Informazione
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.
Milosevic "trial", synopsis Sept. 1--10, 2003
1. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
2. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
3. Milosevic too ill to attend trial; Montenegrin premier says he
refused to testify against Milosevic; Srpska government was blackmailed
4. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
See also:
No break for Milosevic (by Margreet Strijbosch)
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/icty030903.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090203.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 2, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The testimony of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of
"B-1505" was concluded today.
"B-1505" alleged that the JNA came to Visegrad, dismissed the legal
authorities, and armed the Serbs for the purposes of "ethnic
cleansing." A problem with "B-1505's" testimony was that this so-called
"B-1505" didn't mention anything about the JNA arming the Serbs in his
written statement. This was a new detail that he only remembered once
he took the witness stand.
And speaking of arms, this "B-1505" claimed with full certainty that
there were no armed Muslims in Visegrad, and that there were no Muslim
extremist groups in Visegrad, two claims which are outright absurdities.
Before "B-1505" repeated the same old tired Muslim line about not
having any weapons; he spoke about how Murat Sabanovic (the brother of
the SDA vice-president in Visegrad) tore down the statue of Ivo Andric
(Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize winner) and threw the monument into the
Drina River. "B-1505" also admitted that this same Sabanovic seized
control of the hydroelectric dam and threatened to blow it up. However
not to worry, according to our witness, in spite of the fact that
people were living on the river, nobody would have been hurt even if
the dam had been blown-up. How reassuring!
I really fail to see how it could be possible that the witness could
say with a straight face that blowing-up the dam would be a harmless
endeavor. The witness admitted previously that when this Sabanovic took
control of the dam he had opened the flood gates and allowed water to
flood the populated areas down stream. It seems to me that it would
have been even worse had he blown-up the dam completely.
It was made clear by this witness's testimony that the JNA did not
come to Visegrad until after this major provocation, which the witness
didn't think was that big of a deal, had taken place. It was on April
13, 1992 that Sabanovic released the flood onto the civilian
population, and it was on April 15, 1992 that the Uzica Corps of the
JNA arrived to protect the civilians and to regain control of the dam.
"B-1505" admitted that the people of Visegrad had asked the JNA to
protect them and that the JNA did in fact protect them."B-1505" is a
witness who needs to make up his mind. If he is going to lie then he
should at least make his mind up about which lie to tell. On the one
hand he claimed that nobody could get out of Visegrad that they were
all trapped, and on the other hand he claimed that the Muslims were
all chased out of Visegrad.
"B-1505" has previously testified at other "trials" at the Hague
Tribunal, and so transcripts are available. Previously he testified
that he only knew of one person who was killed in JNA operations, but
now all of the sudden he knows about numerous people who he claims
were killed by the JNA. How interesting, this witness either has the
ability to travel back in time and see the JNA doing this, or else he
is simply parroting back what somebody else told him.
For more information about events in Visegrad visit the following link:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/reports/8-a.htm
After "B-1505" was concluded the so-called "trial" went into closed
session where they did God only knows what.
Later on in the afternoon a status conference was held President
Milosevic to establish parameters of the "defense case." President
Milosevic told the "tribunal" that time and circumstances were the
key issues.
President Milosevic stated that he needed at least two years to
prepare a response to the absurd allegations that have been made
against him.
Furthermore, President Milosevic has demanded unimpeded contact with
witnesses and the ability to access key documents needed to refute the
lies that have been put forward in The Hague, which can only be done
if he is released.
President Milosevic pointed out that although he regards the
so-called "court" as illegal, he still considers it the obligation
of the so-called "trial chamber" to give him adequate time to
prepare a defense.
Following President Milosevic's brilliant presentation, the so-called
"Judge" May did not hesitate to immediately deny, any request for
provisional release. Without giving any reason Mr. May also
dismissed President Milosevic's request for two years to prepare his
case.
After submissions from the amicus curiae and the so-called
"prosecution", President Milosevic spoke again, and claimed that the
"Prosecution's" suggestion that both parties were on an equal footing
was absurd.
President Milosevic concluded his remarks by stating that at the ICTY
there is only a prosecution and no defense, nor is there equality of
arms.
The so-called "trial chamber" has not issued any rulings on the
submissions made today, but has already rejected President
Milosevic's demands without any deliberation. A decision setting out
the parameters of President Milosevic's presentation his defense
case is expected soon.
The so-called "Judge" May said that "The accused must make the
preparations for his defense while he is in custody." He noted that the
court had previously denied a provisional release request by
Milosevic, who has been in detention since his illegal transfer to
The Hague in 2001.
"There can be no question during a trial of a break of two years,"
May said, adding that judges would consider how long Milosevic should
be given to prepare his case."
It is absurd that the so-called "tribunal" should deny President
Milosevic this time. The so-called "prosecution" has brought over
230 witnesses so far to testify against him. The transcript of the
"prosecution's" case is over 25,000 pages long. President Milosevic
needs at least 2 years to prepare an adequate defense from all of
those allegations.
NOTE: www.slobodan-milosevic.org will provide a synopsis of
tyesterday's "trial" hearing no later than Friday September 5, 2003.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090303.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 3, 2003
The vast majority of today's proceedings took place in the so-called
"closed session." Only the 3rd session could be seen, while the first
two sessions were held in secret.
From what could be seen today a 92-bis witness named Mustafan
Kustanovic testified. Mr. Kustanovic is a Muslim businessman from
Bijeljina. Like so many other witnesses he testified about things that
he heard from other people, and he attempted to paint a personal
family dispute that he was having as some sort of an interethnic
dispute.
His testimony about the presence of Arkan and Captain Dragan in
Bijeljina contradicted the testimony of other prosecution
witnesses.His testimony also contradicted itself. On the one hand he
testified that Muslims had to pay bribes in order to leave, and on the
other hand he testified that they were chased away by the Serbs.
Mr. Kustanovic testified that there were many Muslims from Bijeljina
who joined the VRS, and that there were in fact Muslims who were
officers in the VRS. This testimony of his contradicted his allegation
that the Serbs were dismissing Muslims and replacing them with Serbs
at every opportunity. After all, as President Milosevic observed,
weren't there any Serbs who would have been competent to serve as VRS
officers?
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/dpa090403.htm
Milosevic too ill to attend trial
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 4, 2003
The Hague - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic reported sick
Thursday, the judge presiding over his trial for alleged war crimes
said.
Judge Richard May ordered the 62-year-old former Yugolsav strongman to
undergo a new examination to determine his pyhsical and mental state
of health.
Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes during
the 1990s Balkan war, is representing himself after refusing to use a
lawyer.
He has reported ill a total of 11 times since his trial began on
February 12, 2002, forcing the international criminal tribunal
tribunal trying him to cancel 50 days of hearings.
On Tuesday, the court turned down Milosevic's request for a break of
two years in judicial proceedings against him to allow him prepare his
defence.
The prosecution has so far presented 230 witnesses testifying against
Milosevic. Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte still has until the end of
the year to present further witnesses and evidence.
Milosevic has demanded the right to call an equal number of witnesses
and take as much time delivering his defence.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: POLITICS
September 4, 2003, Thursday -10:08 Central European Time
Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Posted For Fair Use Only
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tvcg090603.htm
Montenegrin premier says he refused to testify against Milosevic
TV Crna Gora - September 6, 2003
Text of report by Montenegrin TV on 6 September
Presenter: Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic today said that
he would not testify during the trial of former Yugoslav and Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal. The Hague
tribunal asked me to testify against Slobodan Milosevic but I refused,
Djukanovic told TV Pink. Djukanovic said that he did not fall in the
category of those Montenegrins who ran around outside Montenegro,
rushing to offer any kind of evidence if they had it or, if not, to
offer their sheer suspicions even if these suspicions were unfounded.
I do not belong to such people; fortunately, I ended my battles with
Milosevic successfully and he now has an opportunity to prove what he
thinks he has to prove before the Hague tribunal but without my
participation, Djukanovic said.
SOURCE: TV Crna Gora, Podgorica, in Serbian 1730 gmt 6 Sep 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tanjug091003.htm
Srpska government was blackmailed - Washington daily editor
Tanjug - September 10, 2003
18:11 WASHINGTON - Editor-in-Chief of the Washington daily Defense and
Foreign Affairs Gregory Copley said in a report presented to Tanjug
that the Republika Srpska government had been forced to draw up a
report on the developments in Srebrenica in July 1995, which is
essentially in conformity with claims by Islamist groups.
The Office of the High Representative for Bosnia had threatened the
Srpska government that it would be dissolved if it refused to draw up
that document, which does not reflect the true situation as shown by
forensic investigation carried out in Srpska or the results of an
independent investigation carried out by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Copley said.
Copyright 2003 Tanjug News Agency
Posted For Fair Use Only
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090903.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 9, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The proceedings opened today with President Milosevic lambasting the
so-called "tribunal," especially Geoffrey Nice and Richard May for the
scandalous insinuations made by Mr. Nice last Thursday. In which Mr.
Nice implied that the president was only "playing hooky" and that
there was a pattern to his absences.
Three 92-bis witnesses testified today. The first was a secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1058."
B-1058 was a woman from Zvornik who lost her husband and her 2 sons
during the war. B-1058 claims that masked men wearing camouflage
uniforms, who spoke with Serbian accents, burst into the cellar of her
apartment building where people were sheltering from the fighting, and
that these men separated the women and children from the men.
B-1058 claims that her husband and her sons were executed by the
masked men outside of the apartment block.
In B-1058's statement she claims that Seselj's men carried out the
killings and that Arkan's men helped to evacuate the women and
children to Serbia, but in her oral testimony she claims the opposite.
She claims that Arkan's men carried out the killing and that it was
Seselj's men who evacuated the women and children.
President Milosevic asked B-1058 to describe the uniforms that these
masked men were wearing. B-1058 could only say that they were
camouflage uniforms, she didn't identify any insignias, patches or
anything of that sort, when the President tried to press her to be
more specific she refused to answer the question and only said "you
know what the uniforms look like."
B-1058 identified these masked men as Serbs on the basis that "they
spoke with Serbian accents."
She was miraculously able to identify the masked men by looking at
photographs. The logical question here is how she could identify them
by photographs if they were wearing masks. President Milosevic asked
her that very question. She answered by saying that she saw their
faces later on.
She said that when she went to Bijeljina she saw one of them there,
and that on another occasion she saw one of them in her sister's yard
in Janja, and on another occasion still she saw another one at some
unknown location in Zvornik. The president asked her where in Zvornik
she saw him, but she didn't know. She didn't see any of their faces at
the time of the alleged killing, and so the question remains how even
if she saw the men in the pictures in Bijeljina, Janja, and Zvornik --
how does she know that they are the ones who did the killing, if the
killers were wearing masks?
There is no evidence to prove that this killing took place. She never
saw the bodies, and the bodies have never been found, she heard
shooting and later on she heard from others that her husband and sons
were part of a group of 10 men that were killed.
B-1058 is the 2nd witness to testify about this alleged event. A
family friend of B-1058's previously testified under the pseudonym of
B-1237 that he saw this alleged killing taking place.
Unfortunately B-1237's testimony wasn't much better than B-1058's. I
looked-up B-1237's transcript to see if I could find out if his
testimony jived with that of B-1058. According to B-1237 he was able
to identify from 1 kilometer away both the perpetrators and the
victims of this alleged crime.
