because sex trafficking is just the tip of an ugly iceberg that
includes human trafficking and scores of mafia-linked activities such
as mass border crossings, forced labor, and begging
In particular, Serbia and Montenegro is being pressured to confront
this growing problem within its borders; the EU has done no less than
assign it the role of guarding the gates of the “European Fortress.”
Experts from the British police recently trained the country's border
police to recognize a forged passport, with special instruction on
Chinese ones, since Chinese traffickers are known as masters of
document forgery.
A year ago, only the police were grappling with these problems. No
other official body regarded trafficking as a serious issue.
At the start of 2002, the nongovernmental Council Against Family
Violence opened its shelter for female victims of human trafficking.
The shelter is in Belgrade but the address is kept secret. It is the
only organization of its kind in Belgrade and is funded by the Austrian
government.
According to the shelter's coordinator, Vesna Stanojevic, the first
women arrived on 14 February 2002. Since then, 76 women--35 Moldovan,
12 Romanian, 15 Ukrainian, three Russian, and eight from Belgrade--and
six girls under the age of 18 have passed through its doors in search
of safety. Stanojevic said the shelter was established with the goal of
helping victims restore their health and emotional well-being, learn
how not to be dragged again into the criminal underworld, and return
safely to their home country.
The women who seek help in the volunteer-run shelter receive a
complete medical workup that includes treatment by a range of
specialists, including a gynecologist and psychiatrist. Many arrive at
the shelter alcohol-dependent because their pimps forced them to drink
constantly; a few are drug addicts. The shelter provides legal
assistance and helps the victims navigate local laws on illegal
immigrants and border crossings. The shelter lawyer escorts victims to
the police station and the courts, if necessary.
The majority of the victims are married and have children, but poverty
has forced them to make the risky trip to foreign countries to work.
The victims range from underage girls to women of 40. Stanojevic said
the shelter requires women and girls who show up and ask for help to
agree to stay in Belgrade for at least 20 days, but the prospect of
staying isn't easy for those who fear they will be caught by their
"minders" or the police. Stanojevic recalled a case in Mladenovac,
where she went with three Moldovan women who were set to testify in
court against a trafficker. When they stopped to ask a police officer
for directions to the courthouse, the women recognized him as one of
the regulars at the brothel where they had been forced to work.
In sex trafficking cases, Stanojevic said, the justice system is
inefficient. Dozens of trials against traffickers have dragged on
endlessly. The women the system is meant to help are re-victimized and
traumatized, she said, compelled to testify over and over again and
relive experiences they would rather forget, first in front of the
police, then the investigator, and finally in court.
By Milos Z. Lazic. Translated by Mirna Skrbic.
=== 5 ===
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3080
AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW (USA)
August 2003 issue
Letter from the Balkans: An Underreported Horror Story
Writing about the sex-slave trade is a dangerous assignment.
By Sherry Ricchiardi
Sherry Ricchiardi is an AJR senior writer.
A story smoldering in the war-bedraggled Balkans has all the earmarks
of a Pulitzer Prize. At the core is a medieval sex-slave trade
masterminded by cutthroat crime cartels. The tentacles reach into
Italy, Germany and even the United States.
Thousands of women, tortured, raped and imprisoned in seedy "night
bars," are the mainstay of the multimillion-dollar industry. Armed
thugs, bearing tattoos and buzz-cuts, are part of the decor in the
makeshift brothels.
The script of "white slavery," as it commonly is known in this region,
resembles a hard-core porn flick. Traumatized victims describe being
locked in cages, chained to beds, starved, burned with cigarettes,
punched and gang raped until they are broken and forced to perform
sex-on-demand.
Some women tell of being hawked at auctions outside of Belgrade,
ordered to dance naked for prospective buyers who pay thousands of
Euros for lithe, full-bosomed blondes. Most are lured from dirt-poor
countries like Moldova, Ukraine and Romania by the promise of jobs as
waitresses, au pairs or dancers. The human slave trade operating here
has been
compared to African slave auctions in 18th-century Europe.
Once they are sold, owners make it clear that if they attempt to
escape, family members might take a bullet in the head or a younger
sister might be kidnapped and sold.
"It is one of the great underreported stories of our time," says
DrewSullivan, an American journalist working in southeastern Europe.
It's also one of the riskiest.
So far, there is no evidence of reporters being killed for delving into
the sex-slave industry. That's because none has penetrated its inner
workings, explained Sullivan over lunch in Sarajevo. "The closer you
get to the heart of trafficking, the closer you get to the Serbian,
Albanian and Russian Mafia. It is well known they will kill anybody to
protect their business," says Sullivan, who has interviewed more than a
dozen
survivors.
The issue of forced prostitution has been largely ignored or glossed
over by the local and international press corps. In Montenegro, a
country in the thick of the trafficking, the government line has been
"there is no problem here." In fact, up to 200,000 women are bartered
in the Balkan region every year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration. A 2002 United Nations report calls trafficking the
fastest-growing transnational organized criminal activity and a major
violation of human rights.
Most stories on the topic have focused on victims who have escaped or
have been rescued, on police raids and on minor players in the trade.
Few reporters have dug deeper.
A highly detailed story by Sebastian Junger appeared in the July 2002
issue of Vanity Fair. The author traced the path of one Moldovan woman
and delved into the corruption, local laws and victims' fear of
testifying that hinder prosecutors.
Around the same period, Preston Mendenhall, MSNBC. com's international
editor, aired a series on sex slaves in Europe, including accounts from
women who had been rescued and were in hiding. One of them displayed an
infected wound on her breast and described how a client had bitten her.
A Lexis-Nexis search found few significant stories under the label of
human or sexual trafficking in southeast Europe or the Balkans over the
past two years.
A handful of regional journalists have worked the story despite living
alongside the killers. In 1998, reporter Dzenana Karup Drusko set out
to document that crime cartels were trafficking in women in Bosnia. At
the time, the government and the public were in denial. "You can't
report on [criminals] unless you get into their minds," she said during
an interview in a café across from her newsroom. "If you show fear, it
doesn't work."
Across the border in Croatia, veteran investigative journalist Sasa
Lekovic poses a series of ethical questions to guide his reporting on
trafficking. "Is it ever OK to buy a woman to get her story or to pay
for her time?" asks Lekovic, who once tracked a 17-year-old to Italy
and helped bring her home. "Should a journalist ever try to rescue a
victim? How far should we go to protect their identity if they
interview with us?"
Human Rights Watch has said members of the international community,
including United Nations peacekeepers and NATO officials, were regular
clients of the night bars.
In May 2000, an investigation by the U.S. Army concluded that up to
five U.S. government workers were involved in "white slavery." Sources
stated that they purchased women from local Mafia to live in their
homes for "sexual and domestic" purposes.
When women are freed, there is little chance they will testify against
their tormentors. To date, no viable witness protection exists.
Operating behind the scenes are such organizations as the International
Center for Journalists and the International Research and Exchange
Board, who send media trainers--myself and Drew Sullivan among them--to
help local journalists create strategies for covering trafficking.
The U.S. State Department, which sponsors some of the training, has
taken a leading role in helping to create a legal framework to further
prosecution of traffickers in the Balkans. Still, local watchdogs
operate on their own in tightly knit communities.
In June, I traveled to a Bosnian town to join a reporter who was
following a hot tip. A notorious crime boss, sentenced to prison
earlier this year, had been spotted freely walking the streets on
certain days of the week. The night bar he ran continued to thrive.
"Will you be able to write the story?" I asked.
A finger across the throat was the reply. "Not if I want to live," the
reporter said.
=== 6 ===
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 460, September 15, 2003
TRADING IN MISERY
Tens of thousands of Eastern European women are falling victim to the
Balkan sex trade.
By IWPR's Balkan reporting team
Marcu scratches his unshaven face and stares intently out of the window
at the queue of battered tankers, trucks and cars beyond.
He's nervous, tired and desperate. Sitting in a small café on the
Greek-Bulgarian border, he hesitates over his coffee before asking us a
favour, a big favour.
"Look, I know you're Romanians. May I ask you to take these two girls
in your car and drive them over to Greece?" he said, pointing to a car
outside where a couple of young girls are sitting in the back seat.
He's figured out where we're from by the plates on our vehicle.
"They're from Brasov [a town in central Romania] and need to get to
Thessaloniki [northern Greece]. I'll pay you good money. Their papers
are OK," he added enthusiastically.
Marcu tells us he is trying to make a living by trafficking the two
girls. "I'll find them good positions in a club in Thessaloniki. I have
an address and I'll get good money from this. You know how hard it is
to make a living nowadays. The girls are poor too, they're sisters and
their parents are drunkards," he said.
"Greece is a much better future for them. I arrived here with them by
bus but now I'm afraid to cross the border together with them because I
heard the Greek custom officers are very suspicious and can stop us
from entering."
Leaning over the table, Marcu began to look worried, "Please help me,
take the two girls in your car and then we'll meet on the other side
and you'll get some easy money."
"Why don't you just take a cab across?" we asked.
"No, I don't want to hire a cab because these guys are crooks, they can
rob me," he snapped back.
Marcu was getting edgy and wanted us to do a deal to take the girls
across and quickly. Leaving the coffee shop, he followed, shuffling
along to our car. We were about to talk to him further when, nervously
examining our distinctive Romanian Dacia, he noticed we had made a
mistake. On the back seat were our cameras and equipment: our cover was
well and truly blown.
He didn't look back as he sprinted away down the road, getting into his
car and disappearing round a bend into Bulgaria. He will no doubt be
back to try another day.
Marcu is one of the hundreds of traffickers working across this and
many other borders in the Balkans, smuggling not guns, drugs or stolen
cars but women.
HOW THE TRADE WORKS.
In November 2002, an the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, OSCE, conference on the trafficking of human beings estimated
that some 200,000 women in the Balkans had fallen victim to a smuggling
network that extends across the region into the European Union.
According to the latest figures from International Organisation for
Migration, IOM, the four biggest exporters of girls to Western Europe
are Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.
Romania is the nexus of the trade for two reasons: its geographic
location makes it a good transit country and the presence of large
numbers of impoverished women desperate to make money provide a ready
source of trafficking victims.
Two main smuggling routes begin here: one going north into Hungary,
southwest through the former Yugoslavia to Albania and then across the
Adriatic by speedboat to Italy; the other runs directly south, through
Bulgaria to Greece.
With the first route, girls are taken to Romanian cities such as
Bucharest and Timisoara, near the Serbian border. Many are then sold to
Serbian gangs who move them south, putting them to work as prostitutes
in Belgrade or selling them to criminal groups in Bosnia, Kosovo or
Montenegro. Some will be smuggled into Albania, and then on to Italy
and other European countries.
The second route runs from Romania directly south through Bulgaria to
Greece. In Bulgaria, some of the girls are sold to gangs who smuggle
them into Macedonia, then Albania and on to Italy.
The trade is a coalition of interests that crosses ethnic divides.
Well-organised groups, familiar to each other from drugs or gun deals,
trade across frontiers, as do lone traffickers.
War has made the Balkans a traffickers dream. Their illicit trade has
been able to flourish as a result of the chaos of the last decade,
which has weakened border controls and fractured and impoverished
communities that were once held together by rigid moral codes.
Throughout the Balkans, checkpoints are badly policed by often corrupt
officials, well used to taking bribes as guns and drugs moved through
the region during the wars. Forged or stolen passports are easily
available and visa regulations are flouted.
The wars have has also created a market for girls inside the Balkans.
The influx of cash from the international community policing the peace
in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia has swelled the trade in prostitution.
One United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, source told IWPR in August
that the market is now so developed that many of the girls smuggled
into the protectorate now willingly work as prostitutes. Their profits
are good, their pimps are treating them decently and, they say, it's "
better than returning to Moldova", the source said.
Of the 826 girls helped by IOM's projects in the region from May 2001
to December 2002, 590 - 77 per cent - were reportedly destined for
either Kosovo, Bosnia or Montenegro.
There are several methods of recruiting girls. One is through newspaper
advertisements promising menial jobs such as waitressing in Western
Europe. Others are attracted by promises of marriage to EU nationals.
After luring the girls, the traffickers seize their passports, then
take them to major regional sex trade centres, where they are forced to
work as prostitutes.
Some escape from their captors. We met several girls who had managed to
flee. But a number of those who do are often recaptured by the
traffickers or are hounded by them when they seek refuge in womens'
shelters.
In a major investigation, involving IWPR reporters in eight Balkan
countries, we set out to explore this massive trade in people across
the region. Our teams followed the trafficking routes, going from
Romania, south into Bulgaria and Greece, across to Albania and then
north through former Yugoslavia.
We visited clubs, bars, hotels and brothels, speaking with the
traffickers, the pimps, the authorities and the girls themselves, to
build up a picture of how this cross-border network of criminal gangs
smuggling women operates.
TRAFFICKING FOR THE OLYMPICS
At the Kulata border crossing between Greece and Bulgaria, dozens of
taxis line up on the Bulgarian side of the frontier. According to a
Bulgarian police source, some of the vehicles are waiting to ferry
Greek traffickers to two local towns, Sandanski and Petrich, which have
become regional sex trade centres - market places for girls from all
over the Balkans and the former Soviet Union who are bought and sold
with impunity. Some are destined to be smuggled to Italy and other EU
countries, but the majority are purchased by nightclub owners from
northern Greece.
In a bitter twist of irony, Sandanski is also well known for being the
birthplace of the world's most renowned slave, Spartacus. But today's
young slaves are not likely to rebel against their captors. They're too
weak, too far away from home and become involved in a highly organised
criminal trade that leaves them little opportunity to escape.
Greek police sources have told IWPR that the transfer of the women from
Bulgaria to Greece is well established, controlled by a tight-knit
group of criminals. The officers say that a man well known to them in
Sandanski controls the whole enterprise - including the taxi firms used
by traffickers to smuggle girls over the border - and is either
tolerated or actively protected by Bulgarian law enforcers.
In April, our team of journalists, posing as potential clients,
questioned taxi drivers in both Sandanski and Petrich about buying
women in the area. Initially reticent, the drivers soon began talking,
saying they could put us in touch with people who could "solve our
problem".
The prices charged for the girls depend on their age and experience. On
average, they are sold for between 2,500 and 3,000 euro. "If the girl
is fresh, very young and not used, the price is higher," one trafficker
told us.
The cost and number of women being smuggled into Greece is expected to
rise during next year's Olympics in Athens, with traffickers apparently
calculating that the prostitution business will be brisk.
The traffickers are highly organised. They go to great lengths to check
out the identity of clients in order to avoid police traps; possess
high-tech instruments such as communication encryption software that
prevents police tracking their mobile phones; and even run illegal TV
stations broadcasting porn and advertising brothels.
