PONTE DI VARVARIN, SERBIA:
DIECI MORTI E PIU' DI TRENTA FERITI
L'avvocato di Berlino Ulrich Dost ha intentato causa contro
la Repubblica Federale Tedesca per conto delle vittime del
bombardamento compiuto da aerei della NATO sul ponte della
piccola citta' serba di Varvarin. L'attacco, attuato contro
una struttura di nessun interesse dal punto di vista militare o
strategico, il 30 maggio del 1999 causo' dieci morti e piu' di
trenta feriti.
Per le spese processuali, l'Unione dei giuristi democratici della
Germania ha aperto, presso la Sparkasse (BLZ 100 500 00), il conto
numero 33522014. Causale: "Schadenersatz für Nato-Kriegsopfer".
Ulteriori informazioni al sito:
> http://www.nato-tribunal.de/varvarin
Sulla azione penale intentata in Germania per il
bombardamento del ponte di Varvarin si veda anche:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1485
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1524
(inklusiv Presseinformationen zu der Zivilrechtsklage)
===*===
GEPLANNTE FERNSEHSENDUNG UEBER VARVARIN:
ARD "Europamagazin" - 23.2.02 um 16.30
===*===
http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/17/germany.kosovo/index.html
CNN News
January 17, 2002
Kosovo bombing victims sue Germany
BERLIN, Germany --Victims of a NATO bombing raid
during the 1999 Kosovo war are seeking $3.6 million
compensation, their lawyer said on Thursday.
Ulrich Dost said those who had been wounded and
relatives who lost family members in the bridge attack
are looking for damages from the German government.
The lawsuit has been filed against Germany as it is a
member of the 19-nation NATO, even though its planes
were not used in the attack on Varvarin on May 30,
1999.
The families say the attack was deliberately directed
against civilians and violated the Geneva Conventions.
Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured, 17 of
them seriously, in the strikes which were part of the
78-day bombing campaign that forced the end of a
crackdown on ethnic Albanians by then Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic.
NATO officials insisted at the time that the bridge
was a legitimate military target and denied targeting
civilians.
Dost said on Thursday: "The goal of the suit is to
investigate and ascertain whether NATO countries broke
the rules of war and to get help for the victims."
Vesna Milenkovic, whose 15-year-old daughter Sanja was
killed in the attack, said the suit was about more
than financial compensation.
"We hope the suit will fulfill all our expectations --
determining responsibility and the bringing of
justice."
The relatives are seeking about 100,000 euros
($90,000) compensation for each person wounded and
relatives of those killed, he added.
When the suit was filed on December 24, the German
Defence Ministry said the military campaign had
complied with the Geneva Conventions, and added that
international law does not allow for individual
victims or their relatives to claim compensation from
warring parties.
===*===
> http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/varvarin0214.php
Germany sued over NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
By John Catalinotto
Sometimes it is possible for a small, determined
group of people to keep an important issue alive,
creating a forum that can pave the way for a future
struggle.
Attorney Ulrich Dost, working with only a small
committee of supporters in Berlin and Hamburg,
Germany, and the cooperation of the people of
Varvarin in Serbia, has brought a suit against the
German government on behalf of those wounded
and the surviving family members of those killed in a
NATO bombing attack on the village on May 30,
1999. The suit is asking for about $90,000 in damages
for each person.
After over a year of painstaking work gathering
evidence and doing the necessary legal submissions,
Dost has been able to file the Varvarin victims'
claim for damages.
Dost argues that whatever nation's planes carried
out the assault on Varvarin, Germany is guilty of
illegally causing damages to the population by
virtue of its membership in NATO and its go-ahead for
all the bombing raids.
For the first time since the work was begun, the
establishment media in Germany and also CNN and
the BBC have begun to publicize the Varvarin
case.
This publicity comes as the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) meeting in
The Hague is about to open a war-crimes trial
against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
on Feb. 12. Stories have begun to come out that
the ICTY prosecutors fear they have insufficient
evidence to prove their charges.
Dost, on the other hand, believes more than
enough evidence exists to prove the civil case against the
German regime. On Jan. 13 Workers World asked
Dost, who had just returned from an exhausting
weeklong tour of Yugoslavia, to explain the facts
of the case for a U.S. audience.
"Varvarin, with its 4,000 inhabitants," said Dost,
"lies about 125 miles south of Belgrade and another
125 miles from the border of Kosovo. It is in a
mostly agricultural region with no significant industry,
no military bases, and in 1999 military transports
were never sent through the center of the town.
People there did not think of their town as a war
target.
"Even on Whitsunday, May 30, 1999, the Sunday
market where farmers sold their goods was open. At
1:25 p.m. three NATO warplanes appeared over
Var varin. One separated from the formation, flew
toward the bridge and fired its rocket, which hit the
bridge's central support column. Its collapse
dumped the bridge and all the people and
vehicles on it into the small Morava River.