B-1237 was asked "You even managed to recognize from this distance of
1 kilometer the persons who were being taken out and executed. That's
what you're asserting too, isn't it?" and B-1237 replied, "I
recognized Sabit Bilalic and his son."
B-1237 explained the following to the prosecutor:
B-1237: I saw them taking people out. I saw them removing women and
executing a group of about ten men.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to tell from your vantage point whether or
not the men that you say were executed were armed at the time of their
execution?
B-1237: Those people were civilians who were unarmed.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to recognize any of the people that were
executed?
B-1237: Yes. I recognized late Sabit Bilalic and his son whom I can't
recall now.
PROSECUTOR: How were you able to recognize those two among the group?
B-1237: Sabit was one of the biggest men in Zvornik. He had extremely
-- he had an extremely thick moustache. And his son was very tall and
played basketball in the first village. I knew them personally.
///END TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT///
So B-1237 could tell from a kilometer away that not only were the
people unarmed but that two of them were his acquaintances, Sabit
Bilalic and his son. He could even see Sabit Bilalic's moustache from
this distance.... AMAZING! B-1237 must have the best eye sight in
Bosnia.
It was hard to believe, but B-1058, claimed to have no idea that her
friend B-1237 had previously testified about the same event that she
was there testifying about today, will coincidences never end?
B-1237 had testified that from his vantage point of 1 kilometer away,
he could identify the perpetrators. He said: "Men [Arkan's men] in
camouflage uniforms killed them, the ones that I had seen the previous
day, the previous night at the Jezero Hotel in Mali Zvornik."
Is it possible that B-1058 changed her testimony from saying that it
was Seselj’s men to saying that it was Arkan’s men in order that it
could coincide with her friend B-1237’s testimony? Or is it possible
that B-1058, and her friend B-1237 conspired to lie in order to
cover-up the fact that her husband and her son were actually killed in
battle, and not executed by anybody?
Both witnesses claim that the shooting occurred in different places.
B-1058 says that it happened right there at the apartments, whereas
B-1237 claims that the same group of men were marched out away from
the apartments, towards the center of Zvornik, and killed there.
Other interesting points in the testimony came when president
Milosevic asked B-1058 if her husband and sons’ bodies had been found
so that a forensic exam could prove how they were killed. B-1058
answered that they had not been found and so there was no way to prove
how they were killed (unless you believe eagle-eye B-1237).
B-1058 went on to explain that the bodies were not found because
Branko Grujic (President of the SDS in Zvornik) had all of the bodies
hidden, and moved them from gravesite to gravesite. B-1058 claimed
that she knew this because she claimed that she heard that some
unknown people with binoculars in Mali Zvornik watched this going on,
and she knew that Grujic must have ordered it because, according to
B-1058, he ordered everything.
The next witness was another 92-bis secret witness codenamed B-1610.
B-1610’s examination-in-chief consisted of handing in a written
statement. The prosecutor did not even bother to read out the “essence
of the testimony” with this witness and so it is difficult to tell
what he was there to testify about.
B-1610 was a Muslim and a member of the T.O. The T.O. manned
check-points. Nobody could pass the check-points without a pass, not
Serbs, not Muslims, and not Croats. B-1610’s T.O. unit manned some of
the checkpoints. B-1610’s unit was almost purely Muslim. In spite of
admitting to all of this B-1610 still claimed that the check-points
were only put in place to harass Muslims.
Another useful tidbit came when he said in his written statement that
as a T.O. member and a reservist he kept a JNA uniform at his house.
This means that anybody in the country who did their military service
could have a JNA uniform whether they were actually carrying out JNA
activities or not.
Another final interesting piece of information came when B-1610
claimed that a practice exsisted among some Muslim girls where they
would prostitute themselves to the soldiers, and later on they would
claim to have been raped.
The final witness of the day was Mustafa Ramic. Mr. Ramic was the
mayor or Brcko when the war broke out. Ramic was a leading figure in
the SDA. He was one of the first members of the SDA main board.
Ramic testified that the League of Communists won the 1990 elections
in Brcko, but that the SDS, HDZ, and SDA all formed a coalition and
overthrew the LC in Brcko.
Of course being a leading SDA figure has its obligations. You have to
blame the Serbs for everything and blame the Muslims for nothing, and
of course Mr. Ramic tried to live up to his political obligations, but
he was no match for Slobodan Milosevic.
First President Milosevic got the Mr. Ramic to say that he was very
well informed about what was going on in Brcko. Then the President got
Ramic to say that it was the Serbs who were starting the war, and that
the Muslims were unarmed. This was not a difficult task, but it left
the witness with his neck stuck way out.
Then Slobo dropped the guillotine on the witness’s overextended neck.
He started to produce documents that were issued by the witness’s own
Public Security Service, which as the mayor he oversaw.
The documents showed that there was arms smuggling a foot in Bosnia.
The documents showed that in 1991 (prior to the war), large quantities
of weapons and explosives were coming over the Croatian border
destined for Bosnian Muslim extremists.
In one case the smuggled explosives were going to be used to blow-up a
JNA rail transport that was headed for Serbia from the Brcko railway
station.
President Milosevic produced even more documents which stated that
Muslim extremists were using infantry weapons at the gun range in
Brcko for training purposes as early on as 1991.
The documents also stated that Ibrahim Ramic (the brother of the
witness) erected a war hospital long before the war ever began.
All the witness could do was say, “this is the first time I’ve seen
this,” and then try and change the subject by trying to accuse the
Serbs of something.
President Milosevic will have another 45 minutes with this witness
tomorrow.
1. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
2. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
3. Milosevic too ill to attend trial; Montenegrin premier says he
refused to testify against Milosevic; Srpska government was blackmailed
4. "TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
See also:
No break for Milosevic (by Margreet Strijbosch)
http://www.rnw.nl/hotspots/html/icty030903.html
=== 1 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090203.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 2ND 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 2, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The testimony of the secret witness testifying under the pseudonym of
"B-1505" was concluded today.
"B-1505" alleged that the JNA came to Visegrad, dismissed the legal
authorities, and armed the Serbs for the purposes of "ethnic
cleansing." A problem with "B-1505's" testimony was that this so-called
"B-1505" didn't mention anything about the JNA arming the Serbs in his
written statement. This was a new detail that he only remembered once
he took the witness stand.
And speaking of arms, this "B-1505" claimed with full certainty that
there were no armed Muslims in Visegrad, and that there were no Muslim
extremist groups in Visegrad, two claims which are outright absurdities.
Before "B-1505" repeated the same old tired Muslim line about not
having any weapons; he spoke about how Murat Sabanovic (the brother of
the SDA vice-president in Visegrad) tore down the statue of Ivo Andric
(Yugoslavia's only Nobel Prize winner) and threw the monument into the
Drina River. "B-1505" also admitted that this same Sabanovic seized
control of the hydroelectric dam and threatened to blow it up. However
not to worry, according to our witness, in spite of the fact that
people were living on the river, nobody would have been hurt even if
the dam had been blown-up. How reassuring!
I really fail to see how it could be possible that the witness could
say with a straight face that blowing-up the dam would be a harmless
endeavor. The witness admitted previously that when this Sabanovic took
control of the dam he had opened the flood gates and allowed water to
flood the populated areas down stream. It seems to me that it would
have been even worse had he blown-up the dam completely.
It was made clear by this witness's testimony that the JNA did not
come to Visegrad until after this major provocation, which the witness
didn't think was that big of a deal, had taken place. It was on April
13, 1992 that Sabanovic released the flood onto the civilian
population, and it was on April 15, 1992 that the Uzica Corps of the
JNA arrived to protect the civilians and to regain control of the dam.
"B-1505" admitted that the people of Visegrad had asked the JNA to
protect them and that the JNA did in fact protect them."B-1505" is a
witness who needs to make up his mind. If he is going to lie then he
should at least make his mind up about which lie to tell. On the one
hand he claimed that nobody could get out of Visegrad that they were
all trapped, and on the other hand he claimed that the Muslims were
all chased out of Visegrad.
"B-1505" has previously testified at other "trials" at the Hague
Tribunal, and so transcripts are available. Previously he testified
that he only knew of one person who was killed in JNA operations, but
now all of the sudden he knows about numerous people who he claims
were killed by the JNA. How interesting, this witness either has the
ability to travel back in time and see the JNA doing this, or else he
is simply parroting back what somebody else told him.
For more information about events in Visegrad visit the following link:
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/documents/reports/8-a.htm
After "B-1505" was concluded the so-called "trial" went into closed
session where they did God only knows what.
Later on in the afternoon a status conference was held President
Milosevic to establish parameters of the "defense case." President
Milosevic told the "tribunal" that time and circumstances were the
key issues.
President Milosevic stated that he needed at least two years to
prepare a response to the absurd allegations that have been made
against him.
Furthermore, President Milosevic has demanded unimpeded contact with
witnesses and the ability to access key documents needed to refute the
lies that have been put forward in The Hague, which can only be done
if he is released.
President Milosevic pointed out that although he regards the
so-called "court" as illegal, he still considers it the obligation
of the so-called "trial chamber" to give him adequate time to
prepare a defense.
Following President Milosevic's brilliant presentation, the so-called
"Judge" May did not hesitate to immediately deny, any request for
provisional release. Without giving any reason Mr. May also
dismissed President Milosevic's request for two years to prepare his
case.
After submissions from the amicus curiae and the so-called
"prosecution", President Milosevic spoke again, and claimed that the
"Prosecution's" suggestion that both parties were on an equal footing
was absurd.
President Milosevic concluded his remarks by stating that at the ICTY
there is only a prosecution and no defense, nor is there equality of
arms.
The so-called "trial chamber" has not issued any rulings on the
submissions made today, but has already rejected President
Milosevic's demands without any deliberation. A decision setting out
the parameters of President Milosevic's presentation his defense
case is expected soon.
The so-called "Judge" May said that "The accused must make the
preparations for his defense while he is in custody." He noted that the
court had previously denied a provisional release request by
Milosevic, who has been in detention since his illegal transfer to
The Hague in 2001.
"There can be no question during a trial of a break of two years,"
May said, adding that judges would consider how long Milosevic should
be given to prepare his case."
It is absurd that the so-called "tribunal" should deny President
Milosevic this time. The so-called "prosecution" has brought over
230 witnesses so far to testify against him. The transcript of the
"prosecution's" case is over 25,000 pages long. President Milosevic
needs at least 2 years to prepare an adequate defense from all of
those allegations.
NOTE: www.slobodan-milosevic.org will provide a synopsis of
tyesterday's "trial" hearing no later than Friday September 5, 2003.
=== 2 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090303.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS SEPTEMBER 3, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 3, 2003
The vast majority of today's proceedings took place in the so-called
"closed session." Only the 3rd session could be seen, while the first
two sessions were held in secret.
From what could be seen today a 92-bis witness named Mustafan
Kustanovic testified. Mr. Kustanovic is a Muslim businessman from
Bijeljina. Like so many other witnesses he testified about things that
he heard from other people, and he attempted to paint a personal
family dispute that he was having as some sort of an interethnic
dispute.
His testimony about the presence of Arkan and Captain Dragan in
Bijeljina contradicted the testimony of other prosecution
witnesses.His testimony also contradicted itself. On the one hand he
testified that Muslims had to pay bribes in order to leave, and on the
other hand he testified that they were chased away by the Serbs.