THE ALBANIAN MAFIA
On the outskirts of a desperately poor Albanian village, where donkeys
stacked high with fire wood crawled along potholed streets, we
witnessed the bizarre sight of gleaming Audis, Mercedes and even the
odd Lamborghini cruising past.
In this impoverished country, this sort of conspicuous wealth is
associated with organised crime, which has filled the vacuum left by
the communists and spread its tentacles throughout Europe. In June, the
World Markets Research Centre said in a report that Albanian mafia
groups have established a reputation in continental Europe as being
amongst the most efficient drugs pushers and people smugglers on the
continent.
Over the past five years, successive Albanian interior ministers, and
two chief prosecutors, have admitted that Albania is a transit country
for prostitutes on their way to Western Europe and that significant
numbers of Albanian girls were being coerced into the trade.
In this strongly conservative society, prostitution is beyond the pale,
but trafficking girls across to Italy and other EU countries is not.
The IOM's 2001 Victims of Trafficking in the Balkans report notes that
the smuggling of girls through Albania "is primarily orientated" to the
EU through its Adriatic ports of Vlore and Durres.
Once in Italy, the girls continue to run considerable risks. The
Italian ministry of interior reported in 2001 that 168 foreign
prostitutes had been murdered, mainly by their pimps. The majority of
the former were either Albanian or Nigerian.
The trafficking of Albanian girls into Italy has become so bad that it
prompted a change in Italian legislation in 1998. Article 18 of the
Aliens Law provided for a care programme - run by over 200 NGOs with
the Italian ministry for equal opportunities - for those brought into
the country for sexual exploitation. Figures from the programme from
March to December 2000 show that 20 per cent of the girls that were
helped came from Albania.
In the central Albanian town of Fier, three little metal huts with a
few ancient bunk beds and some desks provide shelter for girls that
have managed to escape the clutches of the traffickers.
The facility was established by Colonel Xhavit Shala, a former senior
police official and presently serving in the statistics and analysis
office in the interior ministry. He raised 18,000 US dollars from local
businesses to fund the project when the government refused to help.
Shala has held talks with local leaders, teachers, business people and
residents to explain how the trafficking trade is wrecking village life
in the country.
Speaking to IWPR, he was adamant that if trafficking through and from
Albania is to be tackled and locally trafficked girls are to be
reintegrated back into society then it will require a massive change of
heart, particularly from the girls' families.
"Albanians need to learn to treat these women as victims and not
prostitutes. We tell families that it is not only their daughters'
responsibility for falling into prostitution but their own," he said.
"Statistic's show that their daughters were deceived into becoming
prostitutes. We ask them why their families permitted them to be
deceived."
Such is the fear of falling victim to trafficking that many girls are
refusing to go to school. Save the Children reported in 2001 that "in
remote areas, where pupils may have to walk for over an hour to get to
school, research has discovered that as many as 90 per cent of girls no
longer receive a high school education". One of the main factors was
parents' concern that their children would be abducted on the way to
class.
People smuggling has become so endemic in Albania that even the police
are implicated. During the first five months of 2002, 102 officers were
identified as being involved in the trade following a major police
crackdown that was prompted by international pressure to stem the tide
of girls reaching Europe. Sixteen of the suspects have been jailed, 12
transferred to other jobs and 15 given minor punishments, according to
the Albanian interior ministry.
The extent of human trafficking from Albania is revealed in a secret
internal government report seen by IWPR. According to the document,
more than 100,000 Albanians were smuggled out of the country between
1993-2001. How many have ended up as prostitutes across Europe is hard
to establish. But evidence from the streets tells its own story.
According to IOM's 2001 survey, the majority of prostitutes in London's
Soho area are either from Albania or Kosovo.
MACEDONIA'S POROUS BORDERS
We made our way north through Macedonia to Kumanovo along the
picturesque roads that climb high into Sharplanina mountains. Amid the
town's busy streets, we came across a jeweller whose trade seemed to be
thriving. "So many women pass through Kumanovo, so my business is
safe," said the owner of the shop in the centre of town. "I sell so
many rings for women from Ukraine, Romania and Albania. Sometimes I
sell the jewelry to the man who is in charge of them. He needs to have
beautiful women so that he can do his business."
If Romania is often the beginning of the trafficking journey and
Albania the end, one country, Macedonia, plays the role of a key mid
point. It has more shared borders than any other former Yugoslav
republic and its mountainous, poorly patrolled borders are ideal for
traffickers. According to Kosovan law enforcement sources, the
country's frontier with the protectorate is probably the most porous in
Europe.
Sitting on a plastic chair in the baggy sports clothes provided by the
centre that rescued her, Julijana Sherban talks to the floor, red
rimmed eyes peering out from behind her long, dark hair.
The 21-year-old Romanian girl doesn't want to say much. After what
she's been through, it's no surprise. But Julijana is lucky, she is one
of the few in Macedonia to have escaped the clutches of her pimp and
testified against him in court, having been placed on a witness
protection programme. Surrounded by other girls in the shelter in
Skopje, she begins to tell her story.
Her case reveals the enormous trade in women that runs through the town
of Tetevo and Valesta and Struga further south.
Her pimp, Dilaver Bojku Leku, was convicted of soliciting in a court in
Struga in March and received a six-month jail sentence. Leku is thought
to have controlled the biggest prostitution ring in Macedonia, running
10 bars in the region, recruiting Moldovan, Romanian and Ukrainian
girls who had been sold on by several gangs on the route from Romania
through Serbia.
"I was told that I would work in Greece, but I didn't expect they would
sell me. I was sold in Serbia a dozen times. I arrived in Macedonia in
2001, in Velesta, where I stayed for five months working in Leku's bar,
Expresso," Julijana told IWPR.
In a public relations disaster for the Macedonian government, Leku
escaped on June 20 and fled to Montenegro where he was eventually
caught and extradited on July 4. He is currently awaiting a retrial
along with four others.
The case has attracted the attention of the international community
eager to see the south Balkans crack down on organised crime and stop
the flow of girls into the EU. Lawrence Butler, the US ambassador to
Macedonia, expressed serious misgivings about the country's sentencing
in prostitution cases earlier on this year. "The failure to [impose
long jail terms] opens new questions such as: are you afraid? Are you
corrupt or incompetent?" he said at the annual launch of the State
Department's report on human trafficking.
SERVICING THE INTERNATIONALS
One by one, the three girls start clapping their hands, begging for
applause and money after stripping naked in front of us. Welcome to The
Dancer - a dingy, basement strip joint in downtown Pristina.
In the corner, a short, skinny woman bellows hoarsely at them to make
more of an effort to attract our attention.
The night has just begun and we're the only clients in the bar. After a
while the fearsome looking madam comes to our table and asks us if we
are enjoying the striptease. Noticing our disapproving looks, she tells
us that she knows we're not here for the dance but for what she called
"some fun with the girls".
"It's 50 euro for one hour. It's safe. Nobody will enter the bar
unannounced. The local police won't make any problems," added the woman
who introduces herself as Iana.
Security is clearly an issue at The Dancer. The underground bar is like
a small fortress - no windows and reinforced doors. Near the entrance,
hidden behind some breeze blocks, sits a young boy who sells chewing
gum and vets customers as they come in.
"Didn't you like the girls? Maybe this time they're not that good," he
said as we left the club." Frankly, I don't like them very much,
either. Will you come here some other time? We will have fresh girls
soon. They're on their way from Ukraine."
There are numerous such brothels and strip joints in Kosovo. The region
is one of the main destinations for the traffickers. But the girls
aren't looking to entice locals - they're here for the "internationals".
The Kosovan economy is largely dependent on the presence of
international officials and troops in the protectorate. In towns like
Pristina and Prizren, western-style shops, restaurants and pubs have
sprung up all over town to cater for the tastes and pockets of the
thousands of well-paid foreigners.
Many ordinary Kosovans have been sucked into the local prostitution
racket, which the traffickers view as one of the most profitable in
Europe.
"The majority of people here earn their money from trafficking in drugs
or women. They know the routes very well, they know the mined zones and
they go through areas where KFOR never goes," a senior officer in the
Kosovo Protection Force, KFOR, told IWPR.
"KFOR is not intervening because they don't want to risk a conflict and
they're not interested. Not long ago a rocket was launched against a UN
checkpoint. The KFOR guys are not from this area so they don't really
care about what's going on."
POLICE SHORTCOMINGS AND CORRUPTION
The KFOR source said the local Kosovan police are incapable of dealing
with the problem, claiming that some officers are running human
trafficking operations.
" I don't know if we can call them police. The locals become officers
after attending a three-month course in law enforcement. Afterwards,
they're only interested in boosting their salaries and showing off the
uniforms, guns and cars that the international community provided
them," he said.
Elsewhere in the Balkans, the policing problem is just as acute as in
Kosovo. In Bosnia, efforts to curb organised crime gangs and
traffickers have been undermined by premature changes to the
international policing effort in the country, critics of the
authorities believe.
In January this year, the UN's International Police Task force, IPTF,
was replaced by an EU-led police mission, EUPM.
One thousand six hundred IPTF police were posted in some 200 locations
throughout the country to train, equip and monitor local officers.
Latest figures from August 2003 show that EUPM's presence is less
conspicuous, with only 480 members currently deployed around the
country.
Before the scale down in January, the IPTF coordinator for the Special
Trafficking Operations programme, John O'Reilly warned that trafficking
gangs were stepping up their activities, "The criminals are already
bringing in new girls. Of all the bars we closed, there's a number of
them actually being renovated."
Speaking with IWPR, O'Reilly was doubtful whether the EU force would be
up to the job of handling the scale of the human trafficking problem.
"In my humble opinion it won't work. You've got the will but there is a
lot of corruption and a lot of people in important places don't want
this to work," he said.
The situation is similar in neighbouring Montenegro where a recent
human trafficking scandal involving a leading official has seriously
embarrassed the government.
In July, an OSCE commission was invited to investigate the alleged
involvement of the Montenegrin deputy state prosecutor Zoran Piperovic
and three other officials in people smuggling.
Piperovic was arrested along with three others in November last year on
suspicion of involvement in human trafficking following revelations by
a Moldovan woman who escaped from a Montenegrin trafficking gang to a
refuge. She claimed that Piperovic had been involved in her
incarceration, during which time she was drugged and raped.
Piperovic and the three other men deny the charges.
Controversially, the Montenegrin senior state prosecutor, Zoran
Radonjic, ruled in May that there were insufficient grounds for a
prosecution, sparking a major public outcry that prompted the
authorities to invited the OSCE to pass judgment on the case.
OSCE mission chief to Serbia and Montenegro Maurizio Massari said in
July that the Piperovic case "raised the issue of the ability of the
Montenegrin legal system to cope with the complexity of cases related
to human trafficking".
INTO THE MINEFILEDS
Leaving Pristina, we traveled first to Prizren in southern Kosovo and
then on to Qafa i Prushit on the Kosovo-Albanian border. According to
out KFOR source, Qafa i Prushit is a people- and drugs-trafficking hot
spot. The route to the border point goes through villages where the
signs of the last war, the continuing tensions and new wealth are all
too apparent.
Close to the border, in front of the newly built two-storey houses, sit
freshly polished Mercedes. Almost all bear Swiss plates. "Lots of the
cars belong to the Kosovars. Many of them moved to Switzerland during
the conflict and now they come back here to do their business, mainly
in the field of organised crime," our KFOR source told us.
A few kilometres away from Qafa i Prushit lie the minefields. A dusty
road cuts through the deadly terrain. On either side, yellow triangles
with the inscription "minas, minas" and giant concrete structures,
called "dragons teeth", which were put up by the Serb forces to stop
the movement of NATO tanks.
Qafa i Prushit's UN checkpoint, guarded by only a few officers, is
perched up on hills dominating the area. The post's surveillance
activities are assisted by UN mobile patrols that put up roadblocks and
search suspect cars in the valley below. Girls here are being moved in
both directions. According to the IOM, the majority are going to
Albania and then on to Italy, but others are moving into Kosovo and the
buoyant Pristina market place.
Despite the UN efforts at Qafa i Prushit, the trafficking continues to
grow partly because the international and local police will not risk
their lives by leaving the safety of the road to go into the minefields.
To the northeast lies another unguarded border that is regularly used
by traffickers between Kosovo and Montenegro. The crossing point goes
through mountains that soar as high as 2,600 metres. As in other parts
of the Balkans, this geography helps those trafficking people and makes
tracking them extremely difficult.
And the multinational nature of the traffic also makes the task of
stopping the flood of people particularly hard.
"There is no linguistic, religious or any other problem among the
criminals," Jacques Klein, the outgoing head of the UN Mission in
Bosnia told IWPR shortly before he stepped down in December 2002. "They
have no dilemma dealing with each other - it's a very sophisticated
crime structure."
By working together, Balkan criminals of different ethnicity create a
secure trafficking network through which profits and girls can be
controlled. But some do manage to escape.
GIRLS FLEE CAPTORS
Not all the girls we met on our travels were controlled by pimps. In
Bucharest, we came across several who were working alone, having fled
their captors. And in Belgrade, we met with girls who continued to work
in the city, after escaping from Serbian traffickers.
Vera is one such girl. Her modest downtown flat is basic, but clean. On
the bed lies a packet of condoms, in the corner a closet. Nothing else.
She has no pimp, no ties. The 22-year-old takes great pride in telling
us how she, and her housemate, got here.
"In March, I finally managed to run from the traffickers who held me in
a house in Novi Sad [a town north of Belgrade] after they had
disappeared with our passports," she said. " I now have my own
business. I place my adds in the newspapers and I publish my mobile
phone number. We are working for ourselves."
Their relief was palpable, but they remain extremely wary.
Neither would say where they had come from or where the traffickers
were taking them.
"The traffickers sold us, abused us and kept us locked up. Now we only
have to take care who our clients are," continued Vera. " We tell them
it is the wrong number if they ask us in Serbian. We have only foreign
clients. Of course, the money would be better if we'd take Serbians too
but we are afraid they might be traffickers that try to take us back."
Recent clamp downs on organised crime following the murder of prime
minister Zoran Djindic in March is likely to have had some effect on
the gang operations in Serbia.
One result of police action against prostitution has been to spread the
problem beyond central Belgrade. The 2002 OSCE report on human
trafficking in the region noted that "due to control and raids by the
police, the number of bars has decreased and part of the trafficking
business has moved from the centre into the suburbs and less obvious
locations".
In much of the Balkans, substantial amounts of international funds have
been directed at curbing trafficking, but Serbia has not fared as well
in this regard.
Nonetheless, NGO pressure here has kept the issue of trafficking on the
political agenda. In July 2001, the interior ministry allocated space
for a shelter for trafficked women and legislative changes increased
penalties for traffickers.
A REGIONAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING STRATEGY
From Serbia, we traveled back to where we began, Romania. There we paid
a visit to Iana Matei, the director of the Reaching Out project, which
provides a refuge for girls who've managed to escape the clutches of
the traffickers. So far, Matei and his colleagues have managed to
build a few apartments for the girls in the town of Pitesti - 100 km
north of Bucharest - home to the massive, belching Dacia car plant.
In this unappealing town many of the girls have found some respite. But
the exact location of the shelter has to be kept secret for fear that
traffickers will hunt the girls down.
It's here that we met up again with Diana. Back in January, IWPR
reported on an undercover investigation into Romanian smugglers, in
which our reporters bought her from a Bucharest pimp for 400 US
dollars. Just like Marcu, we could have taken Diana down to the
prostitution centres in the Balkans or sold her on to Serbian gangs in
Timisoara.
Then, she was cold, terrified, almost naked and starving. She had spent
the previous New Years Eve in Bucharest, chained to a dog cage.
But now, with the shelter's help, she is making progress back to a
relatively normal life. She is sharing a flat with some other girls,
learning how to look after herself and how to live without fear.
It will be a long road for Diana. The mental scars of years of physical
and sexual abuse by pimps and clients have taken their toll.
Analysts agree that human trafficking through the Balkans is a major
international problem that will require a coordinated response from
regional and Western European governments and their respective law
enforcement agencies.
To this end, the EU set up a group of 20 independent experts in March
to recommend further actions on coordinating the fight against
trafficking. The panel is just one of several moves coming from last
year's EU conference on combating the crime.
The conference recommended further coordination between EU member
states on legislation and policing, urging greater harmonisation of
national laws, so that traffickers face the same penalties in whichever
member state they are caught. Brussels has made funding available under
the AGIS programme for police and judicial cooperation across the EU to
tackle the problem.
Julie Bindel, a member of the EU panel and a researcher with the child
and women abuse unit at the University of North London, says that
although Brussels is looking hard into the issue, progress is slow, and
concentrating on tightening and coordinating EU law on the issue is not
enough.
"The problem starts mainly in the Balkans and the EU needs to be doing
more in the region. What legislative and funding changes there have
been are pretty piecemeal, and are only aimed at tackling things at one
end of the chain," she said.
"For example, the UK foreign office has provided some funds to compile
a database of all NGOs working on the human trafficking issue, and
money has been made available to tackle child prostitution but its
still the case that there are less than 20 officers based at Charing
Cross police station who deal specifically with human trafficking and
this is for the whole of London."
As Balkans countries begin to eye up EU accession, many will have to do
more to tackle the traffickers if they are to stand a chance of ever
gaining entry. The Treaty of the European Union explicitly refers to
trafficking of human beings and demands that members comply with
overall standards of policing and legislation on the issue. Right now,
few Balkan countries are even close to this.
But there are signs that a regional approach to the problem is
beginning to take shape.
In September 2002, the Romanian based Southeast European Cooperative
Initiative Centre for Combating Trans-Border Crime, SECI, launched the
first regional anti-human trafficking operation. Code-named MIRAGE, the
initiative brought together police forces from ten countries including
Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and the
UN Mission in Kosovo.
By January 2003, SECI concluded in its report on the operation that 237
victims of trafficking and 293 traffickers had been arrested after over
20,000 raids on nightclubs, discos, restaurants and border crossing
points in the Balkans.
But while MIRAGE was a relative success, it did expose corrupt
practices among many Balkans police forces that go someway to
underpinning the trade. Indeed, numerous investigations during MIRAGE
pointed to policemen being involved in trafficking. It's a sobering
assessment - and one that underlines the difficulties governments face
in tackling this terrible scourge.
This report was coordinated by Paul Radu in Romania and compiled by
David Quin, IWPR's assistant investigations editor in London. The
following contributed to the research: Stefan Candea and Sorin Ozon in
Romania, Julie Harbin and Nidzara Ahmetasevic in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Gazmend Kapllani in Greece, Milorad Ivanovic in Serbia, Kaca Krsmanovic
and Boris Darmanovic in Montenegro, Zylyftar Bregu in Albania, Zoran
Jachev and Zaklina Gjorgjevic in Macedonia.
***
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general
support from the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net
1. Prostitution Rampage Through Macedonia: Teenagers Bought, Raped,
Sold (Vest, FYROM, 24/6/2003)
2. Macedonia: 'Obvious Mishap' - Ethnic Albanian Slaver Escapes Prison
(A1 TV, FYROM, 23/6/2003)
3. SERBIA/MONTENEGRO: POLIZIA SCOPRE 24 DONNE VITTIME DI SFRUTTATORI
(ANSA, 23/7/2003)
4. Sex Trafficking Victims Find Refuge in Belgrade (Politika/TOL,
24/7/2003)
5. Letter from the Balkans: An Underreported Horror Story.
Writing about the sex-slave trade is a dangerous assignment.
(Sherry Ricchiardi, American Journalism Review, Aug. 2003)
6. TRADING IN MISERY. Tens of thousands of Eastern European women are
falling victim to the Balkan sex trade.
(IWPR'S Balkan Crisis Report, No. 460, Sept. 15, 2003)
See also / vedi anche:
Albanian connection to the teenage sex slaves in London
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2584
Sex Slave Recounts Her Ordeal (by Nidzara Ahmetasevic)
http://www.iwpr.net/index.pl?archive/bcr3/bcr3_200303_415_3_eng.txt
Europe's cash and carry sex slaves (by Gaby Rado)
http://www.observer.co.uk/Print/0,3858,4641858,00.html
Sex Slavery / La tratta delle bianche nei Balcani - LINKS:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2384
=== 1 ===
http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2641
Web posted
June 24, 2003
Source: Vest, #888
Prostitution Rampage Through Macedonia: Teenagers Bought, Raped, Sold
Bitola police arrested a gang of seven who used to buy and sell
juveniles, forcing them to offer sex services for money. The suspects
Sh.K. (46) from Kichevo, owner of the cafe bar "Sedum Brakja" (7
Brothers), D.B. (56) from Ohrid, owner of cafe bar "Persa," M.A. (32)
and D.N. (28) from Bitola, the woman S.I. from Kichevo, and her lady
friend R.I. (44) from Bitola who used to trade three teenage girls
among themselves. After the arrest, the investigative judge detained
the cafe owners Sh.K. and D.B. for 30 days.
The police discovered the group after one of the abused girls reported
that she's been a victim of human trafficking. According the
preliminary reports, the girl R.A. was forced twice into whoring with
Greek citizens. In March this year, the suspects M.A. and A.N. sold
the girl to Sh.K. from Kichevo for 150 Euros. He and his unwed wife
forced the girl to serve them in their bar. The bosses sold the girl
to the Ohrid resident D.B. for 100 Euros June 6, 2003. He also forced
the girl into prostitution in his bar "Persa."
The same day, the accused Sh.K. bought the 14-year old girl A.M.
(native of Prilep) from some man from Bitola, paying 50 Euros. Sh.K.
forced the girl to prostitute herself. Several days afterward, D.B.
bought the girl A.N., also to force her to work as a servant and
prostitute. Since she refused the orders of her owners, she endured
repeated raping between June 14 and June 17, 2003.
(K.M.)
=== 2 ===
http://www.realitymacedonia.org.mk/web/news_page.asp?nid=2634
Web posted
June 23, 2003
Source: A1 TV
Macedonia: 'Obvious Mishap' - Ethnic Albanian Slaver Escapes Prison
Background: Ali Ahmeti, the amnestied Albanian terrorist turned
favorite politician of Great Powers, basically admitted in an interview
for MSNBC that money comming from sex slavery financed his "human
rights" war, confirming numerous reports about the connections of
Albanian mafia with Albanian nationalist militants.
From the report by Vasko Popetrevski
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21399
Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska, Deputy Justice Minister, raises doubts
about whole Leku's case.
There has been obvious mishaps in the transport procedure of Dilaver
Bojku, AKA Leku, from the Struga to Ohrid prison, including not
implementing all necessary meaures, remarked Deputy Minister of Justice
Meri Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska, after she talked to the management of
the prison and the officers who escorted the "boss pimp."
"The claim that Bojku wasn't handcuffed is true, although it should
have been necessary. This is not a major violation of the regulations,
but considering the identity of the convict, the wardens should have
assumed what could happen and should have taken more serious measures
to secure him," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
The Ministry of Justice has not made a decision about the disciplinary
measures for the resposnible officers, including wether Dragan Petreski
will continue working as the prison manager. The Ministry of Interior
also conducts a parallel investigation on the responsibility of prison
employees for the Friday debacle.
When asked if Dilaver Bojku's escape was well organized, the Deputy
Minister did not reply directly, but repeated the testimony of the
prison employees, which leads to such a conclusion.
"About hundred meters from the prison van, a black car appeared. Bojku
entered the car and dissapeared," said Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska.
Mladenovska-Gjorgjievska designated the whole case of Dilaver Bojku -
Leku as "specific" - starting from the proceedings to the judgement.
She considers his 6-months-only sentence [for pimping] as "debatable."
"Judiciary which considers itself an anarchy does not mean
independence, but turns into the other extreme of what it should be. If
the judiciary branch does not fulfill it's profesional and expert
obligations, all efforts by the executive and legislative parts of the
Goverment are in vain," said Mladenovska Gjorgjievska.
From the report by Nina Kepevska
http://www.a1.com.mk/vesti/vest.asp?VestID=21398
Dilaver Bojku, AKA Leku
Dilaver Bojku, AKA Leku, is still at large. The Ministry of Internal
Affairs issued a national warant for his arrest, and intensified the
police controls around Struga region, especially his village of
Veleshta, and at the border crossings.
The investigation of the escape continues. The manager of Struga prison
could not be reached for comments.
Following details about the event surfaced: Leku was accompanied by the
prisoner Veljanovski who was standing at the prison gate just prior to
the incident. The warden Gjore Pejchinovski and his assistants
accompanied the Albanian slaver [whose involvement in human trafficking
was proven in a court of law]. When one of the officers wanted to open
the van which was supposed to transport Bojku to Ohrid prison, the
mafiozo used his arms to push his gards and run to a black car parked
about 100 meters from the prison.
All this confirms the suspicions that the whole action was planned in
advance. The news of Leku's escape didn't stir the local public too
much. People of struga consider the whole thing a set-up. They are not
surprised, since during his stay in the minimum-security prison
facility in Struga, Bojku would often spend his time in the city pubs
during the day, and go to prison only to get a good night's rest.
=== 3 ===
http://www.ansa.it/balcani/
SERBIA/MONTENEGRO: POLIZIA SCOPRE 24 DONNE VITTIME DI SFRUTTATORI
(ANSA) - BELGRADO, 23 LUG - La polizia di Belgrado ha scoperto presso
alberghi serbi 24 donne provenienti da Moldavia, Romania e Ukraina
costrette alla prostituzione da una rete di sfruttatori.
Le donne si trovavano in un gruppo di 133 stranieri fermati e trovati
senza permesso di soggiorno. Molti di essi saranno espulsi.
La polizia ha anche denunciato i proprietari degli alberghi in cui le
giovani si vendevano.
Serbia e Montenegro, che costituiscono un unico stato, sono una meta
costante del traffico di esseri umani.
COR 23/07/2003 17:23
=== 4 ===
http://www.tol.cz/look/wire/
article.tpl?IdLanguage=1&IdPublication=10&NrIssue=733&NrSection=1&NrArti
cle=10185
posted on TOL Wire on 24 July 2003
Sex Trafficking Victims Find Refuge in Belgrade
from Politika
Editor's note: Politika was founded in 1904 and is the oldest newspaper
publisher in the Balkans, and one of the oldest in Europe.
It is just one of many statistics that make it clear why human
trafficking is not only a problem for the police and justice system.
European Union countries are paying more attention to the problem
because sex trafficking is just the tip of an ugly iceberg that
includes human trafficking and scores of mafia-linked activities such
as mass border crossings, forced labor, and begging
In particular, Serbia and Montenegro is being pressured to confront
this growing problem within its borders; the EU has done no less than
assign it the role of guarding the gates of the “European Fortress.”
Experts from the British police recently trained the country's border
police to recognize a forged passport, with special instruction on
Chinese ones, since Chinese traffickers are known as masters of
document forgery.
A year ago, only the police were grappling with these problems. No
other official body regarded trafficking as a serious issue.
At the start of 2002, the nongovernmental Council Against Family
Violence opened its shelter for female victims of human trafficking.
The shelter is in Belgrade but the address is kept secret. It is the
only organization of its kind in Belgrade and is funded by the Austrian
government.
According to the shelter's coordinator, Vesna Stanojevic, the first
women arrived on 14 February 2002. Since then, 76 women--35 Moldovan,
12 Romanian, 15 Ukrainian, three Russian, and eight from Belgrade--and
six girls under the age of 18 have passed through its doors in search
of safety. Stanojevic said the shelter was established with the goal of
helping victims restore their health and emotional well-being, learn
how not to be dragged again into the criminal underworld, and return
safely to their home country.
The women who seek help in the volunteer-run shelter receive a
complete medical workup that includes treatment by a range of
specialists, including a gynecologist and psychiatrist. Many arrive at
the shelter alcohol-dependent because their pimps forced them to drink
constantly; a few are drug addicts. The shelter provides legal
assistance and helps the victims navigate local laws on illegal
immigrants and border crossings. The shelter lawyer escorts victims to
the police station and the courts, if necessary.
The majority of the victims are married and have children, but poverty
has forced them to make the risky trip to foreign countries to work.
The victims range from underage girls to women of 40. Stanojevic said
the shelter requires women and girls who show up and ask for help to
agree to stay in Belgrade for at least 20 days, but the prospect of
staying isn't easy for those who fear they will be caught by their
"minders" or the police. Stanojevic recalled a case in Mladenovac,
where she went with three Moldovan women who were set to testify in
court against a trafficker. When they stopped to ask a police officer
for directions to the courthouse, the women recognized him as one of
the regulars at the brothel where they had been forced to work.
In sex trafficking cases, Stanojevic said, the justice system is
inefficient. Dozens of trials against traffickers have dragged on
endlessly. The women the system is meant to help are re-victimized and
traumatized, she said, compelled to testify over and over again and
relive experiences they would rather forget, first in front of the
police, then the investigator, and finally in court.
By Milos Z. Lazic. Translated by Mirna Skrbic.
=== 5 ===
http://www.ajr.org/Article.asp?id=3080
AMERICAN JOURNALISM REVIEW (USA)
August 2003 issue
Letter from the Balkans: An Underreported Horror Story
Writing about the sex-slave trade is a dangerous assignment.
By Sherry Ricchiardi
Sherry Ricchiardi is an AJR senior writer.
A story smoldering in the war-bedraggled Balkans has all the earmarks
of a Pulitzer Prize. At the core is a medieval sex-slave trade
masterminded by cutthroat crime cartels. The tentacles reach into
Italy, Germany and even the United States.
