> http://english.pravda.ru/main/2001/07/06/9449.html

2001-07-06

HAGUE TRIBUNAL OBSESSED WITH YUGOSLAVIA

The International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) at The Hague appears to have
an obsession with the
former Yugoslavia and in particular the Slavic Republics of Croatia,
Serbia and the Srpska
Republika in Bosnia.

ICT Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte made an unnecessary and gloating
appearance to hear
Slobodan Milosevic call the Tribunal illegal (in English and without
headphones for translation)
before making another trip to the Balkans. The presiding judge was the
British Brian May, who
cut the microphone connection many times when Slobodan Milosevic was
speaking,
demonstrating what freedom of speech means for this illegal and
intrusive organism.

This time it is to apply pressure on the Bosnian Serb Republic (BSR -
Srpska Republika), where
she is to meet Prime Minister Mladen Ivanovic. It is believed Radovan
Karadzic and Ratko Mladic,
formerly President and Chief of the Armed Forces of the BSR,
respectively, live in the BSR. A
spokesperson for the Chief Prosecutor of the ICT said �We will remind
(the BSR authorities) of
their obligation to cooperate with the tribunal and the importance of
starting immediately�.

Maybe here we have the first evidence which points to the fact that
Carla del Ponte is becoming
desperate as she realises that, in her vindictive obsession to
humiliate Slavs, she has shot her
bolt too early. Fearing that the case against Slobodan Milosevic for
alleged war crimes
committed in Kosovo will not stand up, the Chief Prosecutor frantically
tries to find evidence of
other atrocities in other battlefields, namely Bosnia-Herzegovina. It
may be thought that Mr.
Karadzic and General Mladic could provide information linking Slobodan
Milosevic to personal
orders to commit atrocities.

Here is another clear indication that Carla del Ponte, as well as the
ICT, which she represents,
and the spite behind it, has a warped and biased vision of the events
which took place in the
Balkans in the past decade. The fact that Slobodan Milosevic sits in
court without headphones
and Carla del Ponte sits clutching hers to her ears says all � it means
she does not understand.

She and her Court or Tribunal, or whatever other name one cares to give
it, never understood and
never intended to understand. She and her backers have one mission only
� to apportion blame
somehow, using whatever means possible, to indict Balkans Slavs for war
crimes, sweep the
matter into a nice, neat little pile, and brush it under the carpet as
if nothing happened so as not
to see NATO leaders in a war crimes trial, where they belong.

If there was a war in the Balkans, it was because there was political
interference from outside,
namely from the western countries, who raced to recognise the �new
states�, arm them, equip
them and train them...for war. It was unfortunately the people of the
Balkans who paid the high
human price for this war, not the countries which instigated it,
whether directly or indirectly. It
was to Mr. Milosevic, after all, that these countries turned to broker
peace in Bosnia, a role
which he performed promptly and effectively.

Now to bring only Slavs to this summary court which has as much
credence as a medieval �trial
by ordeal�, is so evidently one-sided that it is scandalous. Where are
the Moslems who murdered
Croats? Where are the Albanians who murdered Serbs? Where are the
representatives of the
criminal NATO organisation which murdered Serbs and Albanians alike
with their illegal attacks?

That NATO deliberately attacked civilian targets is beyond doubt. Such
attacks are by definition
war crimes. But NATO is not staffed by Slavs. Where are those
responsible for the deaths of the
200,000 ethnically cleansed Krajina Serbs?

Carla del Ponte cannot deny that her tribunal is biased and
anti-Slavic. Furthermore, to even
imagine that Slobodan Milosevic was personally responsible for
atrocities is to call the Federal
Republic of Yugoslavia a Banana Republic. Unlike those countries baying
for its blood, the
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia is a state of law.

There is a chain of command which is respected, the political
authorities have their
responsibilities and the military authorities have theirs. That the
Albanians were being equipped,
trained and armed by western countries, led by the USA, is a fact. They
were being encouraged to
create a situation of instability and insecurity in Kosovo, an integral
part of the Federal Republic
of Yugoslavia. That the Albanian extremists are no more than a bunch of
unruly bandits is also a
fact, however romantic the idea of an innocent and oppressed people
might have seemed in the
western press to court the well-groomed readership, spoon-fed with lies
for decades.

Yugoslavia reacted to this situation as a state of law imposing law and
order in its territory.
Whoever was killed in the process is a tragedy because the loss of any
human life is tragic. War
is violent and there are deaths on both sides. To accuse only the
Slavic peoples of being guilty
for the Balkans conflicts is to be biased, one-sided and as judicious
as a Medieval witch-trial.

Carla del Ponte is a shame to herself and an insult to her profession.
A judge should be impartial
and sit in a legally constituted organism. Carla del Ponte and her
Tribunal are neither of these.
She may as well dress Mr. Milosevic as a witch, tie him to a chair, and
put him under water for
five minutes to see if he drowns, and if he does, declare him guilty.

Timothy BANCROFT-HINCHEY
PRAVDA.Ru
LISBON PORTUGAL

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