Mr. Kustanovic testified that there were many Muslims from Bijeljina
who joined the VRS, and that there were in fact Muslims who were
officers in the VRS. This testimony of his contradicted his allegation
that the Serbs were dismissing Muslims and replacing them with Serbs
at every opportunity. After all, as President Milosevic observed,
weren't there any Serbs who would have been competent to serve as VRS
officers?
=== 3 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/dpa090403.htm
Milosevic too ill to attend trial
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - September 4, 2003
The Hague - Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic reported sick
Thursday, the judge presiding over his trial for alleged war crimes
said.
Judge Richard May ordered the 62-year-old former Yugolsav strongman to
undergo a new examination to determine his pyhsical and mental state
of health.
Milosevic, who is on trial in The Hague for alleged war crimes during
the 1990s Balkan war, is representing himself after refusing to use a
lawyer.
He has reported ill a total of 11 times since his trial began on
February 12, 2002, forcing the international criminal tribunal
tribunal trying him to cancel 50 days of hearings.
On Tuesday, the court turned down Milosevic's request for a break of
two years in judicial proceedings against him to allow him prepare his
defence.
The prosecution has so far presented 230 witnesses testifying against
Milosevic. Chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte still has until the end of
the year to present further witnesses and evidence.
Milosevic has demanded the right to call an equal number of witnesses
and take as much time delivering his defence.
Deutsche Presse-Agentur: POLITICS
September 4, 2003, Thursday -10:08 Central European Time
Copyright 2003 Deutsche Presse-Agentur
Posted For Fair Use Only
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tvcg090603.htm
Montenegrin premier says he refused to testify against Milosevic
TV Crna Gora - September 6, 2003
Text of report by Montenegrin TV on 6 September
Presenter: Montenegrin Prime Minister Milo Djukanovic today said that
he would not testify during the trial of former Yugoslav and Serbian
President Slobodan Milosevic before the Hague tribunal. The Hague
tribunal asked me to testify against Slobodan Milosevic but I refused,
Djukanovic told TV Pink. Djukanovic said that he did not fall in the
category of those Montenegrins who ran around outside Montenegro,
rushing to offer any kind of evidence if they had it or, if not, to
offer their sheer suspicions even if these suspicions were unfounded.
I do not belong to such people; fortunately, I ended my battles with
Milosevic successfully and he now has an opportunity to prove what he
thinks he has to prove before the Hague tribunal but without my
participation, Djukanovic said.
SOURCE: TV Crna Gora, Podgorica, in Serbian 1730 gmt 6 Sep 03
Copyright 2003 British Broadcasting Corporation
BBC Monitoring Europe - Political
Supplied by BBC Worldwide Monitoring
Posted for Fair Use only.
---
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/tanjug091003.htm
Srpska government was blackmailed - Washington daily editor
Tanjug - September 10, 2003
18:11 WASHINGTON - Editor-in-Chief of the Washington daily Defense and
Foreign Affairs Gregory Copley said in a report presented to Tanjug
that the Republika Srpska government had been forced to draw up a
report on the developments in Srebrenica in July 1995, which is
essentially in conformity with claims by Islamist groups.
The Office of the High Representative for Bosnia had threatened the
Srpska government that it would be dissolved if it refused to draw up
that document, which does not reflect the true situation as shown by
forensic investigation carried out in Srpska or the results of an
independent investigation carried out by the International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Copley said.
Copyright 2003 Tanjug News Agency
Posted For Fair Use Only
=== 4 ===
http://www.slobodan-milosevic.org/news/smorg090903.htm
"TRIAL" SYNOPSIS: SEPTEMBER 9, 2003
www.slobodan-milosevic.org - September 9, 2003
Written by: Andy Wilcoxson
The proceedings opened today with President Milosevic lambasting the
so-called "tribunal," especially Geoffrey Nice and Richard May for the
scandalous insinuations made by Mr. Nice last Thursday. In which Mr.
Nice implied that the president was only "playing hooky" and that
there was a pattern to his absences.
Three 92-bis witnesses testified today. The first was a secret witness
testifying under the pseudonym of "B-1058."
B-1058 was a woman from Zvornik who lost her husband and her 2 sons
during the war. B-1058 claims that masked men wearing camouflage
uniforms, who spoke with Serbian accents, burst into the cellar of her
apartment building where people were sheltering from the fighting, and
that these men separated the women and children from the men.
B-1058 claims that her husband and her sons were executed by the
masked men outside of the apartment block.
In B-1058's statement she claims that Seselj's men carried out the
killings and that Arkan's men helped to evacuate the women and
children to Serbia, but in her oral testimony she claims the opposite.
She claims that Arkan's men carried out the killing and that it was
Seselj's men who evacuated the women and children.
President Milosevic asked B-1058 to describe the uniforms that these
masked men were wearing. B-1058 could only say that they were
camouflage uniforms, she didn't identify any insignias, patches or
anything of that sort, when the President tried to press her to be
more specific she refused to answer the question and only said "you
know what the uniforms look like."
B-1058 identified these masked men as Serbs on the basis that "they
spoke with Serbian accents."
She was miraculously able to identify the masked men by looking at
photographs. The logical question here is how she could identify them
by photographs if they were wearing masks. President Milosevic asked
her that very question. She answered by saying that she saw their
faces later on.
She said that when she went to Bijeljina she saw one of them there,
and that on another occasion she saw one of them in her sister's yard
in Janja, and on another occasion still she saw another one at some
unknown location in Zvornik. The president asked her where in Zvornik
she saw him, but she didn't know. She didn't see any of their faces at
the time of the alleged killing, and so the question remains how even
if she saw the men in the pictures in Bijeljina, Janja, and Zvornik --
how does she know that they are the ones who did the killing, if the
killers were wearing masks?
There is no evidence to prove that this killing took place. She never
saw the bodies, and the bodies have never been found, she heard
shooting and later on she heard from others that her husband and sons
were part of a group of 10 men that were killed.
B-1058 is the 2nd witness to testify about this alleged event. A
family friend of B-1058's previously testified under the pseudonym of
B-1237 that he saw this alleged killing taking place.
Unfortunately B-1237's testimony wasn't much better than B-1058's. I
looked-up B-1237's transcript to see if I could find out if his
testimony jived with that of B-1058. According to B-1237 he was able
to identify from 1 kilometer away both the perpetrators and the
victims of this alleged crime.
B-1237 was asked "You even managed to recognize from this distance of
1 kilometer the persons who were being taken out and executed. That's
what you're asserting too, isn't it?" and B-1237 replied, "I
recognized Sabit Bilalic and his son."
B-1237 explained the following to the prosecutor:
B-1237: I saw them taking people out. I saw them removing women and
executing a group of about ten men.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to tell from your vantage point whether or
not the men that you say were executed were armed at the time of their
execution?
B-1237: Those people were civilians who were unarmed.
PROSECUTOR: Were you able to recognize any of the people that were
executed?
B-1237: Yes. I recognized late Sabit Bilalic and his son whom I can't
recall now.
PROSECUTOR: How were you able to recognize those two among the group?
B-1237: Sabit was one of the biggest men in Zvornik. He had extremely
-- he had an extremely thick moustache. And his son was very tall and
played basketball in the first village. I knew them personally.
///END TRANSCRIPT EXCERPT///
So B-1237 could tell from a kilometer away that not only were the
people unarmed but that two of them were his acquaintances, Sabit
Bilalic and his son. He could even see Sabit Bilalic's moustache from
this distance.... AMAZING! B-1237 must have the best eye sight in
Bosnia.
It was hard to believe, but B-1058, claimed to have no idea that her
friend B-1237 had previously testified about the same event that she
was there testifying about today, will coincidences never end?
B-1237 had testified that from his vantage point of 1 kilometer away,
he could identify the perpetrators. He said: "Men [Arkan's men] in
camouflage uniforms killed them, the ones that I had seen the previous
day, the previous night at the Jezero Hotel in Mali Zvornik."
Is it possible that B-1058 changed her testimony from saying that it
was Seselj’s men to saying that it was Arkan’s men in order that it
could coincide with her friend B-1237’s testimony? Or is it possible
that B-1058, and her friend B-1237 conspired to lie in order to
cover-up the fact that her husband and her son were actually killed in
battle, and not executed by anybody?
Both witnesses claim that the shooting occurred in different places.
B-1058 says that it happened right there at the apartments, whereas
B-1237 claims that the same group of men were marched out away from
the apartments, towards the center of Zvornik, and killed there.
Other interesting points in the testimony came when president
Milosevic asked B-1058 if her husband and sons’ bodies had been found
so that a forensic exam could prove how they were killed. B-1058
answered that they had not been found and so there was no way to prove
how they were killed (unless you believe eagle-eye B-1237).
B-1058 went on to explain that the bodies were not found because
Branko Grujic (President of the SDS in Zvornik) had all of the bodies
hidden, and moved them from gravesite to gravesite. B-1058 claimed
that she knew this because she claimed that she heard that some
unknown people with binoculars in Mali Zvornik watched this going on,
and she knew that Grujic must have ordered it because, according to
B-1058, he ordered everything.
The next witness was another 92-bis secret witness codenamed B-1610.
B-1610’s examination-in-chief consisted of handing in a written
statement. The prosecutor did not even bother to read out the “essence
of the testimony” with this witness and so it is difficult to tell
what he was there to testify about.
B-1610 was a Muslim and a member of the T.O. The T.O. manned
check-points. Nobody could pass the check-points without a pass, not
Serbs, not Muslims, and not Croats. B-1610’s T.O. unit manned some of
the checkpoints. B-1610’s unit was almost purely Muslim. In spite of
admitting to all of this B-1610 still claimed that the check-points
were only put in place to harass Muslims.
Another useful tidbit came when he said in his written statement that
as a T.O. member and a reservist he kept a JNA uniform at his house.
This means that anybody in the country who did their military service
could have a JNA uniform whether they were actually carrying out JNA
activities or not.
Another final interesting piece of information came when B-1610
claimed that a practice exsisted among some Muslim girls where they
would prostitute themselves to the soldiers, and later on they would
claim to have been raped.
The final witness of the day was Mustafa Ramic. Mr. Ramic was the
mayor or Brcko when the war broke out. Ramic was a leading figure in
the SDA. He was one of the first members of the SDA main board.
Ramic testified that the League of Communists won the 1990 elections
in Brcko, but that the SDS, HDZ, and SDA all formed a coalition and
overthrew the LC in Brcko.
Of course being a leading SDA figure has its obligations. You have to
blame the Serbs for everything and blame the Muslims for nothing, and
of course Mr. Ramic tried to live up to his political obligations, but
he was no match for Slobodan Milosevic.
First President Milosevic got the Mr. Ramic to say that he was very
well informed about what was going on in Brcko. Then the President got
Ramic to say that it was the Serbs who were starting the war, and that
the Muslims were unarmed. This was not a difficult task, but it left
the witness with his neck stuck way out.
Then Slobo dropped the guillotine on the witness’s overextended neck.
He started to produce documents that were issued by the witness’s own
Public Security Service, which as the mayor he oversaw.
The documents showed that there was arms smuggling a foot in Bosnia.
The documents showed that in 1991 (prior to the war), large quantities
of weapons and explosives were coming over the Croatian border
destined for Bosnian Muslim extremists.
In one case the smuggled explosives were going to be used to blow-up a
JNA rail transport that was headed for Serbia from the Brcko railway
station.
President Milosevic produced even more documents which stated that
Muslim extremists were using infantry weapons at the gun range in
Brcko for training purposes as early on as 1991.