Thousands of women, tortured, raped and imprisoned in seedy "night
bars," are the mainstay of the multimillion-dollar industry. Armed
thugs, bearing tattoos and buzz-cuts, are part of the decor in the
makeshift brothels.
The script of "white slavery," as it commonly is known in this region,
resembles a hard-core porn flick. Traumatized victims describe being
locked in cages, chained to beds, starved, burned with cigarettes,
punched and gang raped until they are broken and forced to perform
sex-on-demand.
Some women tell of being hawked at auctions outside of Belgrade,
ordered to dance naked for prospective buyers who pay thousands of
Euros for lithe, full-bosomed blondes. Most are lured from dirt-poor
countries like Moldova, Ukraine and Romania by the promise of jobs as
waitresses, au pairs or dancers. The human slave trade operating here
has been
compared to African slave auctions in 18th-century Europe.
Once they are sold, owners make it clear that if they attempt to
escape, family members might take a bullet in the head or a younger
sister might be kidnapped and sold.
"It is one of the great underreported stories of our time," says
DrewSullivan, an American journalist working in southeastern Europe.
It's also one of the riskiest.
So far, there is no evidence of reporters being killed for delving into
the sex-slave industry. That's because none has penetrated its inner
workings, explained Sullivan over lunch in Sarajevo. "The closer you
get to the heart of trafficking, the closer you get to the Serbian,
Albanian and Russian Mafia. It is well known they will kill anybody to
protect their business," says Sullivan, who has interviewed more than a
dozen
survivors.
The issue of forced prostitution has been largely ignored or glossed
over by the local and international press corps. In Montenegro, a
country in the thick of the trafficking, the government line has been
"there is no problem here." In fact, up to 200,000 women are bartered
in the Balkan region every year, according to the U.S. Drug Enforcement
Administration. A 2002 United Nations report calls trafficking the
fastest-growing transnational organized criminal activity and a major
violation of human rights.
Most stories on the topic have focused on victims who have escaped or
have been rescued, on police raids and on minor players in the trade.
Few reporters have dug deeper.
A highly detailed story by Sebastian Junger appeared in the July 2002
issue of Vanity Fair. The author traced the path of one Moldovan woman
and delved into the corruption, local laws and victims' fear of
testifying that hinder prosecutors.
Around the same period, Preston Mendenhall, MSNBC. com's international
editor, aired a series on sex slaves in Europe, including accounts from
women who had been rescued and were in hiding. One of them displayed an
infected wound on her breast and described how a client had bitten her.
A Lexis-Nexis search found few significant stories under the label of
human or sexual trafficking in southeast Europe or the Balkans over the
past two years.
A handful of regional journalists have worked the story despite living
alongside the killers. In 1998, reporter Dzenana Karup Drusko set out
to document that crime cartels were trafficking in women in Bosnia. At
the time, the government and the public were in denial. "You can't
report on [criminals] unless you get into their minds," she said during
an interview in a café across from her newsroom. "If you show fear, it
doesn't work."
Across the border in Croatia, veteran investigative journalist Sasa
Lekovic poses a series of ethical questions to guide his reporting on
trafficking. "Is it ever OK to buy a woman to get her story or to pay
for her time?" asks Lekovic, who once tracked a 17-year-old to Italy
and helped bring her home. "Should a journalist ever try to rescue a
victim? How far should we go to protect their identity if they
interview with us?"
Human Rights Watch has said members of the international community,
including United Nations peacekeepers and NATO officials, were regular
clients of the night bars.
In May 2000, an investigation by the U.S. Army concluded that up to
five U.S. government workers were involved in "white slavery." Sources
stated that they purchased women from local Mafia to live in their
homes for "sexual and domestic" purposes.
When women are freed, there is little chance they will testify against
their tormentors. To date, no viable witness protection exists.
Operating behind the scenes are such organizations as the International
Center for Journalists and the International Research and Exchange
Board, who send media trainers--myself and Drew Sullivan among them--to
help local journalists create strategies for covering trafficking.
The U.S. State Department, which sponsors some of the training, has
taken a leading role in helping to create a legal framework to further
prosecution of traffickers in the Balkans. Still, local watchdogs
operate on their own in tightly knit communities.
In June, I traveled to a Bosnian town to join a reporter who was
following a hot tip. A notorious crime boss, sentenced to prison
earlier this year, had been spotted freely walking the streets on
certain days of the week. The night bar he ran continued to thrive.
"Will you be able to write the story?" I asked.
A finger across the throat was the reply. "Not if I want to live," the
reporter said.
=== 6 ===
IWPR'S BALKAN CRISIS REPORT,
No. 460, September 15, 2003
TRADING IN MISERY
Tens of thousands of Eastern European women are falling victim to the
Balkan sex trade.
By IWPR's Balkan reporting team
Marcu scratches his unshaven face and stares intently out of the window
at the queue of battered tankers, trucks and cars beyond.
He's nervous, tired and desperate. Sitting in a small café on the
Greek-Bulgarian border, he hesitates over his coffee before asking us a
favour, a big favour.
"Look, I know you're Romanians. May I ask you to take these two girls
in your car and drive them over to Greece?" he said, pointing to a car
outside where a couple of young girls are sitting in the back seat.
He's figured out where we're from by the plates on our vehicle.
"They're from Brasov [a town in central Romania] and need to get to
Thessaloniki [northern Greece]. I'll pay you good money. Their papers
are OK," he added enthusiastically.
Marcu tells us he is trying to make a living by trafficking the two
girls. "I'll find them good positions in a club in Thessaloniki. I have
an address and I'll get good money from this. You know how hard it is
to make a living nowadays. The girls are poor too, they're sisters and
their parents are drunkards," he said.
"Greece is a much better future for them. I arrived here with them by
bus but now I'm afraid to cross the border together with them because I
heard the Greek custom officers are very suspicious and can stop us
from entering."
Leaning over the table, Marcu began to look worried, "Please help me,
take the two girls in your car and then we'll meet on the other side
and you'll get some easy money."
"Why don't you just take a cab across?" we asked.
"No, I don't want to hire a cab because these guys are crooks, they can
rob me," he snapped back.
Marcu was getting edgy and wanted us to do a deal to take the girls
across and quickly. Leaving the coffee shop, he followed, shuffling
along to our car. We were about to talk to him further when, nervously
examining our distinctive Romanian Dacia, he noticed we had made a
mistake. On the back seat were our cameras and equipment: our cover was
well and truly blown.
He didn't look back as he sprinted away down the road, getting into his
car and disappearing round a bend into Bulgaria. He will no doubt be
back to try another day.
Marcu is one of the hundreds of traffickers working across this and
many other borders in the Balkans, smuggling not guns, drugs or stolen
cars but women.
HOW THE TRADE WORKS.
In November 2002, an the Organisation for Security and Cooperation in
Europe, OSCE, conference on the trafficking of human beings estimated
that some 200,000 women in the Balkans had fallen victim to a smuggling
network that extends across the region into the European Union.
According to the latest figures from International Organisation for
Migration, IOM, the four biggest exporters of girls to Western Europe
are Moldova, Romania, Ukraine and Russia.
Romania is the nexus of the trade for two reasons: its geographic
location makes it a good transit country and the presence of large
numbers of impoverished women desperate to make money provide a ready
source of trafficking victims.
Two main smuggling routes begin here: one going north into Hungary,
southwest through the former Yugoslavia to Albania and then across the
Adriatic by speedboat to Italy; the other runs directly south, through
Bulgaria to Greece.
With the first route, girls are taken to Romanian cities such as
Bucharest and Timisoara, near the Serbian border. Many are then sold to
Serbian gangs who move them south, putting them to work as prostitutes
in Belgrade or selling them to criminal groups in Bosnia, Kosovo or
Montenegro. Some will be smuggled into Albania, and then on to Italy
and other European countries.
The second route runs from Romania directly south through Bulgaria to
Greece. In Bulgaria, some of the girls are sold to gangs who smuggle
them into Macedonia, then Albania and on to Italy.
The trade is a coalition of interests that crosses ethnic divides.
Well-organised groups, familiar to each other from drugs or gun deals,
trade across frontiers, as do lone traffickers.
War has made the Balkans a traffickers dream. Their illicit trade has
been able to flourish as a result of the chaos of the last decade,
which has weakened border controls and fractured and impoverished
communities that were once held together by rigid moral codes.
Throughout the Balkans, checkpoints are badly policed by often corrupt
officials, well used to taking bribes as guns and drugs moved through
the region during the wars. Forged or stolen passports are easily
available and visa regulations are flouted.
The wars have has also created a market for girls inside the Balkans.
The influx of cash from the international community policing the peace
in Bosnia, Kosovo and Macedonia has swelled the trade in prostitution.
One United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, source told IWPR in August
that the market is now so developed that many of the girls smuggled
into the protectorate now willingly work as prostitutes. Their profits
are good, their pimps are treating them decently and, they say, it's "
better than returning to Moldova", the source said.
Of the 826 girls helped by IOM's projects in the region from May 2001
to December 2002, 590 - 77 per cent - were reportedly destined for
either Kosovo, Bosnia or Montenegro.
There are several methods of recruiting girls. One is through newspaper
advertisements promising menial jobs such as waitressing in Western
Europe. Others are attracted by promises of marriage to EU nationals.
After luring the girls, the traffickers seize their passports, then
take them to major regional sex trade centres, where they are forced to
work as prostitutes.
Some escape from their captors. We met several girls who had managed to
flee. But a number of those who do are often recaptured by the
traffickers or are hounded by them when they seek refuge in womens'
shelters.
In a major investigation, involving IWPR reporters in eight Balkan
countries, we set out to explore this massive trade in people across
the region. Our teams followed the trafficking routes, going from
Romania, south into Bulgaria and Greece, across to Albania and then
north through former Yugoslavia.
We visited clubs, bars, hotels and brothels, speaking with the
traffickers, the pimps, the authorities and the girls themselves, to
build up a picture of how this cross-border network of criminal gangs
smuggling women operates.
TRAFFICKING FOR THE OLYMPICS
At the Kulata border crossing between Greece and Bulgaria, dozens of
taxis line up on the Bulgarian side of the frontier. According to a
Bulgarian police source, some of the vehicles are waiting to ferry
Greek traffickers to two local towns, Sandanski and Petrich, which have
become regional sex trade centres - market places for girls from all
over the Balkans and the former Soviet Union who are bought and sold
with impunity. Some are destined to be smuggled to Italy and other EU
countries, but the majority are purchased by nightclub owners from
northern Greece.
In a bitter twist of irony, Sandanski is also well known for being the
birthplace of the world's most renowned slave, Spartacus. But today's
young slaves are not likely to rebel against their captors. They're too
weak, too far away from home and become involved in a highly organised
criminal trade that leaves them little opportunity to escape.
Greek police sources have told IWPR that the transfer of the women from
Bulgaria to Greece is well established, controlled by a tight-knit
group of criminals. The officers say that a man well known to them in
Sandanski controls the whole enterprise - including the taxi firms used
by traffickers to smuggle girls over the border - and is either
tolerated or actively protected by Bulgarian law enforcers.
In April, our team of journalists, posing as potential clients,
questioned taxi drivers in both Sandanski and Petrich about buying
women in the area. Initially reticent, the drivers soon began talking,
saying they could put us in touch with people who could "solve our
problem".
The prices charged for the girls depend on their age and experience. On
average, they are sold for between 2,500 and 3,000 euro. "If the girl
is fresh, very young and not used, the price is higher," one trafficker
told us.
The cost and number of women being smuggled into Greece is expected to
rise during next year's Olympics in Athens, with traffickers apparently
calculating that the prostitution business will be brisk.
The traffickers are highly organised. They go to great lengths to check
out the identity of clients in order to avoid police traps; possess
high-tech instruments such as communication encryption software that
prevents police tracking their mobile phones; and even run illegal TV
stations broadcasting porn and advertising brothels.
THE ALBANIAN MAFIA
On the outskirts of a desperately poor Albanian village, where donkeys
stacked high with fire wood crawled along potholed streets, we
witnessed the bizarre sight of gleaming Audis, Mercedes and even the
odd Lamborghini cruising past.
In this impoverished country, this sort of conspicuous wealth is
associated with organised crime, which has filled the vacuum left by
the communists and spread its tentacles throughout Europe. In June, the
World Markets Research Centre said in a report that Albanian mafia
groups have established a reputation in continental Europe as being
amongst the most efficient drugs pushers and people smugglers on the
continent.
Over the past five years, successive Albanian interior ministers, and
two chief prosecutors, have admitted that Albania is a transit country
for prostitutes on their way to Western Europe and that significant
numbers of Albanian girls were being coerced into the trade.
In this strongly conservative society, prostitution is beyond the pale,
but trafficking girls across to Italy and other EU countries is not.
The IOM's 2001 Victims of Trafficking in the Balkans report notes that
the smuggling of girls through Albania "is primarily orientated" to the
EU through its Adriatic ports of Vlore and Durres.
Once in Italy, the girls continue to run considerable risks. The
Italian ministry of interior reported in 2001 that 168 foreign
prostitutes had been murdered, mainly by their pimps. The majority of
the former were either Albanian or Nigerian.
The trafficking of Albanian girls into Italy has become so bad that it
prompted a change in Italian legislation in 1998. Article 18 of the
Aliens Law provided for a care programme - run by over 200 NGOs with
the Italian ministry for equal opportunities - for those brought into
the country for sexual exploitation. Figures from the programme from
March to December 2000 show that 20 per cent of the girls that were
helped came from Albania.
In the central Albanian town of Fier, three little metal huts with a
few ancient bunk beds and some desks provide shelter for girls that
have managed to escape the clutches of the traffickers.
The facility was established by Colonel Xhavit Shala, a former senior
police official and presently serving in the statistics and analysis
office in the interior ministry. He raised 18,000 US dollars from local
businesses to fund the project when the government refused to help.
Shala has held talks with local leaders, teachers, business people and
residents to explain how the trafficking trade is wrecking village life
in the country.
Speaking to IWPR, he was adamant that if trafficking through and from
Albania is to be tackled and locally trafficked girls are to be
reintegrated back into society then it will require a massive change of
heart, particularly from the girls' families.
"Albanians need to learn to treat these women as victims and not
prostitutes. We tell families that it is not only their daughters'
responsibility for falling into prostitution but their own," he said.
"Statistic's show that their daughters were deceived into becoming
prostitutes. We ask them why their families permitted them to be
deceived."
Such is the fear of falling victim to trafficking that many girls are
refusing to go to school. Save the Children reported in 2001 that "in
remote areas, where pupils may have to walk for over an hour to get to
school, research has discovered that as many as 90 per cent of girls no
longer receive a high school education". One of the main factors was
parents' concern that their children would be abducted on the way to
class.
