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THE TREASON OF VOJISLAV KOSTUNICA
By Chris Black, Richard Hugus and
Jared Israel [2 July 2001]

A chorus of voices of remarkable
diversity is proclaiming Vojislav
Kostunica innocent of kidnapping President
Slobodan Milosevic. This chorus includes not
only the mainstream media, which
uniformly supports the kidnapping,
but also various groups and individuals who
oppose the kidnapping. Their common
view is that Kostunica was out of the
loop; that the kidnapping was a big
surprise or even an attack on him by Serbian
Prime Minister Djindjic.

The evidence doesn't support this view.

KOSTUNICA BLAMES THE VICTIMS

Yesterday Mr. Kostunica issued a
statement on the kidnapping. In it he
blamed everyone but himself. Remarkably, the
blame extended to the Montenegrin
Socialists (SNP).

According to Kostunica, by refusing
to support his proposed extradition
law, the SNP had blocked an:

"opportunity to legally regulate
cooperation with the tribunal so that
our citizens could be protected."
{Kostunica's statement, as translated
by Emperor's Clothes}

Huh?

Mr. Kostunica's proposed law would
have established regulations to speedily
extradite anyone demanded by NATO's
Hague Tribunal. How can that be portrayed
as "protecting citizens"? When a
government regulates Injustice, does
that make it Just?

In his statement, Kostunica
whitewashed Washington and blamed Mr.
Milosevic for getting kidnapped:

"From the arsenal of Milosevic's
politics, which was truly defeatist for the
state and the people, are now adopted
and revived precisely its most
undemocratic elements: illegality and
the pulling off of humiliating
maneuvers that no one in the
international community asked for, at
least not explicitly." {Ibid.}

Huh?

First of all, the "international
community" definitely did demand
Milosevic be brought to The Hague. And they
praised the kidnapping once it happened.
Why does Kostunica deny these
publicly known facts? And what is the
meaning of "at least not explicitly?"

Second, as far as the kidnapping
having roots in Milosevic's practices, what
practices? Kostunica doesn't say.

Did Milosevic kidnap people and send
them to the Tribunal? No. Did he rule
by decree? No. If Milosevic was such a
terrible dictator, how come he didn't
even arrest Mr. Kostunica, whose
Presidential election campaign last year
accepted tens of millions of illegal
U.S. dollars, smuggled into Serbia in
'suitcases of cash?' (1)

SHOW PROOF OR BE SILENT

It seems that every time Vojislav
Kostunica makes a statement he manages to
include an attack Slobodan Milosevic,
accusing him of various crimes. But
Kostunica never provides evidence to
support his accusations.

A hundred times Kostunica has said,
"Milosevic should be tried at home
for his crimes." This suggests to the
casual listener (that is, most of us)
that the existence of crimes is a proven
fact.

The opposite is true.

Mr. Milosevic was arrested and held
in Belgrade jail for 13 weeks, supposedly
for purposes of investigation. He was
not allowed out on bail because "he
might try to influence witnesses."
During that time no evidence of any kind
was presented. No witnesses testified
against him. Is it a coincidence that
Milosevic was kidnapped from jail
precisely when the legally allowed
three month investigation period had
expired? When prosecutors had to
produce evidence or release him?

If Vojislav Kostunica possessed facts
implicating Milosevic in any crime he
would have turned that evidence over
to prosecutors. Therefore he had no
evidence. Therefore Kostunica's
constant accusations have been lies that
relied on and reinforced the evidence
of rumor and smear spread by the
Western media and the Yugoslav media
controlled by Mr. Djindjic and - Mr.
Kostunica.

Kostunica's accusations are
frequently quoted in the Western
media where they
help NATO sustain anti-Milosevic
(read: anti-Serb) public opinion. Why
do Serbian patriots tolerate this man?
Isn't it obvious that his slanders do
great harm, particularly now that
Slobodan Milosevic (read: the Serbs
and all loyal Yugoslav people) stands accused
at NATO's Hague?

Which brings us back to the question
at hand:

IS KOSTUNICA GUILTY IN THE KIDNAPPING
OF MILOSEVIC?

It is a matter of record that
Vojislav Kostunica worked hand in
hand with Zoran Djindjic to 'deport'
Slobodan Milosevic to The Hague.

Their campaign went into high gear
while Kostunica was in Washington
visiting Powell, Rice and Bush, seven weeks
ago.

Now Kostunica is having a loud
falling-out with Djindjic. The function of
this split is to let Kostunica retain
some credibility among ordinary
people, who loathe Mr. Djindjic.

Kostunica's claim that he is innocent
of the final deed can be disproved
through the exercise of common sense.

1) Kostunica used to admit that
extradition is unconstitutional:

"Kostunica has said he would not
extradite his ousted predecessor and
other war crimes suspects to face trial at
the international court in The Hague
because it would be unconstitutional.