The documents also stated that Ibrahim Ramic (the brother of the
witness) erected a war hospital long before the war ever began.
All the witness could do was say, “this is the first time I’ve seen
this,” and then try and change the subject by trying to accuse the
Serbs of something.
President Milosevic will have another 45 minutes with this witness
tomorrow.
Cagliari: Notizie dai fronti / Noas de is frontis
(italiano/ sardo)
--- italiano ---
Notizie dai fronti
Percorso di incontri e proiezioni
organizzato dall’Associazione Culturale Ejzenstejn
Venerdì 12 settembre:
Proiezione del video “I dannati del Kosovo” (di Michel Collon e Vanessa
Stoijlkovic, anno 2002, durata 60 min.): un reportage dal Kosovo dopo i
bombardamenti della NATO.
Venerdì 19 settembre:
Incontro con Gilberto Vlaic (del Coordinamento Nazionale per la
Jugoslavia), di ritorno da Kragujevac, per sapere cosa sta succedendo
in Jugoslavia ora che i media non ne parlano più.
Proiezione di un video sulle conseguenze dell’ingerenza “umanitaria”
della NATO in Jugoslavia (prodotto dal Coordinamento delle
Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie, autunno 1999, durata 12 min.).
Proiezione di un video su un’esperienza di solidarietà con la fabbrica
Zastava di Kragujevac, distrutta dalla NATO (prodotto dalla
Associazione Zastava Brescia, novembre 2002, durata 28 min.).
Venerdì 26 settembre:
Proiezione del video “Fino all’ultima Kefiah” (di Fulvio Grimaldi,
durata 60 min.).
Cosa succede davvero in Palestina? Cercheremo di affrontare il problema
parlandone insieme ad alcuni membri dell’associazione Sardegna
Palestina.
Venerdì 3 ottobre:
Proiezione del video “Iraq: un deserto chiamato pace” (di Fulvio
Grimaldi).
Incontro con Fulvio Grimaldi per discutere degli sviluppi della
resistenza irachena.
Via Montesanto, 28 ore 21,00
--- sardo ---
Noas de is frontis
Caminu de atóbius e proietadas
apariçau de s’Assótziu de Cultura Ejzenstejn
Cenàbara 12 de cabudanni:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “I dannati del Kosovo” (de Michel Collon e
Vanessa Stoijlkovic, annu 2002, durada 60 min.): unu reportage de su
Kòsovo a pustis de su sçùsciu a bombas de sa NATO.
Cenàbara 19 de cabudanni:
Atóbiu cun Gilberto Vlaic (de su Coordinamento Nazionale per la
Jugoslavia), torrendi de Kragujevac, po sciri it’est sutzedendi in
Yugoslàvia imoi ki is média no ndi funt fueddendi prus.
Proietada de unu dogumentàriu in pitzus de sa preséntzia “umanidària”
de sa NATO in Yugoslàvia (prodùsiu de su Coordinamento delle
Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie, atonju 1999, durada 12 min.).
Proietada de unu dogumentàriu in pitzus de una speriéntzia de
solidaridadi cun sa fàbbriga Zastava de Kragujevac, sçusciada de sa
NATO (prodùsiu de s’Assótziu Zastava Brescia, onnyasantu 2002, durada
28 min.).
Cenàbara 26 de cabudanni:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “Fino all’ultima Kefiah” (de Fulvio
Grimaldi, durada 60 min.).
Ita est sutzedendi deaderus in Palestina? Eus a circai de ddu cumprendi
fueddendindi impari a is de s’Assótziu Sardegna-Palestina.
Cenàbara 3 de ladàmini:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “Iraq: un deserto chiamato pace” (de
Fulvio Grimaldi).
Atóbiu cun Fulvio Grimaldi po arrexonai in pitzus de s’arresisténtzia
irakesa.
Arruga de Montesanto, 28 a is 9 de a meri’
(italiano/ sardo)
--- italiano ---
Notizie dai fronti
Percorso di incontri e proiezioni
organizzato dall’Associazione Culturale Ejzenstejn
Venerdì 12 settembre:
Proiezione del video “I dannati del Kosovo” (di Michel Collon e Vanessa
Stoijlkovic, anno 2002, durata 60 min.): un reportage dal Kosovo dopo i
bombardamenti della NATO.
Venerdì 19 settembre:
Incontro con Gilberto Vlaic (del Coordinamento Nazionale per la
Jugoslavia), di ritorno da Kragujevac, per sapere cosa sta succedendo
in Jugoslavia ora che i media non ne parlano più.
Proiezione di un video sulle conseguenze dell’ingerenza “umanitaria”
della NATO in Jugoslavia (prodotto dal Coordinamento delle
Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie, autunno 1999, durata 12 min.).
Proiezione di un video su un’esperienza di solidarietà con la fabbrica
Zastava di Kragujevac, distrutta dalla NATO (prodotto dalla
Associazione Zastava Brescia, novembre 2002, durata 28 min.).
Venerdì 26 settembre:
Proiezione del video “Fino all’ultima Kefiah” (di Fulvio Grimaldi,
durata 60 min.).
Cosa succede davvero in Palestina? Cercheremo di affrontare il problema
parlandone insieme ad alcuni membri dell’associazione Sardegna
Palestina.
Venerdì 3 ottobre:
Proiezione del video “Iraq: un deserto chiamato pace” (di Fulvio
Grimaldi).
Incontro con Fulvio Grimaldi per discutere degli sviluppi della
resistenza irachena.
Via Montesanto, 28 ore 21,00
--- sardo ---
Noas de is frontis
Caminu de atóbius e proietadas
apariçau de s’Assótziu de Cultura Ejzenstejn
Cenàbara 12 de cabudanni:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “I dannati del Kosovo” (de Michel Collon e
Vanessa Stoijlkovic, annu 2002, durada 60 min.): unu reportage de su
Kòsovo a pustis de su sçùsciu a bombas de sa NATO.
Cenàbara 19 de cabudanni:
Atóbiu cun Gilberto Vlaic (de su Coordinamento Nazionale per la
Jugoslavia), torrendi de Kragujevac, po sciri it’est sutzedendi in
Yugoslàvia imoi ki is média no ndi funt fueddendi prus.
Proietada de unu dogumentàriu in pitzus de sa preséntzia “umanidària”
de sa NATO in Yugoslàvia (prodùsiu de su Coordinamento delle
Rappresentanze Sindacali Unitarie, atonju 1999, durada 12 min.).
Proietada de unu dogumentàriu in pitzus de una speriéntzia de
solidaridadi cun sa fàbbriga Zastava de Kragujevac, sçusciada de sa
NATO (prodùsiu de s’Assótziu Zastava Brescia, onnyasantu 2002, durada
28 min.).
Cenàbara 26 de cabudanni:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “Fino all’ultima Kefiah” (de Fulvio
Grimaldi, durada 60 min.).
Ita est sutzedendi deaderus in Palestina? Eus a circai de ddu cumprendi
fueddendindi impari a is de s’Assótziu Sardegna-Palestina.
Cenàbara 3 de ladàmini:
Proietada de su dogumentàriu “Iraq: un deserto chiamato pace” (de
Fulvio Grimaldi).
Atóbiu cun Fulvio Grimaldi po arrexonai in pitzus de s’arresisténtzia
irakesa.
Arruga de Montesanto, 28 a is 9 de a meri’
EUROPA "BALCANIZZATA" ?
Divide et impera, la strategia USA di frammentazione del Vecchio
Continente
di Pierre Hillard (su "Liberazione" del 7/9/2003)
trad. IN ITALIANO di Titti Pierini, in FORMATO PDF su:
http://www.liberazione.it/giornale/030907/pdf/XX_6-PRP-4.pdf
oppure
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/VARIE/hillard.pdf
L'originale francese / EN FRANCAIS / su
http://www.reseauvoltaire.net/article10200.html
oppure
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2675
Diviser pour mieux régner
L'éclatement du continent européen au service des États-Unis
La régionalisation de l'Europe pourrait être détournée de son sens
initial à la faveur d'un déséquilibre des institutions. Elle serait
alors un moyen de démembrer politiquement l'Europe, laissant ainsi le
champ libre à la domination de l'Empire états-unien. Pierre Hillard
analyse cette variante de la doctrine Wolfowitz : comment transformer
le rêve d'unité européenne en un cauchemar de la yougoslavisation
généralisée.
Divide et impera, la strategia USA di frammentazione del Vecchio
Continente
di Pierre Hillard (su "Liberazione" del 7/9/2003)
trad. IN ITALIANO di Titti Pierini, in FORMATO PDF su:
http://www.liberazione.it/giornale/030907/pdf/XX_6-PRP-4.pdf
oppure
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/VARIE/hillard.pdf
L'originale francese / EN FRANCAIS / su
http://www.reseauvoltaire.net/article10200.html
oppure
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2675
Diviser pour mieux régner
L'éclatement du continent européen au service des États-Unis
La régionalisation de l'Europe pourrait être détournée de son sens
initial à la faveur d'un déséquilibre des institutions. Elle serait
alors un moyen de démembrer politiquement l'Europe, laissant ainsi le
champ libre à la domination de l'Empire états-unien. Pierre Hillard
analyse cette variante de la doctrine Wolfowitz : comment transformer
le rêve d'unité européenne en un cauchemar de la yougoslavisation
généralisée.
"E MUSSOLINI NON HA MAI UCCISO NESSUNO"
Dopo la nuova serie di dichiarazioni filo-fasciste del Presidente del
Consiglio Berlusconi, Lucia Sgueglia ha intervistato lo storico Angelo
Del Boca.
(Dal quotidiano "Il manifesto" del 12 settembre 2003)
"Come sempre Berlusconi rivela di aver frequentato di piu' il
cantautore Apicella che non gli storici e i loro manuali". Cosi' si
esprime un addolorato Angelo Del Boca - il maggiore storico italiano
del colonialismo -, costretto a ritornare su una questione che sperava
chiusa: le gaffes del presidente del consiglio in materia di storia. A
pochi giorni dalle dichiarazioni sulla magistratura italiana rese da
Berlusconi ai due giornalisti britannici Farrell e Johnson del
settimanale "The Spectator",
nuove affermazioni tornano a far sussultare sulla sedia quei cittadini
italiani (e non) che ancora conservano memoria del Ventennio.
- Lucia Sgueglia: "Mussolini non ha ucciso nessuno: ha solo mandato in
villeggiatura un po' di gente al confino". Questa la risposta del
nostro premier al suggerito parallelo tra il duce e il dittatore Saddam
Hussein. Che ne pensa?
- Angelo Del Boca: Quando afferma che Mussolini non uccise nessuno, il
nostro premier dimentica, per cominciare, il delitto Matteotti, nel
quale fu implicato, e i 29 antifascisti per lo piu' giuliani ed
istriani, fucilati per ordine del Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa
dello Stato. E quando paragona il confino ad un "piacevole soggiorno in
villeggiatura", offende i 12.330 italiani che furono inviati al confino
perche' dissentivano dal regime. Tra i 5.620 oppositori processati dal
Tribunale Speciale, c'era
anche un certo Antonio Gramsci, che in carcere passo' undici anni e
mori' poco dopo per un'emorragia cerebrale. Ma forse Berlusconi non sa
chi e' Antonio Gramsci, cosi' come non aveva mai sentito parlare di
Alcide Cervi, ucciso dai fascisti con i suoi figli.
- L. S.: Berlusconi sostiene inoltre che il fascismo fu un "regime
morbido"...