People smuggling has become so endemic in Albania that even the police
are implicated. During the first five months of 2002, 102 officers were
identified as being involved in the trade following a major police
crackdown that was prompted by international pressure to stem the tide
of girls reaching Europe. Sixteen of the suspects have been jailed, 12
transferred to other jobs and 15 given minor punishments, according to
the Albanian interior ministry.
The extent of human trafficking from Albania is revealed in a secret
internal government report seen by IWPR. According to the document,
more than 100,000 Albanians were smuggled out of the country between
1993-2001. How many have ended up as prostitutes across Europe is hard
to establish. But evidence from the streets tells its own story.
According to IOM's 2001 survey, the majority of prostitutes in London's
Soho area are either from Albania or Kosovo.
MACEDONIA'S POROUS BORDERS
We made our way north through Macedonia to Kumanovo along the
picturesque roads that climb high into Sharplanina mountains. Amid the
town's busy streets, we came across a jeweller whose trade seemed to be
thriving. "So many women pass through Kumanovo, so my business is
safe," said the owner of the shop in the centre of town. "I sell so
many rings for women from Ukraine, Romania and Albania. Sometimes I
sell the jewelry to the man who is in charge of them. He needs to have
beautiful women so that he can do his business."
If Romania is often the beginning of the trafficking journey and
Albania the end, one country, Macedonia, plays the role of a key mid
point. It has more shared borders than any other former Yugoslav
republic and its mountainous, poorly patrolled borders are ideal for
traffickers. According to Kosovan law enforcement sources, the
country's frontier with the protectorate is probably the most porous in
Europe.
Sitting on a plastic chair in the baggy sports clothes provided by the
centre that rescued her, Julijana Sherban talks to the floor, red
rimmed eyes peering out from behind her long, dark hair.
The 21-year-old Romanian girl doesn't want to say much. After what
she's been through, it's no surprise. But Julijana is lucky, she is one
of the few in Macedonia to have escaped the clutches of her pimp and
testified against him in court, having been placed on a witness
protection programme. Surrounded by other girls in the shelter in
Skopje, she begins to tell her story.
Her case reveals the enormous trade in women that runs through the town
of Tetevo and Valesta and Struga further south.
Her pimp, Dilaver Bojku Leku, was convicted of soliciting in a court in
Struga in March and received a six-month jail sentence. Leku is thought
to have controlled the biggest prostitution ring in Macedonia, running
10 bars in the region, recruiting Moldovan, Romanian and Ukrainian
girls who had been sold on by several gangs on the route from Romania
through Serbia.
"I was told that I would work in Greece, but I didn't expect they would
sell me. I was sold in Serbia a dozen times. I arrived in Macedonia in
2001, in Velesta, where I stayed for five months working in Leku's bar,
Expresso," Julijana told IWPR.
In a public relations disaster for the Macedonian government, Leku
escaped on June 20 and fled to Montenegro where he was eventually
caught and extradited on July 4. He is currently awaiting a retrial
along with four others.
The case has attracted the attention of the international community
eager to see the south Balkans crack down on organised crime and stop
the flow of girls into the EU. Lawrence Butler, the US ambassador to
Macedonia, expressed serious misgivings about the country's sentencing
in prostitution cases earlier on this year. "The failure to [impose
long jail terms] opens new questions such as: are you afraid? Are you
corrupt or incompetent?" he said at the annual launch of the State
Department's report on human trafficking.
SERVICING THE INTERNATIONALS
One by one, the three girls start clapping their hands, begging for
applause and money after stripping naked in front of us. Welcome to The
Dancer - a dingy, basement strip joint in downtown Pristina.
In the corner, a short, skinny woman bellows hoarsely at them to make
more of an effort to attract our attention.
The night has just begun and we're the only clients in the bar. After a
while the fearsome looking madam comes to our table and asks us if we
are enjoying the striptease. Noticing our disapproving looks, she tells
us that she knows we're not here for the dance but for what she called
"some fun with the girls".
"It's 50 euro for one hour. It's safe. Nobody will enter the bar
unannounced. The local police won't make any problems," added the woman
who introduces herself as Iana.
Security is clearly an issue at The Dancer. The underground bar is like
a small fortress - no windows and reinforced doors. Near the entrance,
hidden behind some breeze blocks, sits a young boy who sells chewing
gum and vets customers as they come in.
"Didn't you like the girls? Maybe this time they're not that good," he
said as we left the club." Frankly, I don't like them very much,
either. Will you come here some other time? We will have fresh girls
soon. They're on their way from Ukraine."
There are numerous such brothels and strip joints in Kosovo. The region
is one of the main destinations for the traffickers. But the girls
aren't looking to entice locals - they're here for the "internationals".
The Kosovan economy is largely dependent on the presence of
international officials and troops in the protectorate. In towns like
Pristina and Prizren, western-style shops, restaurants and pubs have
sprung up all over town to cater for the tastes and pockets of the
thousands of well-paid foreigners.
Many ordinary Kosovans have been sucked into the local prostitution
racket, which the traffickers view as one of the most profitable in
Europe.
"The majority of people here earn their money from trafficking in drugs
or women. They know the routes very well, they know the mined zones and
they go through areas where KFOR never goes," a senior officer in the
Kosovo Protection Force, KFOR, told IWPR.
"KFOR is not intervening because they don't want to risk a conflict and
they're not interested. Not long ago a rocket was launched against a UN
checkpoint. The KFOR guys are not from this area so they don't really
care about what's going on."
POLICE SHORTCOMINGS AND CORRUPTION
The KFOR source said the local Kosovan police are incapable of dealing
with the problem, claiming that some officers are running human
trafficking operations.
" I don't know if we can call them police. The locals become officers
after attending a three-month course in law enforcement. Afterwards,
they're only interested in boosting their salaries and showing off the
uniforms, guns and cars that the international community provided
them," he said.
Elsewhere in the Balkans, the policing problem is just as acute as in
Kosovo. In Bosnia, efforts to curb organised crime gangs and
traffickers have been undermined by premature changes to the
international policing effort in the country, critics of the
authorities believe.
In January this year, the UN's International Police Task force, IPTF,
was replaced by an EU-led police mission, EUPM.
One thousand six hundred IPTF police were posted in some 200 locations
throughout the country to train, equip and monitor local officers.
Latest figures from August 2003 show that EUPM's presence is less
conspicuous, with only 480 members currently deployed around the
country.
Before the scale down in January, the IPTF coordinator for the Special
Trafficking Operations programme, John O'Reilly warned that trafficking
gangs were stepping up their activities, "The criminals are already
bringing in new girls. Of all the bars we closed, there's a number of
them actually being renovated."
Speaking with IWPR, O'Reilly was doubtful whether the EU force would be
up to the job of handling the scale of the human trafficking problem.
"In my humble opinion it won't work. You've got the will but there is a
lot of corruption and a lot of people in important places don't want
this to work," he said.
The situation is similar in neighbouring Montenegro where a recent
human trafficking scandal involving a leading official has seriously
embarrassed the government.
In July, an OSCE commission was invited to investigate the alleged
involvement of the Montenegrin deputy state prosecutor Zoran Piperovic
and three other officials in people smuggling.
Piperovic was arrested along with three others in November last year on
suspicion of involvement in human trafficking following revelations by
a Moldovan woman who escaped from a Montenegrin trafficking gang to a
refuge. She claimed that Piperovic had been involved in her
incarceration, during which time she was drugged and raped.
Piperovic and the three other men deny the charges.
Controversially, the Montenegrin senior state prosecutor, Zoran
Radonjic, ruled in May that there were insufficient grounds for a
prosecution, sparking a major public outcry that prompted the
authorities to invited the OSCE to pass judgment on the case.
OSCE mission chief to Serbia and Montenegro Maurizio Massari said in
July that the Piperovic case "raised the issue of the ability of the
Montenegrin legal system to cope with the complexity of cases related
to human trafficking".
INTO THE MINEFILEDS
Leaving Pristina, we traveled first to Prizren in southern Kosovo and
then on to Qafa i Prushit on the Kosovo-Albanian border. According to
out KFOR source, Qafa i Prushit is a people- and drugs-trafficking hot
spot. The route to the border point goes through villages where the
signs of the last war, the continuing tensions and new wealth are all
too apparent.
Close to the border, in front of the newly built two-storey houses, sit
freshly polished Mercedes. Almost all bear Swiss plates. "Lots of the
cars belong to the Kosovars. Many of them moved to Switzerland during
the conflict and now they come back here to do their business, mainly
in the field of organised crime," our KFOR source told us.
A few kilometres away from Qafa i Prushit lie the minefields. A dusty
road cuts through the deadly terrain. On either side, yellow triangles
with the inscription "minas, minas" and giant concrete structures,
called "dragons teeth", which were put up by the Serb forces to stop
the movement of NATO tanks.
Qafa i Prushit's UN checkpoint, guarded by only a few officers, is
perched up on hills dominating the area. The post's surveillance
activities are assisted by UN mobile patrols that put up roadblocks and
search suspect cars in the valley below. Girls here are being moved in
both directions. According to the IOM, the majority are going to
Albania and then on to Italy, but others are moving into Kosovo and the
buoyant Pristina market place.
Despite the UN efforts at Qafa i Prushit, the trafficking continues to
grow partly because the international and local police will not risk
their lives by leaving the safety of the road to go into the minefields.
To the northeast lies another unguarded border that is regularly used
by traffickers between Kosovo and Montenegro. The crossing point goes
through mountains that soar as high as 2,600 metres. As in other parts
of the Balkans, this geography helps those trafficking people and makes
tracking them extremely difficult.
And the multinational nature of the traffic also makes the task of
stopping the flood of people particularly hard.
"There is no linguistic, religious or any other problem among the
criminals," Jacques Klein, the outgoing head of the UN Mission in
Bosnia told IWPR shortly before he stepped down in December 2002. "They
have no dilemma dealing with each other - it's a very sophisticated
crime structure."
By working together, Balkan criminals of different ethnicity create a
secure trafficking network through which profits and girls can be
controlled. But some do manage to escape.
GIRLS FLEE CAPTORS
Not all the girls we met on our travels were controlled by pimps. In
Bucharest, we came across several who were working alone, having fled
their captors. And in Belgrade, we met with girls who continued to work
in the city, after escaping from Serbian traffickers.
Vera is one such girl. Her modest downtown flat is basic, but clean. On
the bed lies a packet of condoms, in the corner a closet. Nothing else.
She has no pimp, no ties. The 22-year-old takes great pride in telling
us how she, and her housemate, got here.
"In March, I finally managed to run from the traffickers who held me in
a house in Novi Sad [a town north of Belgrade] after they had
disappeared with our passports," she said. " I now have my own
business. I place my adds in the newspapers and I publish my mobile
phone number. We are working for ourselves."
Their relief was palpable, but they remain extremely wary.
Neither would say where they had come from or where the traffickers
were taking them.
"The traffickers sold us, abused us and kept us locked up. Now we only
have to take care who our clients are," continued Vera. " We tell them
it is the wrong number if they ask us in Serbian. We have only foreign
clients. Of course, the money would be better if we'd take Serbians too
but we are afraid they might be traffickers that try to take us back."
Recent clamp downs on organised crime following the murder of prime
minister Zoran Djindic in March is likely to have had some effect on
the gang operations in Serbia.
One result of police action against prostitution has been to spread the
problem beyond central Belgrade. The 2002 OSCE report on human
trafficking in the region noted that "due to control and raids by the
police, the number of bars has decreased and part of the trafficking
business has moved from the centre into the suburbs and less obvious
locations".
In much of the Balkans, substantial amounts of international funds have
been directed at curbing trafficking, but Serbia has not fared as well
in this regard.
Nonetheless, NGO pressure here has kept the issue of trafficking on the
political agenda. In July 2001, the interior ministry allocated space
for a shelter for trafficked women and legislative changes increased
penalties for traffickers.
A REGIONAL ANTI-TRAFFICKING STRATEGY
From Serbia, we traveled back to where we began, Romania. There we paid
a visit to Iana Matei, the director of the Reaching Out project, which
provides a refuge for girls who've managed to escape the clutches of
the traffickers. So far, Matei and his colleagues have managed to
build a few apartments for the girls in the town of Pitesti - 100 km
north of Bucharest - home to the massive, belching Dacia car plant.
In this unappealing town many of the girls have found some respite. But
the exact location of the shelter has to be kept secret for fear that
traffickers will hunt the girls down.
It's here that we met up again with Diana. Back in January, IWPR
reported on an undercover investigation into Romanian smugglers, in
which our reporters bought her from a Bucharest pimp for 400 US
dollars. Just like Marcu, we could have taken Diana down to the
prostitution centres in the Balkans or sold her on to Serbian gangs in
Timisoara.
Then, she was cold, terrified, almost naked and starving. She had spent
the previous New Years Eve in Bucharest, chained to a dog cage.
But now, with the shelter's help, she is making progress back to a
relatively normal life. She is sharing a flat with some other girls,
learning how to look after herself and how to live without fear.
It will be a long road for Diana. The mental scars of years of physical
and sexual abuse by pimps and clients have taken their toll.
Analysts agree that human trafficking through the Balkans is a major
international problem that will require a coordinated response from
regional and Western European governments and their respective law
enforcement agencies.
To this end, the EU set up a group of 20 independent experts in March
to recommend further actions on coordinating the fight against
trafficking. The panel is just one of several moves coming from last
year's EU conference on combating the crime.
The conference recommended further coordination between EU member
states on legislation and policing, urging greater harmonisation of
national laws, so that traffickers face the same penalties in whichever
member state they are caught. Brussels has made funding available under
the AGIS programme for police and judicial cooperation across the EU to
tackle the problem.
Julie Bindel, a member of the EU panel and a researcher with the child
and women abuse unit at the University of North London, says that
although Brussels is looking hard into the issue, progress is slow, and
concentrating on tightening and coordinating EU law on the issue is not
enough.
"The problem starts mainly in the Balkans and the EU needs to be doing
more in the region. What legislative and funding changes there have
been are pretty piecemeal, and are only aimed at tackling things at one
end of the chain," she said.
"For example, the UK foreign office has provided some funds to compile
a database of all NGOs working on the human trafficking issue, and
money has been made available to tackle child prostitution but its
still the case that there are less than 20 officers based at Charing
Cross police station who deal specifically with human trafficking and
this is for the whole of London."
As Balkans countries begin to eye up EU accession, many will have to do
more to tackle the traffickers if they are to stand a chance of ever
gaining entry. The Treaty of the European Union explicitly refers to
trafficking of human beings and demands that members comply with
overall standards of policing and legislation on the issue. Right now,
few Balkan countries are even close to this.
But there are signs that a regional approach to the problem is
beginning to take shape.