"According to Kostunica, the Yugoslav
constitution does not allow extradition
of Yugoslav citizens to a foreign
court." ('AP Worldstream,' January
16, 2001)

2) Yet, after Kostunica met with
Powell and Bush in Washington seven
weeks ago, he promised to push an
extradition law through Parliament.
He went back to Yugoslavia and tried to do just
that.

While he was in Washington Kostunica
also discovered new merit in the
Hague War Crimes Tribunal:

"Cooperation with The Hague tribunal
is something that is necessary for this
country being a member of the United
Nations and behaving as a good member
of the international community."
('Houston Chronicle,' 10 May 2001)

That's the Hague Tribunal that has
murdered and demonized Serbs. And
that's the 'international community' that
bombed Yugoslavia.

3) When Kostunica returned to
Yugoslavia, he used his control of
the mass media to try and sell Yugoslavs the
notion that they had to bow to the
Tribunal or Washington would prevent
a Donors Conference from 'saving' the
Yugoslav economy.

Kostunica had to know these promises
to save Yugoslavia were false. Donors
Conferences may promise some credits,
but they are always followed by the
theft of the industrial wealth of the
target country. This is clearly
explained in the SPS statement, 'We
Accuse: Washington's Aid Promises Are
A Traitorous Lie!' (2)

4) The Montenegrin socialists (SNP)
hold the balance of power in the
Yugoslav
Parliament. When they refused to vote
for Kostunica's extradition law,
Kostunica and Djindjic pressured and
threatened to force them to comply.
At the same time, Kostunica suppressed
opposition from patriots in his own
party.

5) The SNP held firm. So Djindjic and
Kostunica decided to bypass Parliament
entirely.

"The government was forced to issue a
federal decree through the cabinet,
where Mr. Kostunica and his
reformists have a majority after
losing its battle with Parliament this week."
('N. Y. Times,' 24 June 2001)

The cabinet's action not only usurped
the functions of Parliament but
attempted to overrule the
Constitution by decree. In his
statement yesterday,
Kostunica still defends this:

"Everything was tried, all was laid
out so that - with federal law, or
federal and republican law, only
through republican law, and afterwards
through the decree of the Federal
government - the difficult question
of cooperation with the Tribunal would
be regulated." {From Kostunica's
Statement}

6) Three days ago, the Constitutional
Court ordered a temporary injunction
against extraditing Milosevic while
he appealed the Federal administration's
decree.

As President, Mr. Kostunica's job is
a) to command the army in order b) to
protect and defend the Constitution.
Which includes, of course, defending
the decisions of the Constitutional
Court.

Why didn't Kostunica do his job and
prevent the kidnapping?

Kostunica says the problem was he
didn't know.

That is not an answer. First of all,
Kostunica and Djindjic had been
partners in pushing for extradition all along.
Djindjic says he never would have
staged the kidnapping without
Kostunica's approval.

But even if Djindjic is lying, his
intentions were no secret. Days
before the kidnapping Djindjic and others
declared that if legal obstacles were
put in the way of extraditing Milosevic they
would do it anyway.

Once Djindjic made this public
commitment to break the law - that is, to
kidnap the former head of state - it
was Kostunica's duty to arrest him for
conspiracy to commit treason, and
order the army to take charge of the
Belgrade Prison where Milosevic was
being held. In this way, Kostunica
would have guaranteed there was no
kidnapping.

Some people say Kostunica is really a
good man, that he failed to take this
action because he is professorial and
absent-minded.

Nonsense. From the start he pursued
the extradition of Milosevic with
firmness and persistence, fully aware
it was unconstitutional.

Two days before the kidnapping,
leaders of the Socialist Party (SPS)
met with him. They said they were worried
there would be an attempt to kidnap
Milosevic before Milosevic's appeal
against the Federal government's
decree could be heard.

Kostunica told those SPS leaders: "I
WILL NOT PERMIT DJINDJIC TO TAKE
UNCONSTITUTIONAL ACTION."

So before the kidnapping, Kostunica
says, "I won't let them kidnap him."
And after he lets the kidnapping happen
(assuming he was not directly involved in
the final plan) he says, "I didn't
know it was going to happen - but it
was illegal!" And still he does not
arrest Djindjic.

Does he take us for imbeciles?

Mr. Kostunica is the law officer in
charge of protecting the Yugoslav
constitution and defending the State.
If a law officer helps lay the basis
for a crime, if he knows from public
information that the crime will take
place, if he stands aside and lets
the crime be committed, then even if
- if! - he is not involved in working out
the final details, he is just as
guilty as those who have done the dirty
work.

Here's the plain truth: Djindjic and
Kostunica have sold out their people,
their own people, to the United
States government.

Djindjic and Kostunica are shameless.

-- Chris Black, Richard Hugus and
Jared Israel

***

Further reading:

1) 'Kostunica Says Some backers
'Unconsciously Work for American
Imperial
Goals'' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/news/erlang.htm

2) 'We Accuse: Washington's Aid
Promises Are A Traitorous Lie!' at
http://emperors-clothes.com/docs/fools.htm

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