"Panic broke out among the hundreds of people in
the market. Some of them ran to the bridge's
wreckage and began to reach toward the victims.
"After they fired the first round of rockets, the
warplanes turned around. The rescue work had just
begun," Dost said angrily. "One of the planes
attacked from the other side, firing two additional rockets
at the already destroyed bridge.
"There were further dead and wounded. Altogether
from this air attack 10 people lost their lives and
another 16 people were gravely wounded. The
youngest fatal casualty of this attack was a 15-year-old
student, Sanja Milenkovic.
"There was no military excuse for the attack. It was
directed at civilians. This is a crime," argued Dost.
Asked why there were not more cases of such
suits around Yugoslavia, which was bombed so heavily,
Dost apologized for not having the human and
material resources to handle more cases.
"It would be easy--if attorneys and funds were
available--to bring similar cases from all different
regions of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, and with
victims of all ethnic origins. Right now, though, I and
some other volunteer workers have our hands full
with the Varvarin case.
"We have to raise another 150,000 Euros
[$135,000] to pay the legal costs of finishing this case," he
said. "There is no support from the new Yugoslav
regime, which is trying to stay on good terms with
Germany."
Conditions inside Yugoslavia
WW asked Dost, who had just seen much of
Yugoslavia while traveling and speaking about Varvarin,
what conditions were like there now.
"The unemployment must be over 50 percent," he
said. "In some areas there doesn't seem to be a
money economy. People are only surviving
through the help of their families. It reminds me of what I
heard about conditions in Germany just after World
War II."
Dost also brought up the time after reunification of
Germany in 1990. "As many East Germans did
during reunification, many Yugoslavs had great
hopes that removing Milosevic and making peace with
the NATO powers would bring prosperity back.
Now even the pro-Western [Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran] Djindjic is complaining that none of the
promised aid is coming through.
"In Eastern Germany, too, people soon lost their
jobs and their whole way of life. The difference is that
under the ample West German social security
guarantees--which have decreased in the past
years--people were able to maintain at least a
minimum livelihood. In Yugoslavia they have only their
family's support.
"There are polls that predict that in an election the
Socialist Party of Serbia [Milosevic's party] would
come in first. So the European Union people have
advised Belgrade to postpone the elections."
For more information or to give support, contact
Hkampffmeyer@....
- END -
DIECI MORTI E PIU' DI TRENTA FERITI
L'avvocato di Berlino Ulrich Dost ha intentato causa contro
la Repubblica Federale Tedesca per conto delle vittime del
bombardamento compiuto da aerei della NATO sul ponte della
piccola citta' serba di Varvarin. L'attacco, attuato contro
una struttura di nessun interesse dal punto di vista militare o
strategico, il 30 maggio del 1999 causo' dieci morti e piu' di
trenta feriti.
Per le spese processuali, l'Unione dei giuristi democratici della
Germania ha aperto, presso la Sparkasse (BLZ 100 500 00), il conto
numero 33522014. Causale: "Schadenersatz für Nato-Kriegsopfer".
Ulteriori informazioni al sito:
> http://www.nato-tribunal.de/varvarin
Sulla azione penale intentata in Germania per il
bombardamento del ponte di Varvarin si veda anche:
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1485
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1524
(inklusiv Presseinformationen zu der Zivilrechtsklage)
===*===
GEPLANNTE FERNSEHSENDUNG UEBER VARVARIN:
ARD "Europamagazin" - 23.2.02 um 16.30
===*===
http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/17/germany.kosovo/index.html
CNN News
January 17, 2002
Kosovo bombing victims sue Germany
BERLIN, Germany --Victims of a NATO bombing raid
during the 1999 Kosovo war are seeking $3.6 million
compensation, their lawyer said on Thursday.
Ulrich Dost said those who had been wounded and
relatives who lost family members in the bridge attack
are looking for damages from the German government.
The lawsuit has been filed against Germany as it is a
member of the 19-nation NATO, even though its planes
were not used in the attack on Varvarin on May 30,
1999.
The families say the attack was deliberately directed
against civilians and violated the Geneva Conventions.
Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured, 17 of
them seriously, in the strikes which were part of the
78-day bombing campaign that forced the end of a
crackdown on ethnic Albanians by then Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic.
NATO officials insisted at the time that the bridge
was a legitimate military target and denied targeting
civilians.
Dost said on Thursday: "The goal of the suit is to
investigate and ascertain whether NATO countries broke
the rules of war and to get help for the victims."
Vesna Milenkovic, whose 15-year-old daughter Sanja was
killed in the attack, said the suit was about more
than financial compensation.
"We hope the suit will fulfill all our expectations --
determining responsibility and the bringing of
justice."