In September 2002, the Romanian based Southeast European Cooperative
Initiative Centre for Combating Trans-Border Crime, SECI, launched the
first regional anti-human trafficking operation. Code-named MIRAGE, the
initiative brought together police forces from ten countries including
Albania, Bosnia, Bulgaria, Romania, Croatia, Macedonia, Greece and the
UN Mission in Kosovo.
By January 2003, SECI concluded in its report on the operation that 237
victims of trafficking and 293 traffickers had been arrested after over
20,000 raids on nightclubs, discos, restaurants and border crossing
points in the Balkans.
But while MIRAGE was a relative success, it did expose corrupt
practices among many Balkans police forces that go someway to
underpinning the trade. Indeed, numerous investigations during MIRAGE
pointed to policemen being involved in trafficking. It's a sobering
assessment - and one that underlines the difficulties governments face
in tackling this terrible scourge.
This report was coordinated by Paul Radu in Romania and compiled by
David Quin, IWPR's assistant investigations editor in London. The
following contributed to the research: Stefan Candea and Sorin Ozon in
Romania, Julie Harbin and Nidzara Ahmetasevic in Bosnia-Herzegovina,
Gazmend Kapllani in Greece, Milorad Ivanovic in Serbia, Kaca Krsmanovic
and Boris Darmanovic in Montenegro, Zylyftar Bregu in Albania, Zoran
Jachev and Zaklina Gjorgjevic in Macedonia.
***
Balkan Crisis Report is supported by the Department for International
Development, the European Commission, the Swedish International
Development and Cooperation Agency, The Netherlands Ministry for
Foreign Affairs, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general
support from the Ford Foundation.
For further details on this project, other information services and
media programmes, visit IWPR's website: www.iwpr.net
La dittatura della borghesia (4)
IMPORTANTI INIZIATIVE DEL PARTITO COMUNISTA DI GRECIA CONTRO LA
VIOLAZIONE DEI DIRITTI UMANI E POLITICI NEI PAESI DELL’EUROPA ORIENTALE
Nelle scorse settimane il PC di Grecia è intervenuto per richiamare
l’attenzione del Parlamento Europeo e delle forze democratiche e
progressiste del continente su due gravi episodi, che testimoniano
delle precarie condizioni della vita democratica nei paesi dell’Europa
centrale e orientale “liberati dal comunismo”
Traduzioni a cura di Mauro Gemma
---
"IN LETTONIA VENGONO VIOLATI I DIRITTI UMANI"
Intervento di Stratis Korakas, europarlamentare del Partito Comunista
di Grecia nella seduta plenaria del Parlamento Europeo
www.communist.ru
4 settembre 2003
Il 2 settembre Stratis Korakas, europarlamentare del Partito Comunista
di Grecia, intervenendo nel corso della seduta plenaria del Parlamento
Europeo, ha affermato:
“Alcune settimane fa mi sono recato in Lettonia su invito del Partito
Socialista di Lettonia. Sono stato informato in merito ad alcune
preoccupanti violazioni dei più elementari diritti umani, che hanno
luogo in Lettonia, al contrario di quanto si sente nei discorsi
ascoltati in sede UE che parlano di “progresso del paese”.
In particolare:
- Il Partito Comunista di Lettonia è fuori legge.
- Più di 70.000 abitanti non godono di diritti politici e sono stati
privati completamente del diritto alla cittadinanza lettone perché,
negli 8 mesi che hanno preceduto il dissolvimento dell’URSS, sono
rimasti nelle file del Partito Comunista.
- Migliaia di cittadini della Lettonia, per la stessa ragione, non
hanno alcun diritto a presentare le proprie candidature alle elezioni.
Ad esempio, tale divieto è stato esteso ad Alfred Rubiks, presidente
del Partito Socialista di Lettonia, presente nel parlamento del paese,
e ad altre note personalità politiche.
- Centinaia di migliaia di persone, su una popolazione di 2,5 milioni,
non hanno la cittadinanza lettone, sebbene le loro famiglie vivano in
Lettonia da decine, se non da centinaia di anni.
- Il 30% della popolazione non ha diritto di voto. Perciò il referendum
sull’adesione del paese all’UE non può essere considerato valido.
- Sebbene il 45% degli abitanti della Lettonia sia di lingua russa, dal
1998 viene proibito il funzionamento di istituti superiori in lingua
russa. La stessa misura era in programma anche per le scuole di grado
inferiore, ma grazie alla protesta, è stata parzialmente modificata. E’
stato proibito l’insegnamento in lingua russa del 40% delle materie.
Di fronte ad una situazione simile, l’UE tiene un atteggiamento di
colpevole tolleranza, se non di consenso. Continua così la ben nota
politica dei “due pesi e due misure”. Ad esempio, nella FYROM (l’ex
Repubblica Jugoslava di Macedonia), dove il 30% della popolazione parla
la lingua albanese, l’UE ha costretto il governo del paese ad aprire
università, in cui l’insegnamento deve essere obbligatoriamente
impartito in albanese. Per quanto riguarda la Lettonia, l’UE permette
la chiusura degli istituti scolastici russi ed altre violazioni dei
diritti di metà della popolazione.
Signor Presidente, come intende reagire a tale situazione, dal momento
che problemi simili si presentano anche nella vicina Estonia, dove, tra
l’altro, si costruiscono monumenti alle SS fasciste?”.
---
LETTERA DI PROTESTA DEL PARTITO COMUNISTA DI GRECIA ALL’AMBASCIATORE
DELLA ROMANIA AD ATENE
www.solidnet.org
Atene, 29-08-2003
Signor Ambasciatore,
Con questa lettera intendiamo esprimere la più ferma protesta del
Partito Comunista di Grecia contro i tentativi di eliminare il Partito
Socialista del Lavoro (PSM, PSL) e contro la decisione presa dal
Tribunale di Bucarest di rimuovere il partito dal registro dei partiti
politici romeni.
In base alle informazioni fornite dal PSL, alcune forze tentano di
smantellare il partito promovendo la fusione con un’altra formazione
politica romena, in violazione delle regole del PSL, la volontà della
stragrande maggioranza dei suoi membri e persino la legge 14/2003 sui
partiti politici in Romania.
Ciò ci ha molto sorpreso, dal momento che noi abbiamo avuto la
possibilità di assistere al suo congresso straordinario, che ha potuto
contare su un significativo risalto e riconoscimento a livello
nazionale e internazionale e che ha riaffermato la continuità del
Partito.
Esprimiamo la nostra preoccupazione in merito ai più recenti sviluppi,
non solo per la violazione dei diritti democratici più elementari ma
anche in relazione all’importante influenza del PSL nella società
romena, quale risultato delle sue iniziative in difesa delle
rivendicazioni sociali, per la promozione degli ideali di giustizia
sociale, pace, non allineamento, sovranità nazionale e amicizia tra i
popoli. Nonostante le immense difficoltà, il PSL è conosciuto non solo
in Grecia, ma anche in parecchi paesi europei, nell’Assemblea
parlamentare del Consiglio d’Europa, nel Parlamento Europeo e in altre
organizzazioni internazionali, per il suo impegno coerente a favore
delle rivendicazioni del popolo romeno.
A tal proposito, esprimiamo ancora una volta la nostra piena
solidarietà con le azioni che aspirano ad assicurare il funzionamento
del PSL e chiediamo al governo romeno misure che garantiscano le
libertà democratiche del popolo romeno.
Sinceramente, Suo
Babis Angourakis
Responsabile della Sezione Internazionale
IMPORTANTI INIZIATIVE DEL PARTITO COMUNISTA DI GRECIA CONTRO LA
VIOLAZIONE DEI DIRITTI UMANI E POLITICI NEI PAESI DELL’EUROPA ORIENTALE
Nelle scorse settimane il PC di Grecia è intervenuto per richiamare
l’attenzione del Parlamento Europeo e delle forze democratiche e
progressiste del continente su due gravi episodi, che testimoniano
delle precarie condizioni della vita democratica nei paesi dell’Europa
centrale e orientale “liberati dal comunismo”
Traduzioni a cura di Mauro Gemma
---
"IN LETTONIA VENGONO VIOLATI I DIRITTI UMANI"
Intervento di Stratis Korakas, europarlamentare del Partito Comunista
di Grecia nella seduta plenaria del Parlamento Europeo
www.communist.ru
4 settembre 2003
Il 2 settembre Stratis Korakas, europarlamentare del Partito Comunista
di Grecia, intervenendo nel corso della seduta plenaria del Parlamento
Europeo, ha affermato:
“Alcune settimane fa mi sono recato in Lettonia su invito del Partito
Socialista di Lettonia. Sono stato informato in merito ad alcune
preoccupanti violazioni dei più elementari diritti umani, che hanno
luogo in Lettonia, al contrario di quanto si sente nei discorsi
ascoltati in sede UE che parlano di “progresso del paese”.
In particolare:
- Il Partito Comunista di Lettonia è fuori legge.
- Più di 70.000 abitanti non godono di diritti politici e sono stati
privati completamente del diritto alla cittadinanza lettone perché,
negli 8 mesi che hanno preceduto il dissolvimento dell’URSS, sono
rimasti nelle file del Partito Comunista.
- Migliaia di cittadini della Lettonia, per la stessa ragione, non
hanno alcun diritto a presentare le proprie candidature alle elezioni.
Ad esempio, tale divieto è stato esteso ad Alfred Rubiks, presidente
del Partito Socialista di Lettonia, presente nel parlamento del paese,
e ad altre note personalità politiche.
- Centinaia di migliaia di persone, su una popolazione di 2,5 milioni,
non hanno la cittadinanza lettone, sebbene le loro famiglie vivano in
Lettonia da decine, se non da centinaia di anni.
- Il 30% della popolazione non ha diritto di voto. Perciò il referendum
sull’adesione del paese all’UE non può essere considerato valido.
- Sebbene il 45% degli abitanti della Lettonia sia di lingua russa, dal
1998 viene proibito il funzionamento di istituti superiori in lingua
russa. La stessa misura era in programma anche per le scuole di grado
inferiore, ma grazie alla protesta, è stata parzialmente modificata. E’
stato proibito l’insegnamento in lingua russa del 40% delle materie.
Di fronte ad una situazione simile, l’UE tiene un atteggiamento di
colpevole tolleranza, se non di consenso. Continua così la ben nota
politica dei “due pesi e due misure”. Ad esempio, nella FYROM (l’ex
Repubblica Jugoslava di Macedonia), dove il 30% della popolazione parla
la lingua albanese, l’UE ha costretto il governo del paese ad aprire
università, in cui l’insegnamento deve essere obbligatoriamente
impartito in albanese. Per quanto riguarda la Lettonia, l’UE permette
la chiusura degli istituti scolastici russi ed altre violazioni dei
diritti di metà della popolazione.
Signor Presidente, come intende reagire a tale situazione, dal momento
che problemi simili si presentano anche nella vicina Estonia, dove, tra
l’altro, si costruiscono monumenti alle SS fasciste?”.
---
LETTERA DI PROTESTA DEL PARTITO COMUNISTA DI GRECIA ALL’AMBASCIATORE
DELLA ROMANIA AD ATENE
www.solidnet.org
Atene, 29-08-2003
Signor Ambasciatore,
Con questa lettera intendiamo esprimere la più ferma protesta del
Partito Comunista di Grecia contro i tentativi di eliminare il Partito
Socialista del Lavoro (PSM, PSL) e contro la decisione presa dal
Tribunale di Bucarest di rimuovere il partito dal registro dei partiti
politici romeni.
In base alle informazioni fornite dal PSL, alcune forze tentano di
smantellare il partito promovendo la fusione con un’altra formazione
politica romena, in violazione delle regole del PSL, la volontà della
stragrande maggioranza dei suoi membri e persino la legge 14/2003 sui
partiti politici in Romania.
Ciò ci ha molto sorpreso, dal momento che noi abbiamo avuto la
possibilità di assistere al suo congresso straordinario, che ha potuto
contare su un significativo risalto e riconoscimento a livello
nazionale e internazionale e che ha riaffermato la continuità del
Partito.
Esprimiamo la nostra preoccupazione in merito ai più recenti sviluppi,
non solo per la violazione dei diritti democratici più elementari ma
anche in relazione all’importante influenza del PSL nella società
romena, quale risultato delle sue iniziative in difesa delle
rivendicazioni sociali, per la promozione degli ideali di giustizia
sociale, pace, non allineamento, sovranità nazionale e amicizia tra i
popoli. Nonostante le immense difficoltà, il PSL è conosciuto non solo
in Grecia, ma anche in parecchi paesi europei, nell’Assemblea
parlamentare del Consiglio d’Europa, nel Parlamento Europeo e in altre
organizzazioni internazionali, per il suo impegno coerente a favore
delle rivendicazioni del popolo romeno.
A tal proposito, esprimiamo ancora una volta la nostra piena
solidarietà con le azioni che aspirano ad assicurare il funzionamento
del PSL e chiediamo al governo romeno misure che garantiscano le
libertà democratiche del popolo romeno.
Sinceramente, Suo
Babis Angourakis
Responsabile della Sezione Internazionale
QUEL MOTOSCAFO
il manifesto - 9 Settembre 2003
(Rubrica "Posta&Risposta")
Sarei curioso di sapere quali sono, fra i lettori de il manifesto, i
potenziali clienti della ditta che produce motoscafi, che ha acquistato
uno spazio pubblicitario sul numero del 7 settembre. Non mi scandalizza
trovare una tale pubblicità su il manifesto, ma muoio dalla curiosità
di sapere cosa passa per la mente dell'inserzionista. Non potreste
fargli un'intervista per conoscere com'è cambiato il mercato dei
fuoribordo dopo che D'Alema, a suo tempo, ha sdoganato la nautica anche
fra il «popolo di sinistra»? (uso le virgolette per un ovvio pudore
nell'associare sinistra con D'Alema). Lo so, quella di D'Alema è una
barca a vela (una super barca, però) ma qualcosa forse c'entra. Chissà.
Max
Perché da mesi, anche durante la guerra, trovo sul «mio» giornale la
pubblicità di un motoscafo: «il tuo tornado di riferimento»...? ll
target dei lettori è così alto da giustificare una pubblicità simile o
l'inserzionista è un «compagno che sbaglia»? o uno che pensa che un
giorno un lettore de il manifesto vorrà comprarsi quel motoscafo?
Scusate, mi sembra un po' strano.
Aldo Collizzolli, Bolbeno (Tn )
Sono preoccupato, è possibile che per un mese di fila troviamo sul
nostro «quotidiano comunista» la pubblicità del «Motoscafo di
riferimento»? O questa è la prima lettera che ricevete, e questo mi
preoccuperebbe per la poca attenzione o sensibilità dei lettori o voi
vi rifiutate di mettere in discussione questa «fonte di entrata».