- A. D. B.: Non lo fu affatto, ne' all'interno del paese, ne' nelle sue
colonie, dove furono usati tutti gli strumenti piu' spietati e
micidiali per stroncare le opposizioni. Basta ricordare i 13 lager
costruiti nel 1930 nel deserto della Sirtica, dove quarantamila libici
persero la vita. I tremendi campi di concentramento di Ganane, in
Somalia, e di Nocra, in Eritrea, dove perirono altri diecimila
"ribelli". Vorrei inoltre ricordare che fu lo stesso Mussolini, con i
suoi telegrammi operativi indirizzati a Badoglio e a Graziani, ad
autorizzare l'impiego massiccio e continuo dei gas asfissianti durante
il conflitto italo-etiopico del 1935-'36. E a chi risale la
responsabilita' dei centomila soldati morti in Russia, se non a
Mussolini, che voleva sostenere a tutti i costi Hitler nei suoi
progetti aggressivi? E di tutti gli altri morti, militari e civili,
della seconda guerra mondiale, a chi risale la colpa se non all'uomo
che il 10 giugno 1940 coinvolse l'Italia in un conflitto gia' perso in
partenza?
- L. S.: Crede ci sia un disegno politico di stampo revisionista dietro
questi proclami, oppure si tratta di esternazioni isolate del premier?
- A. D. B.: E' incredibile come un uomo di Stato, durante un semestre
in cui ha assunto anche responsabilita' europee, rilasci dichiarazioni
cosi' gravi, cosi' infondate, cosi' antistoriche. In un'altra occasione
Berlusconi ha dichiarato che se ne "infischia del politicamente
corretto", e ha sostenuto di avere "il vizio di dire la verita' in
sintonia con cio' che pensano i
cittadini". Ma noi non crediamo affatto che la maggioranza degli
italiani condivida le opinioni stravaganti del Cavaliere, a cominciare
dai suoi giudizi benevoli nei confronti di Mussolini e del suo regime,
giudizi che neppure lo storico piu' revisionista ardirebbe pronunciare.
E alla fine ci chiediamo: perche' queste sortite? Perche' queste
provocazioni offensive?
Quale strategia nascondono? Esse pongono in cattiva luce il nostro
paese, e non sono di alcuna utilita', neppure alla maggioranza di
governo.
Dopo la nuova serie di dichiarazioni filo-fasciste del Presidente del
Consiglio Berlusconi, Lucia Sgueglia ha intervistato lo storico Angelo
Del Boca.
(Dal quotidiano "Il manifesto" del 12 settembre 2003)
"Come sempre Berlusconi rivela di aver frequentato di piu' il
cantautore Apicella che non gli storici e i loro manuali". Cosi' si
esprime un addolorato Angelo Del Boca - il maggiore storico italiano
del colonialismo -, costretto a ritornare su una questione che sperava
chiusa: le gaffes del presidente del consiglio in materia di storia. A
pochi giorni dalle dichiarazioni sulla magistratura italiana rese da
Berlusconi ai due giornalisti britannici Farrell e Johnson del
settimanale "The Spectator",
nuove affermazioni tornano a far sussultare sulla sedia quei cittadini
italiani (e non) che ancora conservano memoria del Ventennio.
- Lucia Sgueglia: "Mussolini non ha ucciso nessuno: ha solo mandato in
villeggiatura un po' di gente al confino". Questa la risposta del
nostro premier al suggerito parallelo tra il duce e il dittatore Saddam
Hussein. Che ne pensa?
- Angelo Del Boca: Quando afferma che Mussolini non uccise nessuno, il
nostro premier dimentica, per cominciare, il delitto Matteotti, nel
quale fu implicato, e i 29 antifascisti per lo piu' giuliani ed
istriani, fucilati per ordine del Tribunale Speciale per la Difesa
dello Stato. E quando paragona il confino ad un "piacevole soggiorno in
villeggiatura", offende i 12.330 italiani che furono inviati al confino
perche' dissentivano dal regime. Tra i 5.620 oppositori processati dal
Tribunale Speciale, c'era
anche un certo Antonio Gramsci, che in carcere passo' undici anni e
mori' poco dopo per un'emorragia cerebrale. Ma forse Berlusconi non sa
chi e' Antonio Gramsci, cosi' come non aveva mai sentito parlare di
Alcide Cervi, ucciso dai fascisti con i suoi figli.
- L. S.: Berlusconi sostiene inoltre che il fascismo fu un "regime
morbido"...
- A. D. B.: Non lo fu affatto, ne' all'interno del paese, ne' nelle sue
colonie, dove furono usati tutti gli strumenti piu' spietati e
micidiali per stroncare le opposizioni. Basta ricordare i 13 lager
costruiti nel 1930 nel deserto della Sirtica, dove quarantamila libici
persero la vita. I tremendi campi di concentramento di Ganane, in
Somalia, e di Nocra, in Eritrea, dove perirono altri diecimila
"ribelli". Vorrei inoltre ricordare che fu lo stesso Mussolini, con i
suoi telegrammi operativi indirizzati a Badoglio e a Graziani, ad
autorizzare l'impiego massiccio e continuo dei gas asfissianti durante
il conflitto italo-etiopico del 1935-'36. E a chi risale la
responsabilita' dei centomila soldati morti in Russia, se non a
Mussolini, che voleva sostenere a tutti i costi Hitler nei suoi
progetti aggressivi? E di tutti gli altri morti, militari e civili,
della seconda guerra mondiale, a chi risale la colpa se non all'uomo
che il 10 giugno 1940 coinvolse l'Italia in un conflitto gia' perso in
partenza?
- L. S.: Crede ci sia un disegno politico di stampo revisionista dietro
questi proclami, oppure si tratta di esternazioni isolate del premier?
- A. D. B.: E' incredibile come un uomo di Stato, durante un semestre
in cui ha assunto anche responsabilita' europee, rilasci dichiarazioni
cosi' gravi, cosi' infondate, cosi' antistoriche. In un'altra occasione
Berlusconi ha dichiarato che se ne "infischia del politicamente
corretto", e ha sostenuto di avere "il vizio di dire la verita' in
sintonia con cio' che pensano i
cittadini". Ma noi non crediamo affatto che la maggioranza degli
italiani condivida le opinioni stravaganti del Cavaliere, a cominciare
dai suoi giudizi benevoli nei confronti di Mussolini e del suo regime,
giudizi che neppure lo storico piu' revisionista ardirebbe pronunciare.
E alla fine ci chiediamo: perche' queste sortite? Perche' queste
provocazioni offensive?
Quale strategia nascondono? Esse pongono in cattiva luce il nostro
paese, e non sono di alcuna utilita', neppure alla maggioranza di
governo.
Rade Drobac: Američke trupe na Balkanu
http://www.artel.co.yu/sr/izbor/balkan//2003-09-15_1.html
Gorka poredjenja
OGLEDALO Nedelje: Br. 6
Beograd, 20 avgusta 2003. godine
* Nemačka sa sve vise autoriteta i snage traži povlačenje američkih
vojnika, izmedju ostalog i da bi dokazala svoj autoritet, samostalnost
i značaj * Nasa vlast, nažalost, jedva čeka dolazak američkih vojnika,
iako njihovo prisustvo predstavlja gubitak nezavisnosti, teritorijalnog
integriteta i slobode * Koja zla prate strane trupe *
Medjunarodni nezavisni mediji, tipa "Slobodna Evropa" i slični, sve
češće najavljuju preseljenje američkih trupa iz Nemačke na Balkan.
Istovremeno, često možemo čuti i pročitati da će SAD postepeno povući
svoje trupe iz sastava medjunarodnih snaga stacioniranih u BiH i na
Kosovu, pa i u Makedoniji.
I jedno i drugo ne može biti tačno a istina je samo jedna.
Od pada SSSR-a, odnosno od ujedinjenja dve Nemačke, SAD su suočene sa
pritiskom da se njihove brojne trupe povuku iz ove zemlje. I to iz više
razloga.
Prvo, jer je nestanak SSSR-a otklonio pretnju koju je Varšavski pakt
predstavljao za Evropu, pa je samim tim prestala i potreba da se tako
brojne američke trupe drže u Evropi.
Potom, sve jača, ekonomski ali i politički, Nemačka sa sve više
autoriteta i snage traži povlačenje američkih vojnika , izmedju ostalog
i da bi dokazala svoj autoritet , samostalnost i značaj.
Pored toga, u poslednjih desetak godina, Namačka se afirmisala i kao
prirodni lider EU i ne priliči joj da na njenoj teritoriji postoje
brojne strane trupe.
I napokon, u okviru političkih pitanja stoji i da su SAD I EU sve više
rivali a sve manje partneri.
U takvim okolnostima opstanak američkih trupa u Nemačkoj je nerealan.
Naravno, postoje i vojni i bezbednosni razlozi za zahtevanje odlaska
američkih trupa iz Nemačke, ali to je posebna tema.
S druge strane, SAD imaju vitalne strateškie političke ,ekonomske i
vojne razloge da budu prisutni u Evropi. Ako to nije više moguće u
Nemačkoj i drugim zemljama zapadne Evrope, mogućno je u Jugoistočnoj
Evropi, odnosno na Balkanu.
Balkan predstavlja idealno strateško mesto za istovremenu kontrolu
Evrope, Mediterana, Severne Afrike i Bliskog Istoka i idealan "place
d`armes" za vojne misije u bilo kojoj od navedenih zona, pa i u širem
regionu, sve do Ruske Federacije..
Istovremeno, brojne američke trupe na Balanu predstavljaju i prirodnu
prepreku na putu Nemačke, odnosno EU ka Bliskom Istoku i nafti. Preko
te zone idu značajni evropski koridori 10 i 8. Pored toga, preko te
zone treba da ide i planirani naftovod od Kaspijskog mora do Valone u
Albaniji. Mnogi misle da je rat na Kosovu i Metohiji bio planiran kako
bi američke trupe došle na to područje i direktno obezbedjivale taj
naftovod.
Uostalom, ako SAD planiraju da se povlače sa Balkana, zašto su onda
sagradili vojnu bazu "Bondstil" na KiM, najveću američku bazu u Evropi.
Zašto i dalje kupuju (iznajmljuju) velike površiane zemljišta na KiM
ako planiraju da idu? Zašto traže naše aerodrome i luke ako ne misle
ostati duže?
Američke trupe se sada nalaze u skoro svim zemljama Balkana i sa svima
njima imaju razne vidove političke i vojne saradnje. Sve njih uvlače i
u Partnerstvo za mir i NATO, svoju udarnu pesnicu u Evropi, pa i šire.
Prisustvo američkih trupa na Balkanu daje SAD-u mogućnost da u
značajnoj meri za sebe veže države ovog regiona, kroz direktan uticaj
na njih, izmedju ostalog i zbog ometanja jačanja EU, svog sve
ospasnijeg rivala.
Dakle, kada se sagledaju iznete činjenice jasno je da su priče o
odlasku američkih trupa sa Balkana propagandna magla a da je istina da
SAD planiraju da one ovde ne samo ostanu, već i da svoje prisustvo ovde
zacementiraju što dublje I što jače.
Na tom putu im se niko ozbiljno ne suprotstavlja a naša vlast će to, na
žalost, jedva dočekati.
