From: Vladimir Krsljanin
1. LAWLESSNES AND TERROR IN SERBIA! Statements by S. Milosevic and M.
Markovic (31/3/2003)
2. Zyuganov: Stop the repression in Serbia! (31/3/2003)
=== 1 ===
MILOSEVIC:
LAWLESSNES AND TERROR IN SERBIA
After couple of days of the unprecedented media campaign in Serbia,
spreading the fabricated allegations against President Milosevic and
in the first place against his wife Professor Mira Markovic, about
the possible involvement in the disappearance and murder of Ivan
Stambolic, this morning President Milosevic expressed his position
at the beginning of the morning session of the Hague tribunal.
Let us recall some facts: After he defeated politically his
bureaucratic rival and earlier close party colleague Stambolic in
late 1980s, Slobodan Milosevic provided him with a fine post of the
director of YUBMES (Yugoslav Bank for International Economic
Cooperation) bank, where he stayed around 10 years, until retired.
As a pensioner in late 1990s, until his disappearance, he continued
with private business, including oil. He never again played any role
in active politics, nor was, as ex-communist, ever truly accepted by
that time opposition. In 2000, he was advocating that Goran
Svilanovic (today Foreign Minister) should be chosen as common
presidential candidate of DOS. On August 10, DOS formally elected
Kostunica as a candidate. Stambolic disappeared on August 25, too
late to appear even as individual candidate at the presidential
elections scheduled for September 24. Since DOS immediately started
blaming "Milosevic regime" his disappearance produced only political
harm for Milosevic.
Victims of the present campaign are until now, three innocent
comrades, who are arrested on purely political ground, to serve as
hostages, in order to increase pressure on Milosevic and to weaken
his position at The Hague, Bogoljub Bjelica, chairman of
SLOBODA/Freedom Association-Yugoslav Committee for the Defense of
Slobodan Milosevic, as well as Uros Suvakovic and Goran Matic, who
are depicted by DOS propaganda as "closest political associates" of
Mira Markovic.
Here is what President Slobodan Milosevic said this morning at The
Hague:
Richard May:
The interpreters haven't heard what you have said.
President Slobodan Milosevic
I said that I want to express some requests before the witness
starts. First of all, I request from you to allow that I'll be
questioned in connection with an unprecedented media campaign, which
is being held in Belgrade. This campaign started just before the last
weekend, in the conditions of total lawlessness and terror created by
the regime...
Richard May:
The only things we deal here with, are those linked to this trial.
In this moment I don't see that what you are saying has anything to do
with this trial. If you are concerned that... that thing can affect
this trial, or that the Chamber in this trial could be biased because
of that, you shouldn't worry. This Chamber does not take into account,
and even does not follow very much what's printed in the press. So we
are here to try on the basis of the facts. If this, what are you
telling us, has anything to do with this trial, than you can speak. If
not, you know that we can't listen to that.
President Slobodan Milosevic
It has to do with this trial, Mr. May and therefore I think that you
are obliged to listen to me. I find and I will insist on that, that
there is a link between this so-called prosecution and the media
campaign and the accusations present in that media campaign these
days. They are being conducted against my wife and myself in a way
that we are through media accused, tried and sentenced. There is no
judicial but a media process. The best proof for that is the fact that
they haven't even came to question me, although they loudly announced
that and your spokesman confirmed, I saw that on TV, that they can
come here and question me. They know very well that it was I who had
power and not my wife, but they haven't approached me, but they attack
my wife, which is the best proof that they are not interested in any
truth, but that they conduct...
Richard May:
Wait, the things we can deal with here are only the things related
to this trial. The things regarding your wife are not the matter of
this trial.
I will consult my colleagues to see if we have to listen to you
further about that subject. What is the relation, according to you,
between the Prosecution and those others? If on that you can say
anything coherent, we will listen to you, but you are expressing now
only some wild allegations.
President Slobodan Milosevic
Mr. May, I consider and I will prove it that the retaliation against
my wife and my children is being performed only because of myself and
because of the struggle I conduct here. So I claim that this
retaliation is orchestrated with this illegal prosecution.
Richard May:
Just a moment, just a moment. Mr. Milosevic, we are not going to
listen to you any more. What you are talking now is a speech about the
Belgrade. It has nothing to do with this trial. We are going now to a
closed session in order to examine the following witness.
President Milosevic has not been allowed to finish. He then used the
first following opportunity to condemn the illegal arrest of Bogoljub
Bjelica and his other associates, as a part of the same pressure,
aimed to undermine his struggle for the truth about his nation.
Later today, at the press conference of YUL in Belgrade, the
following written message of his wife Professor Mira Markovic, sent
from Russia, has been presented:
I follow the untruth, disgusting and with a retaliation against the
political opponents motivated accusations against me.