Dateci insomma una spiegazione, anche perché è incredibile che una
ditta che fabbrica motoscafi per una ricca élite, metta la sua
inserzione ogni giorno su il manifesto. Vi sembra normale? O non ho
capito io nulla sul «chi sono i lettori» di questo quotidiano.
Andrea De Lotto, Milano
Caro Max, la faccenda incuriosisce parecchio anche noi. Caro Aldo,
presumo che l'inserzionista sia in qualche modo «un compagno», ma
perché dire «che sbaglia»? Sbaglia a produrre motoscafi o sbaglia a
pubblicizzarli su «il manifesto» e su «Liberazione»? Possiamo escludere
che uno sulle decine di migliaia dei nostri lettori si appassioni al
motoscafo? Le vie della pubblicità sono infinite e - caro Andrea, dov'è
lo scandalo? - a volte possono portare anche un genere di ultralusso
sulle pagine di un giornale come il nostro. Che è, a sua volta, un bene
di lusso: un ecologico pedalò, ma di lusso.
r. c.
il manifesto - rubrica "Posta&Risposta"
via Tomacelli, 146 00186 Roma
lettere@...
*** NOTA: La stessa pubblicita' dei motoscafi e' apparsa sovente anche
su "Liberazione", quotidiano del Partito della Rifondazione Comunista:
a scansare ogni equivoco, Bertinotti ha percio' giurato che, nonostante
le apparenze, "la borghesia non c'e' piu'" (vedi VISNJICA BROJ 301).
Entusiasti della notizia della fine della borghesia, e per commemorare
i tempi andati in cui essa esisteva ancora, diffonderemo ben presto su
questa lista la fotografia di Massimo D'Alema al timone della sua
imbarcazione. (A cura di I. Slavo) ***
il manifesto - 9 Settembre 2003
(Rubrica "Posta&Risposta")
Sarei curioso di sapere quali sono, fra i lettori de il manifesto, i
potenziali clienti della ditta che produce motoscafi, che ha acquistato
uno spazio pubblicitario sul numero del 7 settembre. Non mi scandalizza
trovare una tale pubblicità su il manifesto, ma muoio dalla curiosità
di sapere cosa passa per la mente dell'inserzionista. Non potreste
fargli un'intervista per conoscere com'è cambiato il mercato dei
fuoribordo dopo che D'Alema, a suo tempo, ha sdoganato la nautica anche
fra il «popolo di sinistra»? (uso le virgolette per un ovvio pudore
nell'associare sinistra con D'Alema). Lo so, quella di D'Alema è una
barca a vela (una super barca, però) ma qualcosa forse c'entra. Chissà.
Max
Perché da mesi, anche durante la guerra, trovo sul «mio» giornale la
pubblicità di un motoscafo: «il tuo tornado di riferimento»...? ll
target dei lettori è così alto da giustificare una pubblicità simile o
l'inserzionista è un «compagno che sbaglia»? o uno che pensa che un
giorno un lettore de il manifesto vorrà comprarsi quel motoscafo?
Scusate, mi sembra un po' strano.
Aldo Collizzolli, Bolbeno (Tn )
Sono preoccupato, è possibile che per un mese di fila troviamo sul
nostro «quotidiano comunista» la pubblicità del «Motoscafo di
riferimento»? O questa è la prima lettera che ricevete, e questo mi
preoccuperebbe per la poca attenzione o sensibilità dei lettori o voi
vi rifiutate di mettere in discussione questa «fonte di entrata».
Dateci insomma una spiegazione, anche perché è incredibile che una
ditta che fabbrica motoscafi per una ricca élite, metta la sua
inserzione ogni giorno su il manifesto. Vi sembra normale? O non ho
capito io nulla sul «chi sono i lettori» di questo quotidiano.
Andrea De Lotto, Milano
Caro Max, la faccenda incuriosisce parecchio anche noi. Caro Aldo,
presumo che l'inserzionista sia in qualche modo «un compagno», ma
perché dire «che sbaglia»? Sbaglia a produrre motoscafi o sbaglia a
pubblicizzarli su «il manifesto» e su «Liberazione»? Possiamo escludere
che uno sulle decine di migliaia dei nostri lettori si appassioni al
motoscafo? Le vie della pubblicità sono infinite e - caro Andrea, dov'è
lo scandalo? - a volte possono portare anche un genere di ultralusso
sulle pagine di un giornale come il nostro. Che è, a sua volta, un bene
di lusso: un ecologico pedalò, ma di lusso.
r. c.
il manifesto - rubrica "Posta&Risposta"
via Tomacelli, 146 00186 Roma
lettere@...
*** NOTA: La stessa pubblicita' dei motoscafi e' apparsa sovente anche
su "Liberazione", quotidiano del Partito della Rifondazione Comunista:
a scansare ogni equivoco, Bertinotti ha percio' giurato che, nonostante
le apparenze, "la borghesia non c'e' piu'" (vedi VISNJICA BROJ 301).
Entusiasti della notizia della fine della borghesia, e per commemorare
i tempi andati in cui essa esisteva ancora, diffonderemo ben presto su
questa lista la fotografia di Massimo D'Alema al timone della sua
imbarcazione. (A cura di I. Slavo) ***
Milosevic "trial":
1. U.S. National Section of the International Committee to Defend
Slobodan Milosevic - Press Release
#1
(September 13, 2003)
2. Truth or Inquisition - make your choice! (SLOBODA to UN Secretary
General and Permanent Members of SC, 3/9/2003)
3. Russian Parliamentarians Stand for Rights of President Milosevic
(Moscow, September 12th, 2003)
The documents have been forwarded to us by SLOBODA, Belgrade:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/
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.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== 1 ===
US Committee: In the Show-Trial of President Milosevic Basic Human and
Democratic Rights Violated
ICDSM-US
U.S. National Section of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan
Milosevic
Press Release
#1
September 13, 2003
Telephone: 212-726-1260
Email: icdsm_us@...
For Immediate Release:
PRESS RELEASE: PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FORMATION OF THE U.S. SECTION
OF THE ICDSM AND A STATEMENT AGAINST THE ICTY’S MOST RECENT VIOLATIONS
OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Today some two dozen writers, academics, attorneys and peace and human
rights activists announce the formation of a new organization to fight
for an immediate end to the disgraceful show-trial of Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic by the International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
The new committee shall be known as the U.S. National Section of the
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, and it shall work
in full cooperation with the leadership of the ICDSM in Belgrade and
Europe as its official representative in the United States. The Chair
of the Committee is Dr. Michael Parenti of Berkeley, California a
leading international scholar and the author of To Kill A Nation: The
Attack on Yugoslavia.
The U.S. Section of the ICDSM rejects the legitimacy of this trial and
that of the ICTY as well. But at the same time we cannot stand by
without protesting the gross violations of fundamental legal,
democratic and human rights visited upon Mr. Milosevic by this court.
We view this trial as an act of political warfare against the people of
Serbia and against the basic democratic rights of the whole of humanity
that cannot be allowed to succeed.
The U.S. Section of the ICDSM charges the ICTY and the American
government with falsifying war crimes charges against President
Milosevic solely for the purpose of manipulating public opinion against
the people of Serbia and justifying NATO's barbaric 78-day campaign of
terror against Yugoslavia in 1999, as well as to deflect attention from
the real crimes against the people of Yugoslavia committed by the US
and its NATO allies over the course of the last thirteen years. These
include but are not limited to the break up of Yugoslavia and the
imposition of neo-colonial regimes in each of the former republics. The
ICTY represents a continuation of this policy of aggression and
occupation and a dangerous precedent for all nations who dare to oppose
U.S. or Western foreign policy.
As its first act the US Section of the ICDSM is issuing this urgent
public protest against the ICTY’s most recent violations of the norms
of international law and human rights.
In recent weeks the ICTY has flagrantly violated some internationally
accepted legal norms by failing to provide adequate medical attention
for President Milosevic, by denying visitation rights to President
Milosevic’s closest advisors, and, most recently, by denying Mr.
Milosevic’s request for a two year break in the trial for adequate
preparation for his defense. In all three of these cases, the actions
of the tribunal are designed to prevent President Milosevic from
conducting his defense.
Above all the ICTY has deliberately undermined the health and physical
capacity of President Milosevic by refusing to grant adequate medical
assistance and an adjournment.
The past two years of imprisonment have severely damaged his health and
threatened his very life. In addition, the tribunal’s persecution of
Mr. Milosevic’s family and his forced isolation from them is an outrage
that must end.
By not granting Mr. Milosevic an adjournment and adequate medical care
the tribunal has exposed its own brutality while violating fundamental
norms of international law such as the presumption of innocence and due
process. Article 9 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights states: "It shall not be the general rule that persons
awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject
to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial
proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the
judgment." And in regard to due process, Article 9 (1) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "No one
shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in
accordance with such procedure as are established by law."
The recent decisions of the ICTY also disregard the principle of
“equality of arms,” a fundamental norm of international law that is
intended to create credible conditions for the defense. According to
Article 14 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR):
"A defendant is entitled (b) to have adequate time and facilities
for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of
his own choosing; (d) to be tried in his presence, and to defend
himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to
be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and
to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the
interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such
case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it; (e) to
examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the
attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same
conditions as witnesses against him."
The ICTY at The Hague makes a mockery of such standard international
legal principles in its total disregard of President Milosevic’s ill
health and request for an adjournment.
Basic decency and justice demands that the U.S. Section of the ICDSM
call upon those orchestrating the tribunal’s process against President
Milosevic to adjourn the process for a period of at least two years and
end the ban on visitation rights. But above all the U.S. section seeks
the immediate release of President Milosevic from his unlawful
imprisonment and an end to the sinister proceedings organized by the
ICTY show-trial at The Hague. The ICDSM calls upon the citizens of all
nations concerned with the violation of human rights to join in this
protest. The U.S. National Section of the ICDSM shall, in the near
future, publish a pamphlet on the illegitimate and sinister nature of
The Hague tribunal, hold press conferences, and create a website to
educate and engage the American public about the outrages of this court
funded by U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.
=== 2 ===
Truth or Inquisition - make your choice! (SLOBODA to UN Secretary
General and Permanent Members of SC)
To: Secretary General of the Organization of United Nations, H.E. Kofi
A. Annan (via UN Office in Belgrade)
To the Governments of:
Peoples' Republic of China
Republic of France
Russian Federation
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
(via their embassies in Belgrade)
The Association of Citizens "Sloboda/Freedom" - Yugoslav
Committee for the Release of Slobodan Milosevic, expressing the opinion
of the large number of citizens, stresses the hard violations of human
rights, as well as of generally accepted legal, juridical and moral
norms by the so-called International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia at The Hague (acting on the basis of the mandate by the UN
Security Council) in the process conducted against the long-term
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of
Serbia Mr. Slobodan Milosevic.
In the so-called Pre-defense Hearing, hold at The Hague on
September 2nd, 2003, the Tribunal has shown its unwillingness to
satisfy, even in minimum extent, the principle of equality of arms
between its own Prosecution and the right to defense, allegedly
recognized by the Tribunal. If this expressed unwillingness would
remain, every impartial observer will come to the conclusion that a
modern inquisition exists within the UN system with the only objective
to protect interests of NATO in the Balkans and that the most
responsible for that are the permanent members of the UN Security
Council.
The Tribunal has shown unwillingness to accept a gentleman
proposal by President Milosevic. President Milosevic requested
two-years break of the process, during which period he could prepare
presentation of his evidence and witnesses in order to confront with
truth, in the second phase of the process, the distorted facts and
fabricated evidence, the
Prosecution is presenting for two years already. He had in mind that in
preparing its case, the Prosecution used several years of work of
several hundred of people, financed by the enormous UN budget and
assisted by the intelligence services of some big countries. For its
work, with practically unlimited resources, the Prosecution had at
least four and a half years
(since May 1999), although everybody knows that many materials
collected since the founding of the Tribunal in 1993, have been used as
well.
Furthermore, The Hague Tribunal by the length and rhythm of the process
and by the denial of the appropriate medical care threatens the life
and health of President Milosevic.
President Milosevic is deprived of visits of his inner family
members. By the recent Tribunal's decision, he is also deprived of
visits of his closest associates, members of the Committee for his
release and members of his Party, by which the right to defense is also
denied. Besides, any contact with media is totally forbidden to
President Milosevic, while at the same time, the Prosecution talks to
media daily.
Due to the state of health of President Milosevic, due to
equality and right to defense, and in the interest of truth, we demand
a two-year break of the Hague process, during which President Milosevic
would be set free, in order to recuperate his health and in order to
have minimum conditions to prepare evidence and witnesses for the
second phase of the process. We also demand cease of other violations
of his rights.
The only alternative to this, with which the reputation of the
World organization and of the governments most responsible for its
decisions, would not be most seriously damaged, is immediate abolition
of the Hague Tribunal.
Belgrade, September 3rd, 2003
Respectfully,
On behalf of Sloboda/Freedom Association - The Yugoslav
Committee for the Release of Slobodan Milosevic,
Bogoljub Bjelica, Chairman
=== 3 ===
Russian Parliamentarians Stand for Rights of President Milosevic
Moscow, September 12th, 2003
Around 30 MPs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, from several
parliamentary factions, have signed today a joint communiqué, reacting
in strongest terms to the violation of the fundamental rights of
President Milosevic at The Hague and fully endorsing his request for a
two-years break of the process, combined with his release from
detention.
Among the signatories are Gennadi Zyuganov, head of the
Communist Faction, the most numerous in Duma, Nikolai Charitonov, head
of Agroindustrial Faction, Nikolai Rizhkov, former Soviet Prime
Minister and chairman of the Duma Commission for Yugoslavia, general
Andrei Nikolaev, chairman of the Duma Committee for Defense and several
other chairmen and vice-chairmen of various Duma committees.
The Communiqué states that the indictment against President
Milosevic already totally collapsed, in spite the enormous resources
used to prepare it. If now President Milosevic would not be provided
with adequate conditions to prepare his case and if the visit ban and
other forms of pressure, lack of medical care in particular, continue,
it would be a definitive confirmation that political harassment which
goes on at The Hague has nothing in common with judiciary, is the
conclusion of the Communiqué.
Since the autumn session of the State Duma has not been started yet,
the important Russian MPs decided to appear with this public statement,
considering it urgent to react to last week's developments at the
Tribunal, when judges stated that they might determine conditions for
preparation of President Milosevic's case which would be far below the
necessary minimum.
Signatures for the Joint Communiqué are still being collected.
Below we give the full text of the statement of the Russian MPs.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC HAS TO OBTAIN TIME AND CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO
PREPARE
HIS DEFENSE
- Joint Communiqué -
The process against the former President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic is lasting for almost two years already.