The relatives are seeking about 100,000 euros
($90,000) compensation for each person wounded and
relatives of those killed, he added.
When the suit was filed on December 24, the German
Defence Ministry said the military campaign had
complied with the Geneva Conventions, and added that
international law does not allow for individual
victims or their relatives to claim compensation from
warring parties.
===*===
> http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/varvarin0214.php
Germany sued over NATO bombing of Yugoslavia
By John Catalinotto
Sometimes it is possible for a small, determined
group of people to keep an important issue alive,
creating a forum that can pave the way for a future
struggle.
Attorney Ulrich Dost, working with only a small
committee of supporters in Berlin and Hamburg,
Germany, and the cooperation of the people of
Varvarin in Serbia, has brought a suit against the
German government on behalf of those wounded
and the surviving family members of those killed in a
NATO bombing attack on the village on May 30,
1999. The suit is asking for about $90,000 in damages
for each person.
After over a year of painstaking work gathering
evidence and doing the necessary legal submissions,
Dost has been able to file the Varvarin victims'
claim for damages.
Dost argues that whatever nation's planes carried
out the assault on Varvarin, Germany is guilty of
illegally causing damages to the population by
virtue of its membership in NATO and its go-ahead for
all the bombing raids.
For the first time since the work was begun, the
establishment media in Germany and also CNN and
the BBC have begun to publicize the Varvarin
case.
This publicity comes as the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) meeting in
The Hague is about to open a war-crimes trial
against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
on Feb. 12. Stories have begun to come out that
the ICTY prosecutors fear they have insufficient
evidence to prove their charges.
Dost, on the other hand, believes more than
enough evidence exists to prove the civil case against the
German regime. On Jan. 13 Workers World asked
Dost, who had just returned from an exhausting
weeklong tour of Yugoslavia, to explain the facts
of the case for a U.S. audience.
"Varvarin, with its 4,000 inhabitants," said Dost,
"lies about 125 miles south of Belgrade and another
125 miles from the border of Kosovo. It is in a
mostly agricultural region with no significant industry,
no military bases, and in 1999 military transports
were never sent through the center of the town.
People there did not think of their town as a war
target.
"Even on Whitsunday, May 30, 1999, the Sunday
market where farmers sold their goods was open. At
1:25 p.m. three NATO warplanes appeared over
Var varin. One separated from the formation, flew
toward the bridge and fired its rocket, which hit the
bridge's central support column. Its collapse
dumped the bridge and all the people and
vehicles on it into the small Morava River.
"Panic broke out among the hundreds of people in
the market. Some of them ran to the bridge's
wreckage and began to reach toward the victims.
"After they fired the first round of rockets, the
warplanes turned around. The rescue work had just
begun," Dost said angrily. "One of the planes
attacked from the other side, firing two additional rockets
at the already destroyed bridge.
"There were further dead and wounded. Altogether
from this air attack 10 people lost their lives and
another 16 people were gravely wounded. The
youngest fatal casualty of this attack was a 15-year-old
student, Sanja Milenkovic.
"There was no military excuse for the attack. It was
directed at civilians. This is a crime," argued Dost.
Asked why there were not more cases of such
suits around Yugoslavia, which was bombed so heavily,
Dost apologized for not having the human and
material resources to handle more cases.
"It would be easy--if attorneys and funds were
available--to bring similar cases from all different
regions of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, and with
victims of all ethnic origins. Right now, though, I and
some other volunteer workers have our hands full
with the Varvarin case.
"We have to raise another 150,000 Euros
[$135,000] to pay the legal costs of finishing this case," he
said. "There is no support from the new Yugoslav
regime, which is trying to stay on good terms with
Germany."
Conditions inside Yugoslavia
WW asked Dost, who had just seen much of
Yugoslavia while traveling and speaking about Varvarin,
what conditions were like there now.
"The unemployment must be over 50 percent," he
said. "In some areas there doesn't seem to be a
money economy. People are only surviving
through the help of their families. It reminds me of what I
heard about conditions in Germany just after World
War II."
Dost also brought up the time after reunification of
Germany in 1990. "As many East Germans did
during reunification, many Yugoslavs had great
hopes that removing Milosevic and making peace with
the NATO powers would bring prosperity back.
Now even the pro-Western [Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran] Djindjic is complaining that none of the
promised aid is coming through.
"In Eastern Germany, too, people soon lost their
jobs and their whole way of life. The difference is that
under the ample West German social security
guarantees--which have decreased in the past
years--people were able to maintain at least a
minimum livelihood. In Yugoslavia they have only their
family's support.
"There are polls that predict that in an election the
Socialist Party of Serbia [Milosevic's party] would
come in first. So the European Union people have
advised Belgrade to postpone the elections."
For more information or to give support, contact
Hkampffmeyer@....
- END -