To što te trupe znače gubitak nezavisnosti, teritorijalnog integriteta,
slobode i dovodjenje u vazalni položaj i {žšto one sa sobom donose
kriminal, korupciju, prostituciju i drogu, očito nikoga ne brine..
http://www.artel.co.yu/sr/izbor/balkan//2003-09-15_1.html
Gorka poredjenja
OGLEDALO Nedelje: Br. 6
Beograd, 20 avgusta 2003. godine
* Nemačka sa sve vise autoriteta i snage traži povlačenje američkih
vojnika, izmedju ostalog i da bi dokazala svoj autoritet, samostalnost
i značaj * Nasa vlast, nažalost, jedva čeka dolazak američkih vojnika,
iako njihovo prisustvo predstavlja gubitak nezavisnosti, teritorijalnog
integriteta i slobode * Koja zla prate strane trupe *
Medjunarodni nezavisni mediji, tipa "Slobodna Evropa" i slični, sve
češće najavljuju preseljenje američkih trupa iz Nemačke na Balkan.
Istovremeno, često možemo čuti i pročitati da će SAD postepeno povući
svoje trupe iz sastava medjunarodnih snaga stacioniranih u BiH i na
Kosovu, pa i u Makedoniji.
I jedno i drugo ne može biti tačno a istina je samo jedna.
Od pada SSSR-a, odnosno od ujedinjenja dve Nemačke, SAD su suočene sa
pritiskom da se njihove brojne trupe povuku iz ove zemlje. I to iz više
razloga.
Prvo, jer je nestanak SSSR-a otklonio pretnju koju je Varšavski pakt
predstavljao za Evropu, pa je samim tim prestala i potreba da se tako
brojne američke trupe drže u Evropi.
Potom, sve jača, ekonomski ali i politički, Nemačka sa sve više
autoriteta i snage traži povlačenje američkih vojnika , izmedju ostalog
i da bi dokazala svoj autoritet , samostalnost i značaj.
Pored toga, u poslednjih desetak godina, Namačka se afirmisala i kao
prirodni lider EU i ne priliči joj da na njenoj teritoriji postoje
brojne strane trupe.
I napokon, u okviru političkih pitanja stoji i da su SAD I EU sve više
rivali a sve manje partneri.
U takvim okolnostima opstanak američkih trupa u Nemačkoj je nerealan.
Naravno, postoje i vojni i bezbednosni razlozi za zahtevanje odlaska
američkih trupa iz Nemačke, ali to je posebna tema.
S druge strane, SAD imaju vitalne strateškie političke ,ekonomske i
vojne razloge da budu prisutni u Evropi. Ako to nije više moguće u
Nemačkoj i drugim zemljama zapadne Evrope, mogućno je u Jugoistočnoj
Evropi, odnosno na Balkanu.
Balkan predstavlja idealno strateško mesto za istovremenu kontrolu
Evrope, Mediterana, Severne Afrike i Bliskog Istoka i idealan "place
d`armes" za vojne misije u bilo kojoj od navedenih zona, pa i u širem
regionu, sve do Ruske Federacije..
Istovremeno, brojne američke trupe na Balanu predstavljaju i prirodnu
prepreku na putu Nemačke, odnosno EU ka Bliskom Istoku i nafti. Preko
te zone idu značajni evropski koridori 10 i 8. Pored toga, preko te
zone treba da ide i planirani naftovod od Kaspijskog mora do Valone u
Albaniji. Mnogi misle da je rat na Kosovu i Metohiji bio planiran kako
bi američke trupe došle na to područje i direktno obezbedjivale taj
naftovod.
Uostalom, ako SAD planiraju da se povlače sa Balkana, zašto su onda
sagradili vojnu bazu "Bondstil" na KiM, najveću američku bazu u Evropi.
Zašto i dalje kupuju (iznajmljuju) velike površiane zemljišta na KiM
ako planiraju da idu? Zašto traže naše aerodrome i luke ako ne misle
ostati duže?
Američke trupe se sada nalaze u skoro svim zemljama Balkana i sa svima
njima imaju razne vidove političke i vojne saradnje. Sve njih uvlače i
u Partnerstvo za mir i NATO, svoju udarnu pesnicu u Evropi, pa i šire.
Prisustvo američkih trupa na Balkanu daje SAD-u mogućnost da u
značajnoj meri za sebe veže države ovog regiona, kroz direktan uticaj
na njih, izmedju ostalog i zbog ometanja jačanja EU, svog sve
ospasnijeg rivala.
Dakle, kada se sagledaju iznete činjenice jasno je da su priče o
odlasku američkih trupa sa Balkana propagandna magla a da je istina da
SAD planiraju da one ovde ne samo ostanu, već i da svoje prisustvo ovde
zacementiraju što dublje I što jače.
Na tom putu im se niko ozbiljno ne suprotstavlja a naša vlast će to, na
žalost, jedva dočekati.
To što te trupe znače gubitak nezavisnosti, teritorijalnog integriteta,
slobode i dovodjenje u vazalni položaj i {žšto one sa sobom donose
kriminal, korupciju, prostituciju i drogu, očito nikoga ne brine..
Il terrorismo "buono"
6: How we trained al-Qa’eda
See also:
"Al Qaeda's Balkan links" (The Wall Street Journal)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/guestcolumnists/kurop11-02-01p.htm
---
http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/sep03/hed5999.shtml
http://www.spectator.co.uk/
article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-09-13&id=3499&searchText=
The Spectator (UK), September 12, 2003
How we trained al-Qa’eda
Brendan O’Neill says the Bosnian war taught Islamic terrorists to
operate abroad
For all the millions of words written about al-Qa’eda since the 9/11
attacks two years ago, one phenomenon is consistently overlooked - the
role of the Bosnian war in transforming the mujahedin of the 1980s into
the roving Islamic terrorists of today.
Many writers and reporters have traced al-Qa’eda and other terror
groups’ origins back to the Afghan war of 1979-1992, that last gasp of
the Cold War when US-backed mujahedin forces fought against the
invading Soviet army. It is well documented that America played a major
role in creating and sustaining the mujahedin, which included Osama bin
Laden’s Office of Services set up to recruit volunteers from overseas.
Between 1985 and 1992, US officials estimate that 12,500 foreign
fighters were trained in bomb-making, sabotage and guerrilla warfare
tactics in Afghan camps that the CIA helped to set up.
Yet America’s role in backing the mujahedin a second time in the early
and mid-1990s is seldom mentioned - largely because very few people
know about it, and those who do find it prudent to pretend that it
never happened. Following the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in
1989 and the collapse of their puppet regime in 1992, the Afghan
mujahedin became less important to the United States; many Arabs, in
the words of the journalist James Buchan, were left stranded in
Afghanistan ‘with a taste for fighting but no cause’. It was not long
before some were provided with a new cause. From 1992 to 1995, the
Pentagon assisted with the movement of thousands of mujahedin and other
Islamic elements from Central Asia into Europe, to fight alongside
Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs.
The Bosnia venture appears to have been very important to the rise of
mujahedin forces, to the emergence of today’s cross-border Islamic
terrorists who think nothing of moving from state to state in the
search of outlets for their jihadist mission. In moving to Bosnia,
Islamic fighters were transported from the ghettos of Afghanistan and
the Middle East into Europe; from an outdated battleground of the Cold
War to the major world conflict of the day; from being yesterday’s men
to fighting alongside the West’s favoured side in the clash of the
Balkans. If Western intervention in Afghanistan created the mujahedin,
Western intervention in Bosnia appears to have globalised it.
As part of the Dutch government’s inquiry into the Srebrenica massacre
of July 1995, Professor Cees Wiebes of Amsterdam University compiled a
report entitled ‘Intelligence and the War in Bosnia’, published in
April 2002. In it he details the secret alliance between the Pentagon
and radical Islamic groups from the Middle East, and their efforts to
assist Bosnia’s Muslims. By 1993, there was a vast amount of weapons-
smuggling through Croatia to the Muslims, organised by ‘clandestine
agencies’ of the USA, Turkey and Iran, in association with a range of
Islamic groups that included Afghan mujahedin and the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah. Arms bought by Iran and Turkey with the financial backing of
Saudi Arabia were airlifted from the Middle East to Bosnia - airlifts
with which, Wiebes points out, the USA was ‘very closely involved’.
The Pentagon’s secret alliance with Islamic elements allowed mujahedin
fighters to be ‘flown in’, though they were initially reserved as shock
troops for particularly hazardous operations against Serb forces.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times in October 2001, from
1992 as many as 4,000 volunteers from the Middle East, North Africa and
Europe, ‘known as the mujahedin’, arrived in Bosnia to fight with the
Muslims. Richard Holbrooke, America’s former chief Balkans peace
negotiator, has said that the Bosnian Muslims ‘wouldn’t have survived’
without the help of the mujahedin, though he later admitted that the
arrival of the mujahedin was a ‘pact with the devil’ from which Bosnia
is still recovering.
By the end of the 1990s State Department officials were increasingly
worried about the consequences of this pact. Under the terms of the
1995 Dayton peace accord, the foreign mujahedin units were required to
disband and leave the Balkans. Yet in 2000, the State Department raised
concerns about the ‘hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists’ who became
Bosnian citizens after fighting against the Serbs, and who pose a
potential terror threat to Europe and the United States. US officials
claimed that one of bin Laden’s top lieutenants had sent operatives to
Bosnia, and that during the 1990s Bosnia had served as a ‘staging area
and safe haven’ for al-Qa’eda and others. The Clinton administration
had discovered that it is one thing to permit the movement of Islamic
groups across territories; it is quite another to rein them back in
again.
Indeed, for all the Clinton officials’ concern about Islamic
extremists in the Balkans, they continued to allow the growth and
movement of mujahedin forces in Europe through the 1990s. In the late
1990s, in the run-up to Clinton’s and Blair’s Kosovo war of 1999, the
USA backed the Kosovo Liberation Army against Serbia. According to a
report in the Jerusalem Post in 1998, KLA members, like the Bosnian
Muslims before them, had been ‘provided with financial and military
support from Islamic countries’, and had been ‘bolstered by hundreds of
Iranian fighters or mujahedin ...[some of whom] were trained in Osama
bin Laden’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan’. It seems that, for all its
handwringing, the USA just couldn’t break the pact with the devil.
Why is this aspect of the mujahedin’s development so often overlooked?
Some sensible stuff has been written about al-Qa’eda and its
connections in recent months, but the Bosnia connection has been left
largely unexplored. In Jason Burke’s excellent Al-Qa’eda: Casting a
Shadow of Terror, Bosnia is mentioned only in passing. Kimberley
McCloud and Adam Dolnik of the Monterey Institute of International
Studies have written some incisive commentary calling for rational
thinking when assessing al-Qa’eda’s origins and threat - but again,
investigation of the Bosnia link is notable by its absence.
It would appear that when it comes to Bosnia, many in the West have a
moral blind spot. For some commentators, particularly liberal ones,
Western intervention in Bosnia was a Good Thing - except that,
apparently, there was too little of it, offered too late in the
conflict. Many journalists and writers demanded intervention in Bosnia
and Western support for the Muslims. In many ways, this was their war,
where they played an active role in encouraging further intervention to
enforce ‘peace’ among the former Yugoslavia’s warring factions.
Consequently, they often overlook the downside to this intervention and
its divisive impact on the Balkans. Western intervention in Bosnia, it
would appear, has become an unquestionably positive thing, something
that is beyond interrogation and debate.
Yet a cool analysis of today’s disparate Islamic terror groups,
created in Afghanistan and emboldened by the Bosnian experience, would
do much to shed some light on precisely the dangers of such
intervention.