During all that time, after they have submitted mountains of suspicious
documents, brought hundreds of false witnesses and spent hundreds of
millions of dollars from the UN budget, the prosecutors of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
haven't succeeded to show any evidence of guilt of the Serbian leader
for the alleged crimes.
The Prosecution undergoes a total fiasco. Soon, the phase of
defense of Slobodan Milosevic (who was until now allowed only to
cross-examine witnesses of the Prosecution) should start.
Slobodan Milosevic has numerous and convincing confirmations of his
innocence. Nevertheless, the organization of the defense requires
serious preparations. The indictment against Slobodan Milosevic has
been prepared for more than four years with participation of hundreds
of ICTY employees. Slobodan Milosevic presents his own defense in
person and alone.
For preparation of his defense he has the right to use the same amount
of time as the ICTY prosecutors spent preparing the indictment.
"Equality of arms", in fact of conditions for defense and
prosecution is one of the fundamental norms of International Law,
guaranteed by many documents, including the European Convention on
human rights. And that assumes the right for adequate time and
necessary conditions for the preparation of defense.
We condemn the recent decision of the ICTY to ban visits with
Slobodan Milosevic by the members of the Socialist Party of Serbia and
"Sloboda (Freedom)" Association, the committee for his support. The aim
of this decision is to strengthen the isolation of President Milosevic.
This is obviously a dangerous measure of moral and psychological
pressure against a political prisoner.
Slobodan Milosevic has to have the possibility to conduct his
defense not from the prison cell, but from freedom. Otherwise, an
adequate preparation for defense is impossible.
At the same time, he has to have the possibility to recuperate
his health, seriously damaged by the several years of imprisonment, by
the exhausting court process and by the lack of qualified medical
assistance. We are deeply worried by the fact that Slobodan Milosevic
is still deprived of qualified medical care. That creates a real threat
to his life.
Taking all the above-mentioned into account, and also
considering the seriousness and the broadness of the accusations, we
demand a break in the process against Slobodan Milosevic, lasting at
least two years. We also demand his immediate release and return to
Belgrade in order
to recuperate his health. The persecution of his family has to cease.
Without fulfilling these demands, the process against Slobodan
Milosevic will remain an open political harassment, having nothing in
common with judiciary.
1. U.S. National Section of the International Committee to Defend
Slobodan Milosevic - Press Release
#1
(September 13, 2003)
2. Truth or Inquisition - make your choice! (SLOBODA to UN Secretary
General and Permanent Members of SC, 3/9/2003)
3. Russian Parliamentarians Stand for Rights of President Milosevic
(Moscow, September 12th, 2003)
The documents have been forwarded to us by SLOBODA, Belgrade:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/
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.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)
=== 1 ===
US Committee: In the Show-Trial of President Milosevic Basic Human and
Democratic Rights Violated
ICDSM-US
U.S. National Section of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan
Milosevic
Press Release
#1
September 13, 2003
Telephone: 212-726-1260
Email: icdsm_us@...
For Immediate Release:
PRESS RELEASE: PUBLIC ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE FORMATION OF THE U.S. SECTION
OF THE ICDSM AND A STATEMENT AGAINST THE ICTY’S MOST RECENT VIOLATIONS
OF INTERNATIONAL LAW AND HUMAN RIGHTS
Today some two dozen writers, academics, attorneys and peace and human
rights activists announce the formation of a new organization to fight
for an immediate end to the disgraceful show-trial of Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic by the International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
The new committee shall be known as the U.S. National Section of the
International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, and it shall work
in full cooperation with the leadership of the ICDSM in Belgrade and
Europe as its official representative in the United States. The Chair
of the Committee is Dr. Michael Parenti of Berkeley, California a
leading international scholar and the author of To Kill A Nation: The
Attack on Yugoslavia.
The U.S. Section of the ICDSM rejects the legitimacy of this trial and
that of the ICTY as well. But at the same time we cannot stand by
without protesting the gross violations of fundamental legal,
democratic and human rights visited upon Mr. Milosevic by this court.
We view this trial as an act of political warfare against the people of
Serbia and against the basic democratic rights of the whole of humanity
that cannot be allowed to succeed.
The U.S. Section of the ICDSM charges the ICTY and the American
government with falsifying war crimes charges against President
Milosevic solely for the purpose of manipulating public opinion against
the people of Serbia and justifying NATO's barbaric 78-day campaign of
terror against Yugoslavia in 1999, as well as to deflect attention from
the real crimes against the people of Yugoslavia committed by the US
and its NATO allies over the course of the last thirteen years. These
include but are not limited to the break up of Yugoslavia and the
imposition of neo-colonial regimes in each of the former republics. The
ICTY represents a continuation of this policy of aggression and
occupation and a dangerous precedent for all nations who dare to oppose
U.S. or Western foreign policy.
As its first act the US Section of the ICDSM is issuing this urgent
public protest against the ICTY’s most recent violations of the norms
of international law and human rights.
In recent weeks the ICTY has flagrantly violated some internationally
accepted legal norms by failing to provide adequate medical attention
for President Milosevic, by denying visitation rights to President
Milosevic’s closest advisors, and, most recently, by denying Mr.
Milosevic’s request for a two year break in the trial for adequate
preparation for his defense. In all three of these cases, the actions
of the tribunal are designed to prevent President Milosevic from
conducting his defense.
Above all the ICTY has deliberately undermined the health and physical
capacity of President Milosevic by refusing to grant adequate medical
assistance and an adjournment.
The past two years of imprisonment have severely damaged his health and
threatened his very life. In addition, the tribunal’s persecution of
Mr. Milosevic’s family and his forced isolation from them is an outrage
that must end.
By not granting Mr. Milosevic an adjournment and adequate medical care
the tribunal has exposed its own brutality while violating fundamental
norms of international law such as the presumption of innocence and due
process. Article 9 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and
Political Rights states: "It shall not be the general rule that persons
awaiting trial shall be detained in custody, but release may be subject
to guarantees to appear for trial, at any other stage of the judicial
proceedings, and, should occasion arise, for execution of the
judgment." And in regard to due process, Article 9 (1) of the
International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights states: "No one
shall be deprived of his liberty except on such grounds and in
accordance with such procedure as are established by law."
The recent decisions of the ICTY also disregard the principle of
“equality of arms,” a fundamental norm of international law that is
intended to create credible conditions for the defense. According to
Article 14 (3) of the International Covenant on Civil and Political
Rights (ICCPR):
"A defendant is entitled (b) to have adequate time and facilities
for the preparation of his defence and to communicate with counsel of
his own choosing; (d) to be tried in his presence, and to defend
himself in person or through legal assistance of his own choosing; to
be informed, if he does not have legal assistance, of this right; and
to have legal assistance assigned to him, in any case where the
interests of justice so require, and without payment by him in any such
case if he does not have sufficient means to pay for it; (e) to
examine, or have examined, the witnesses against him and to obtain the
attendance and examination of witnesses on his behalf under the same
conditions as witnesses against him."
The ICTY at The Hague makes a mockery of such standard international
legal principles in its total disregard of President Milosevic’s ill
health and request for an adjournment.
Basic decency and justice demands that the U.S. Section of the ICDSM
call upon those orchestrating the tribunal’s process against President
Milosevic to adjourn the process for a period of at least two years and
end the ban on visitation rights. But above all the U.S. section seeks
the immediate release of President Milosevic from his unlawful
imprisonment and an end to the sinister proceedings organized by the
ICTY show-trial at The Hague. The ICDSM calls upon the citizens of all
nations concerned with the violation of human rights to join in this
protest. The U.S. National Section of the ICDSM shall, in the near
future, publish a pamphlet on the illegitimate and sinister nature of
The Hague tribunal, hold press conferences, and create a website to
educate and engage the American public about the outrages of this court
funded by U.S. taxpayers’ dollars.
=== 2 ===
Truth or Inquisition - make your choice! (SLOBODA to UN Secretary
General and Permanent Members of SC)
To: Secretary General of the Organization of United Nations, H.E. Kofi
A. Annan (via UN Office in Belgrade)
To the Governments of:
Peoples' Republic of China
Republic of France
Russian Federation
United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland
United States of America
(via their embassies in Belgrade)
The Association of Citizens "Sloboda/Freedom" - Yugoslav
Committee for the Release of Slobodan Milosevic, expressing the opinion
of the large number of citizens, stresses the hard violations of human
rights, as well as of generally accepted legal, juridical and moral
norms by the so-called International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia at The Hague (acting on the basis of the mandate by the UN
Security Council) in the process conducted against the long-term
President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and the Republic of
Serbia Mr. Slobodan Milosevic.
In the so-called Pre-defense Hearing, hold at The Hague on
September 2nd, 2003, the Tribunal has shown its unwillingness to
satisfy, even in minimum extent, the principle of equality of arms
between its own Prosecution and the right to defense, allegedly
recognized by the Tribunal. If this expressed unwillingness would
remain, every impartial observer will come to the conclusion that a
modern inquisition exists within the UN system with the only objective
to protect interests of NATO in the Balkans and that the most
responsible for that are the permanent members of the UN Security
Council.
The Tribunal has shown unwillingness to accept a gentleman
proposal by President Milosevic. President Milosevic requested
two-years break of the process, during which period he could prepare
presentation of his evidence and witnesses in order to confront with
truth, in the second phase of the process, the distorted facts and
fabricated evidence, the
Prosecution is presenting for two years already. He had in mind that in
preparing its case, the Prosecution used several years of work of
several hundred of people, financed by the enormous UN budget and
assisted by the intelligence services of some big countries. For its
work, with practically unlimited resources, the Prosecution had at
least four and a half years
(since May 1999), although everybody knows that many materials
collected since the founding of the Tribunal in 1993, have been used as
well.
Furthermore, The Hague Tribunal by the length and rhythm of the process
and by the denial of the appropriate medical care threatens the life
and health of President Milosevic.
President Milosevic is deprived of visits of his inner family
members. By the recent Tribunal's decision, he is also deprived of
visits of his closest associates, members of the Committee for his
release and members of his Party, by which the right to defense is also
denied. Besides, any contact with media is totally forbidden to
President Milosevic, while at the same time, the Prosecution talks to
media daily.
Due to the state of health of President Milosevic, due to
equality and right to defense, and in the interest of truth, we demand
a two-year break of the Hague process, during which President Milosevic
would be set free, in order to recuperate his health and in order to
have minimum conditions to prepare evidence and witnesses for the
second phase of the process. We also demand cease of other violations
of his rights.
The only alternative to this, with which the reputation of the
World organization and of the governments most responsible for its
decisions, would not be most seriously damaged, is immediate abolition
of the Hague Tribunal.
Belgrade, September 3rd, 2003
Respectfully,
On behalf of Sloboda/Freedom Association - The Yugoslav
Committee for the Release of Slobodan Milosevic,
Bogoljub Bjelica, Chairman
=== 3 ===
Russian Parliamentarians Stand for Rights of President Milosevic
Moscow, September 12th, 2003
Around 30 MPs of the State Duma of the Russian Federation, from several
parliamentary factions, have signed today a joint communiqué, reacting
in strongest terms to the violation of the fundamental rights of
President Milosevic at The Hague and fully endorsing his request for a
two-years break of the process, combined with his release from
detention.
Among the signatories are Gennadi Zyuganov, head of the
Communist Faction, the most numerous in Duma, Nikolai Charitonov, head
of Agroindustrial Faction, Nikolai Rizhkov, former Soviet Prime
Minister and chairman of the Duma Commission for Yugoslavia, general
Andrei Nikolaev, chairman of the Duma Committee for Defense and several
other chairmen and vice-chairmen of various Duma committees.
The Communiqué states that the indictment against President
Milosevic already totally collapsed, in spite the enormous resources
used to prepare it. If now President Milosevic would not be provided
with adequate conditions to prepare his case and if the visit ban and
other forms of pressure, lack of medical care in particular, continue,
it would be a definitive confirmation that political harassment which
goes on at The Hague has nothing in common with judiciary, is the
conclusion of the Communiqué.
Since the autumn session of the State Duma has not been started yet,
the important Russian MPs decided to appear with this public statement,
considering it urgent to react to last week's developments at the
Tribunal, when judges stated that they might determine conditions for
preparation of President Milosevic's case which would be far below the
necessary minimum.
Signatures for the Joint Communiqué are still being collected.
Below we give the full text of the statement of the Russian MPs.
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC HAS TO OBTAIN TIME AND CONDITIONS NECESSARY TO
PREPARE
HIS DEFENSE
- Joint Communiqué -
The process against the former President of the Federal Republic of
Yugoslavia Slobodan Milosevic is lasting for almost two years already.
During all that time, after they have submitted mountains of suspicious
documents, brought hundreds of false witnesses and spent hundreds of
millions of dollars from the UN budget, the prosecutors of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
haven't succeeded to show any evidence of guilt of the Serbian leader
for the alleged crimes.
The Prosecution undergoes a total fiasco. Soon, the phase of
defense of Slobodan Milosevic (who was until now allowed only to
cross-examine witnesses of the Prosecution) should start.
Slobodan Milosevic has numerous and convincing confirmations of his
innocence. Nevertheless, the organization of the defense requires
serious preparations. The indictment against Slobodan Milosevic has
been prepared for more than four years with participation of hundreds
of ICTY employees. Slobodan Milosevic presents his own defense in
person and alone.
For preparation of his defense he has the right to use the same amount
of time as the ICTY prosecutors spent preparing the indictment.
"Equality of arms", in fact of conditions for defense and
prosecution is one of the fundamental norms of International Law,
guaranteed by many documents, including the European Convention on
human rights. And that assumes the right for adequate time and
necessary conditions for the preparation of defense.
We condemn the recent decision of the ICTY to ban visits with
Slobodan Milosevic by the members of the Socialist Party of Serbia and
"Sloboda (Freedom)" Association, the committee for his support. The aim
of this decision is to strengthen the isolation of President Milosevic.
This is obviously a dangerous measure of moral and psychological
pressure against a political prisoner.
Slobodan Milosevic has to have the possibility to conduct his
defense not from the prison cell, but from freedom. Otherwise, an
adequate preparation for defense is impossible.
At the same time, he has to have the possibility to recuperate
his health, seriously damaged by the several years of imprisonment, by
the exhausting court process and by the lack of qualified medical
assistance. We are deeply worried by the fact that Slobodan Milosevic
is still deprived of qualified medical care. That creates a real threat
to his life.
Taking all the above-mentioned into account, and also
considering the seriousness and the broadness of the accusations, we
demand a break in the process against Slobodan Milosevic, lasting at
least two years. We also demand his immediate release and return to
Belgrade in order
to recuperate his health. The persecution of his family has to cease.
Without fulfilling these demands, the process against Slobodan
Milosevic will remain an open political harassment, having nothing in
common with judiciary.
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