6: How we trained al-Qa’eda
See also:
"Al Qaeda's Balkan links" (The Wall Street Journal)
http://www.frontpagemag.com/guestcolumnists/kurop11-02-01p.htm
---
http://www.balkanpeace.org/hed/archive/sep03/hed5999.shtml
http://www.spectator.co.uk/
article.php3?table=old§ion=current&issue=2003-09-13&id=3499&searchText=
The Spectator (UK), September 12, 2003
How we trained al-Qa’eda
Brendan O’Neill says the Bosnian war taught Islamic terrorists to
operate abroad
For all the millions of words written about al-Qa’eda since the 9/11
attacks two years ago, one phenomenon is consistently overlooked - the
role of the Bosnian war in transforming the mujahedin of the 1980s into
the roving Islamic terrorists of today.
Many writers and reporters have traced al-Qa’eda and other terror
groups’ origins back to the Afghan war of 1979-1992, that last gasp of
the Cold War when US-backed mujahedin forces fought against the
invading Soviet army. It is well documented that America played a major
role in creating and sustaining the mujahedin, which included Osama bin
Laden’s Office of Services set up to recruit volunteers from overseas.
Between 1985 and 1992, US officials estimate that 12,500 foreign
fighters were trained in bomb-making, sabotage and guerrilla warfare
tactics in Afghan camps that the CIA helped to set up.
Yet America’s role in backing the mujahedin a second time in the early
and mid-1990s is seldom mentioned - largely because very few people
know about it, and those who do find it prudent to pretend that it
never happened. Following the Russian withdrawal from Afghanistan in
1989 and the collapse of their puppet regime in 1992, the Afghan
mujahedin became less important to the United States; many Arabs, in
the words of the journalist James Buchan, were left stranded in
Afghanistan ‘with a taste for fighting but no cause’. It was not long
before some were provided with a new cause. From 1992 to 1995, the
Pentagon assisted with the movement of thousands of mujahedin and other
Islamic elements from Central Asia into Europe, to fight alongside
Bosnian Muslims against the Serbs.
The Bosnia venture appears to have been very important to the rise of
mujahedin forces, to the emergence of today’s cross-border Islamic
terrorists who think nothing of moving from state to state in the
search of outlets for their jihadist mission. In moving to Bosnia,
Islamic fighters were transported from the ghettos of Afghanistan and
the Middle East into Europe; from an outdated battleground of the Cold
War to the major world conflict of the day; from being yesterday’s men
to fighting alongside the West’s favoured side in the clash of the
Balkans. If Western intervention in Afghanistan created the mujahedin,
Western intervention in Bosnia appears to have globalised it.
As part of the Dutch government’s inquiry into the Srebrenica massacre
of July 1995, Professor Cees Wiebes of Amsterdam University compiled a
report entitled ‘Intelligence and the War in Bosnia’, published in
April 2002. In it he details the secret alliance between the Pentagon
and radical Islamic groups from the Middle East, and their efforts to
assist Bosnia’s Muslims. By 1993, there was a vast amount of weapons-
smuggling through Croatia to the Muslims, organised by ‘clandestine
agencies’ of the USA, Turkey and Iran, in association with a range of
Islamic groups that included Afghan mujahedin and the pro-Iranian
Hezbollah. Arms bought by Iran and Turkey with the financial backing of
Saudi Arabia were airlifted from the Middle East to Bosnia - airlifts
with which, Wiebes points out, the USA was ‘very closely involved’.
The Pentagon’s secret alliance with Islamic elements allowed mujahedin
fighters to be ‘flown in’, though they were initially reserved as shock
troops for particularly hazardous operations against Serb forces.
According to a report in the Los Angeles Times in October 2001, from
1992 as many as 4,000 volunteers from the Middle East, North Africa and
Europe, ‘known as the mujahedin’, arrived in Bosnia to fight with the
Muslims. Richard Holbrooke, America’s former chief Balkans peace
negotiator, has said that the Bosnian Muslims ‘wouldn’t have survived’
without the help of the mujahedin, though he later admitted that the
arrival of the mujahedin was a ‘pact with the devil’ from which Bosnia
is still recovering.
By the end of the 1990s State Department officials were increasingly
worried about the consequences of this pact. Under the terms of the
1995 Dayton peace accord, the foreign mujahedin units were required to
disband and leave the Balkans. Yet in 2000, the State Department raised
concerns about the ‘hundreds of foreign Islamic extremists’ who became
Bosnian citizens after fighting against the Serbs, and who pose a
potential terror threat to Europe and the United States. US officials
claimed that one of bin Laden’s top lieutenants had sent operatives to
Bosnia, and that during the 1990s Bosnia had served as a ‘staging area
and safe haven’ for al-Qa’eda and others. The Clinton administration
had discovered that it is one thing to permit the movement of Islamic
groups across territories; it is quite another to rein them back in
again.
Indeed, for all the Clinton officials’ concern about Islamic
extremists in the Balkans, they continued to allow the growth and
movement of mujahedin forces in Europe through the 1990s. In the late
1990s, in the run-up to Clinton’s and Blair’s Kosovo war of 1999, the
USA backed the Kosovo Liberation Army against Serbia. According to a
report in the Jerusalem Post in 1998, KLA members, like the Bosnian
Muslims before them, had been ‘provided with financial and military
support from Islamic countries’, and had been ‘bolstered by hundreds of
Iranian fighters or mujahedin ...[some of whom] were trained in Osama
bin Laden’s terrorist camps in Afghanistan’. It seems that, for all its
handwringing, the USA just couldn’t break the pact with the devil.
Why is this aspect of the mujahedin’s development so often overlooked?
Some sensible stuff has been written about al-Qa’eda and its
connections in recent months, but the Bosnia connection has been left
largely unexplored. In Jason Burke’s excellent Al-Qa’eda: Casting a
Shadow of Terror, Bosnia is mentioned only in passing. Kimberley
McCloud and Adam Dolnik of the Monterey Institute of International
Studies have written some incisive commentary calling for rational
thinking when assessing al-Qa’eda’s origins and threat - but again,
investigation of the Bosnia link is notable by its absence.
It would appear that when it comes to Bosnia, many in the West have a
moral blind spot. For some commentators, particularly liberal ones,
Western intervention in Bosnia was a Good Thing - except that,
apparently, there was too little of it, offered too late in the
conflict. Many journalists and writers demanded intervention in Bosnia
and Western support for the Muslims. In many ways, this was their war,
where they played an active role in encouraging further intervention to
enforce ‘peace’ among the former Yugoslavia’s warring factions.
Consequently, they often overlook the downside to this intervention and
its divisive impact on the Balkans. Western intervention in Bosnia, it
would appear, has become an unquestionably positive thing, something
that is beyond interrogation and debate.
Yet a cool analysis of today’s disparate Islamic terror groups,
created in Afghanistan and emboldened by the Bosnian experience, would
do much to shed some light on precisely the dangers of such
intervention.
Dear Sirs,
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The members of BELGRADE FORUM are prominant and well known
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BELGRADE FORUM organised in the past two years many round tables,
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The booklets we are offering to you are the selections of the best
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and Arts, Dr Miodrag Mitic, former lergal adviser of the yugoslav
President and others)
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(Interventions of General Radovan Radinovic, Zivadin Jovanovic, former
MFA, Prof. Dr Dragan Simeunovic, Huan Sanches Monro, Ambassador of Cuba
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3. Yugoslavia nad Military and Political Euro - Atlantic integrations -
200,oo Dinars +sending fees
(Interventions of General Radovan Radinovic, Prof. Dr. Oskar Kovac,
Prof. Dr Gavro Perazic, Oliver Potezica, former Ambassador of FRY in
Jordania and others)
4. Relations between Serbia and Montenegro- price 200,oo Dinars +
sending fees
(Intervention of Academician Mihajlo Markovic, Dr Milan Tepavac, Prof.
Dr Stevan Djordjevic, General Ljubomir Domazetovic and others)
5. Constitutionl Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro -
price 300,oo Dinar + sending fees
( Interventions of Prof. Dr Ratko Markovic, former vice - president of
the Serbian government, Prof. Dr Smilja Avramov, Vladislav Jovanovic,
former MFA, Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA (his intervention is also in
English), and others)
6. Strategie of development in unstables conditions and privatisation-
price 300,oo Dinar + sending fees
(Intervention of Academitian Kosta Mihajlovic, Dragutin Zelenovic,
former Prime Minister of FRY, Rade Drobac, former diplomat, Rados
Smiljkovic, former Ambassador in Bulgaria, Dr Blagoje Babic and others)
We are offering to you more two books published by BELGRADE FORUM:
1. Supression of the State- author Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA- price
600,oo Dinars + sending fees
2. Bridges- Diaspora- Homewland- Author Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA-
price 600,oo Dinars + sending fees
The intersted ones can order by mail: office@..., or fax: +
(38111) 2699-495
The ordering of the booklets and books would help you to understand
better the political reality of our country. That would also help
BELGRADE FORUM to continuo to work and produce new round tables and
booklets.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Rade Drobac- member of BELGRADE FORUM
---
Postovani,
ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA vam nudi sveske BEOGRADSKOG FORUMA ZA SVET
RAVNOPRAVNIH, nevladine organizacije iz Beograda, koje ce vam dati
analitican uvid u akrtuelna zbivanja u i oko nase zemlje.
Beogradski forum je NVO koja se izdrzava od clanarine, priloga
prijatelja foruma i istine i prodaje svojih svesaka.
Colj Beogradskog foruma je rad na promociji mira, stabilnosti i
saradnje u svetu, na osnovama ravnopravnosti i jednakog uvazavanja,
postovanje demokratskih i ljudskih prava i ocuvanje interesa nase
zemlje i naroda.
Beogradski forum okuplja ughledne pojedince iz nase zemlje iz oblasti
diplomatije, univeziteta, akademije nauka, medija, privrede i drugih
sektora.
Sveske su tematske i svaka je posvecena poosebnom pitanju. One su izbor
najuspesnijih islaganja ucesnika okruglih stolova koje je u toku
protekle dve godine organizovao Beogradski forum.
Nusimo vam sledece sveske:
1. Kosovo i Metohija- cena 200,00 + postarina
(Izlaganja Vladislava Jovanovica, Dr Vojislava Micovica, Dr Slavenka
Terzxca, Dr Miodraga Mitica i drugih)
2. Medjunarodni terorizam- cena 200,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja Zivadina Jovanovica, Prof. Dr Dragana Simeunovica, Generala
Radovana Radinovica, advokata Zaka Verzesa, Ambasadora Kube u Beogradu
Huan Sancez Monroa i drugih)
3. Odnosi Srbije i Crne Gore- cena 200,oo Dinara
(Izlganja prof Dr Gavre Perazica, Akademika Mihajla Markovica, Dr
Milana Tepavca, prof. Dr Stevana Djordjevica i drugih)
4. Jugoslavija i Evroatlantske vojne i politicke integracije- cena
200,oo Dinara
(Izlganja generala Radovana Radinovica, Prof. Dr Oskara Kovaca, Dragosa
Kaslajica, Zivadina Jovanovica i drugih)
5. Ustasvna povelja Drzavne zajednice "Srbija i Crna Giora"- cena
300,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja Prof. Dr Ratka Markovica, Prof, Dr Smilje Avramov,
Vladislava Jovanovica i drugih)
6. Strategija razvoja i nestabilnim uslovima i privatizacija- cena
300,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja akademika Koste Mihajlovica, Dragutina Zelenovica, Radoisa
Smiljkovica, Radeta Drobca i drugih)
Pored svesaka ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA van nudi i sledece knjige, izdanja
Beogradskog foruma:
1. Ukidanje drzave- autora Zivadina Jovanovica- cena 600 Dinara +
postarina
2. Mostovi - Dijaspora- Martica- autora Zivadina Jovanovica- cena
600,oo Dinara + postarina
Sveske i knjige ce vam pomoci da bolje razumete nasu stvarnost. Mogu
biti i llep pokon za vase prijatelje, pogotovu u inostranstvu. Najzad,
kupoivna knjiga pomoci ce Beogradskog forumu da nastavi svojra i
produkciju novih izdanja.
Knjige i sveske mozete naruciti na e-mail adresu: office@...,.yu i
na fax: + 38111 - 2699495
U ocekivanju da cete nam se uskoro obratiti,
S postovanjem,
Rade Drobac, Clan Beograddskog foruma
ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA is offering to you a serial of booklets of the NGO
"BELGRADE FORUM FOR THE WORLD OF EQUALS" from Belgrade.
We believe that you might be interested in serious analyses of the main
issues related to Serbia and Montenegro from the point of view of
specialist in the matter.
BELGRADE FORUM is a non governmental, independent, non profit
association of citizems gathered in the aim to promote principles of
peace, justice, equality, human rights and democracy in our country and
in the world.
The members of BELGRADE FORUM are prominant and well known
intellectuals from diplomacy, university, business, media.
BELGRADE FORUM organised in the past two years many round tables,
inviting other prominent individuals to participate, with the topics of
the first priority for our country.
The booklets we are offering to you are the selections of the best
interbventions of the participants in those round tables.
The booklets are in Serbian but we believe that some of you could have
find people that can translate the most interesting inteventions.
We are offering to you a folloving booklets:
1. Kosovo and Metohia - price 200.oo Dinars +sending fees
(Interventions of Vladislav Jovanovic, former MFA, Dr Vojislav Micovic,
former Minister of information of Serbia, Dr Slavenko Terzic, former
Director of the Institute of History of the Serbian Academy of Sciences
and Arts, Dr Miodrag Mitic, former lergal adviser of the yugoslav
President and others)
2. International Terrorism - price 200, 00 Dinars + sending fees
(Interventions of General Radovan Radinovic, Zivadin Jovanovic, former
MFA, Prof. Dr Dragan Simeunovic, Huan Sanches Monro, Ambassador of Cuba
in Belgrade, Jacques Verges, barrister from Paris, Prof. Dr Miroljub
Jeftic and others)
3. Yugoslavia nad Military and Political Euro - Atlantic integrations -
200,oo Dinars +sending fees
(Interventions of General Radovan Radinovic, Prof. Dr. Oskar Kovac,
Prof. Dr Gavro Perazic, Oliver Potezica, former Ambassador of FRY in
Jordania and others)
4. Relations between Serbia and Montenegro- price 200,oo Dinars +
sending fees
(Intervention of Academician Mihajlo Markovic, Dr Milan Tepavac, Prof.
Dr Stevan Djordjevic, General Ljubomir Domazetovic and others)
5. Constitutionl Charter of the State Union of Serbia and Montenegro -
price 300,oo Dinar + sending fees
( Interventions of Prof. Dr Ratko Markovic, former vice - president of
the Serbian government, Prof. Dr Smilja Avramov, Vladislav Jovanovic,
former MFA, Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA (his intervention is also in
English), and others)
6. Strategie of development in unstables conditions and privatisation-
price 300,oo Dinar + sending fees
(Intervention of Academitian Kosta Mihajlovic, Dragutin Zelenovic,
former Prime Minister of FRY, Rade Drobac, former diplomat, Rados
Smiljkovic, former Ambassador in Bulgaria, Dr Blagoje Babic and others)
We are offering to you more two books published by BELGRADE FORUM:
1. Supression of the State- author Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA- price
600,oo Dinars + sending fees
2. Bridges- Diaspora- Homewland- Author Zivadin Jovanovic, former MFA-
price 600,oo Dinars + sending fees
The intersted ones can order by mail: office@..., or fax: +
(38111) 2699-495
The ordering of the booklets and books would help you to understand
better the political reality of our country. That would also help
BELGRADE FORUM to continuo to work and produce new round tables and
booklets.
Hoping to hear from you soon,
Sincerely,
Rade Drobac- member of BELGRADE FORUM
---
Postovani,
ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA vam nudi sveske BEOGRADSKOG FORUMA ZA SVET
RAVNOPRAVNIH, nevladine organizacije iz Beograda, koje ce vam dati
analitican uvid u akrtuelna zbivanja u i oko nase zemlje.
Beogradski forum je NVO koja se izdrzava od clanarine, priloga
prijatelja foruma i istine i prodaje svojih svesaka.
Colj Beogradskog foruma je rad na promociji mira, stabilnosti i
saradnje u svetu, na osnovama ravnopravnosti i jednakog uvazavanja,
postovanje demokratskih i ljudskih prava i ocuvanje interesa nase
zemlje i naroda.
Beogradski forum okuplja ughledne pojedince iz nase zemlje iz oblasti
diplomatije, univeziteta, akademije nauka, medija, privrede i drugih
sektora.
Sveske su tematske i svaka je posvecena poosebnom pitanju. One su izbor
najuspesnijih islaganja ucesnika okruglih stolova koje je u toku
protekle dve godine organizovao Beogradski forum.
Nusimo vam sledece sveske:
1. Kosovo i Metohija- cena 200,00 + postarina
(Izlaganja Vladislava Jovanovica, Dr Vojislava Micovica, Dr Slavenka
Terzxca, Dr Miodraga Mitica i drugih)
2. Medjunarodni terorizam- cena 200,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja Zivadina Jovanovica, Prof. Dr Dragana Simeunovica, Generala
Radovana Radinovica, advokata Zaka Verzesa, Ambasadora Kube u Beogradu
Huan Sancez Monroa i drugih)
3. Odnosi Srbije i Crne Gore- cena 200,oo Dinara
(Izlganja prof Dr Gavre Perazica, Akademika Mihajla Markovica, Dr
Milana Tepavca, prof. Dr Stevana Djordjevica i drugih)
4. Jugoslavija i Evroatlantske vojne i politicke integracije- cena
200,oo Dinara
(Izlganja generala Radovana Radinovica, Prof. Dr Oskara Kovaca, Dragosa
Kaslajica, Zivadina Jovanovica i drugih)
5. Ustasvna povelja Drzavne zajednice "Srbija i Crna Giora"- cena
300,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja Prof. Dr Ratka Markovica, Prof, Dr Smilje Avramov,
Vladislava Jovanovica i drugih)
6. Strategija razvoja i nestabilnim uslovima i privatizacija- cena
300,oo Dinara + postarina
(Izlaganja akademika Koste Mihajlovica, Dragutina Zelenovica, Radoisa
Smiljkovica, Radeta Drobca i drugih)
Pored svesaka ARTEL GEOPOLITIKA van nudi i sledece knjige, izdanja
Beogradskog foruma:
1. Ukidanje drzave- autora Zivadina Jovanovica- cena 600 Dinara +
postarina
2. Mostovi - Dijaspora- Martica- autora Zivadina Jovanovica- cena
600,oo Dinara + postarina
Sveske i knjige ce vam pomoci da bolje razumete nasu stvarnost. Mogu
biti i llep pokon za vase prijatelje, pogotovu u inostranstvu. Najzad,
kupoivna knjiga pomoci ce Beogradskog forumu da nastavi svojra i
produkciju novih izdanja.
Knjige i sveske mozete naruciti na e-mail adresu: office@...,.yu i
na fax: + 38111 - 2699495
U ocekivanju da cete nam se uskoro obratiti,
S postovanjem,
Rade Drobac, Clan Beograddskog foruma
ZA HRVATSKU I HRSTA, PROTIV SRBA I KOMUNISTA [1]
"A ricorrenza della festa della Signora del Grande Voto Benedetto
Croato, protettrice del Vicariato militare, e in seguito alla Giornata
della Vittoria e del Ringraziamento, ieri [5 agosto 2003, nota 2] è
stato benedetto, a Zagabria, il nuovo, imponente edificio del Vicariato
militare [3]. La celebrazione è stata presieduta dal rappresentante del
Vaticano, l’arcivescovo Francesco Monterisi."
Dopo la messa è stata inaugurata la statua di papa Giovanni Paolo II,
a grandezza d’uomo [4].
NOTE
1. "Per la Croazia e per Cristo, contro serbi e comunisti", slogan
ustascia.
2. "Celebrata la Giornata della Vittoria e del Ringraziamento
patriottico" (titolo in prima pagina del "Vecernji"): si tratta del 5
agosto, giorno in cui in Croazia si festeggia la "Operazione Tempesta",
cioe' la eliminazione fisica (cacciata o assassinio) della popolazione
serbo-ortodossa dalle Krajne. "In tutta la Croazia è stata celebrata
ieri la Giornata del Ringraziamento, in memoria di tutti coloro che
hanno dato la vita per la libertà della Croazia."
3. La foto, pubblicata dal "Vecernji list", del monumentale complesso
inaugurato a Zagabria:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/IMMAGINI/
edificio.jpg
4.
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/IMMAGINI/
statuapapa.jpg
Inaugurazione della statua di Wojtyla dinanzi all'Ordinariato Militare
di Zagabria, sempre dal "Vecernji list".
(Fonti: "La Voce del Popolo", Fiume-Rijeka, 6 agosto 2003; "Vecernji
list", Zagreb, 28 e 6 agosto 2003: si veda
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2726 )
"A ricorrenza della festa della Signora del Grande Voto Benedetto
Croato, protettrice del Vicariato militare, e in seguito alla Giornata
della Vittoria e del Ringraziamento, ieri [5 agosto 2003, nota 2] è
stato benedetto, a Zagabria, il nuovo, imponente edificio del Vicariato
militare [3]. La celebrazione è stata presieduta dal rappresentante del
Vaticano, l’arcivescovo Francesco Monterisi."
Dopo la messa è stata inaugurata la statua di papa Giovanni Paolo II,
a grandezza d’uomo [4].
NOTE
1. "Per la Croazia e per Cristo, contro serbi e comunisti", slogan
ustascia.
2. "Celebrata la Giornata della Vittoria e del Ringraziamento
patriottico" (titolo in prima pagina del "Vecernji"): si tratta del 5
agosto, giorno in cui in Croazia si festeggia la "Operazione Tempesta",
cioe' la eliminazione fisica (cacciata o assassinio) della popolazione
serbo-ortodossa dalle Krajne. "In tutta la Croazia è stata celebrata
ieri la Giornata del Ringraziamento, in memoria di tutti coloro che
hanno dato la vita per la libertà della Croazia."
3. La foto, pubblicata dal "Vecernji list", del monumentale complesso
inaugurato a Zagabria:
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/IMMAGINI/
edificio.jpg
4.
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/files/IMMAGINI/
statuapapa.jpg
Inaugurazione della statua di Wojtyla dinanzi all'Ordinariato Militare
di Zagabria, sempre dal "Vecernji list".
(Fonti: "La Voce del Popolo", Fiume-Rijeka, 6 agosto 2003; "Vecernji
list", Zagreb, 28 e 6 agosto 2003: si veda
http://it.groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/2726 )
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