Of course that I am in no relation to any of the crimes in
Yugoslavia. Nor I have any relation with any criminal activity at all.
I have never been in conflict with the laws of my country. All those
who accuse me know that perfectly well. The accusations against me are
motivated only by a wish to destabilize my husband at The Hague, to
put shadow on his brilliant defense. The accusations against me are a
retaliation, a punishment for the beautiful, dignified, clever and
remarkable personality of Slobodan Milosevic before the court in The
Hague. Him - since he is like that, they want to kill.
They attempt to exhaust him physically and psychically that much, so
that he could not appear before the court or die from exhaustion. They
commit a crime against him in front of the whole World. About that I
write and write and write and speak whereever I can.
The other form of fight against him is myself. The pressures on me
are aimed to destabilize him, so that the pain because of the
injustice towards me binds his hands.
The one who came to such idea and who accomplishes that is someone
without any honor, any moral, he is a bastard in the Serbian people
and in the human race.
The attacks on me and the intention to liquidate me are motivated
with an additional low and inferior motive - some in the rightist
government see me as a pretty smart and for that reason dangerous
political opponent. Since they can not overspeak me politically, it
seems to them easier to pronounce me as a criminal personality and to
remove me that way from the public scene.
One who is not in possession of the words, one whose mind is
moderate and whose heart is small, turns towards the violence. The
violence is a weapon of weak and immoral persons.
I left Belgrade near the end of February for personal and family
reasons.
Professor Mira Markovic
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS FAMILY AND
ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find their
addresses at
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
SLOBODA/Freedom Association
=== 2 ===
PEOPLES'-PATRIOTIC ALLIANCE OF RUSSIA
ALL-RUSSIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Moscow, 31st March, 2003
STOP THE REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
After the assassination of the Prime Minister Djindjic a state of
emergency has been imposed in Serbia. Of course, it's upon the
authorities of every country, to decide how they will react to each
concrete situation. However, several facts show that the state of
emergency is used, first of all, for political purposes. One can
observe that in Serbia there is neither chaos nor civic disobedience.
The Law and order are respected. There is no outside threat. The
investigation of the murder goes without any obstacles. Then what
sense at all the imposition of the state of emergency can have?
On the other hand, the freedom of the press is drastically limited.
Meetings, rallies and strikes are forbidden. The behavior of the
authorities far away exceeds the frames of the murder investigation
and of the fight against crime. The police obtained the right to
perform arbitrary arrests and searches, to monitor the phone talks, to
violate the secrecy of the correspondence. More than two thousand
people have been arrested. With a severe violation of Law 35 judges
have been dismissed. There is a broad purge in the judiciary. So what
kind of connection all these purely repressive measures can have with
the search for the assassins? An impression is being created that
under cover of the search for the organizers of Djindjic's
assassination, the actual Serbian regime attempts to trounce its
personal and political rivals and to suppress every opposition.
Leading organizers of the activities in Slobodan Milosevic's defense
Bogoljub Bjelica, Uros Suvakovic and Goran Matic have been arrested.
Members of Slobodan Milosevic's family are under pressure and threats.
It is obvious that the "witch hunt" and arrests of the persons who
directly assist to President Milosevic in his defense against the
false accusations are aimed to save the judicial farce at The Hague,
which faces total fiasco.
The Western countries, which allegedly care about "democracy",
completely ignore the fact that the fundamental citizens' freedoms in
Serbia are under most serious threat.
The Peoples'-Patriotic Alliance of Russia condemns the use of the
state of emergency in Serbia for terrorizing the political opponents
of the present regime and calls upon the Government of Serbia to
restore as soon as possible the generally recognized citizens'
freedoms.
We intend to raise the issue of the political repression in Serbia
at the forthcoming session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe.
President of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the
Russian Federation, President of the Peoples'-Patriotic Alliance of
Russia
Gennady Zyuganov
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS FAMILY AND
ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find their
addresses at
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
SLOBODA/Freedom Association
1. LAWLESSNES AND TERROR IN SERBIA! Statements by S. Milosevic and M.
Markovic (31/3/2003)
2. Zyuganov: Stop the repression in Serbia! (31/3/2003)
=== 1 ===
MILOSEVIC:
LAWLESSNES AND TERROR IN SERBIA
After couple of days of the unprecedented media campaign in Serbia,
spreading the fabricated allegations against President Milosevic and
in the first place against his wife Professor Mira Markovic, about
the possible involvement in the disappearance and murder of Ivan
Stambolic, this morning President Milosevic expressed his position
at the beginning of the morning session of the Hague tribunal.
Let us recall some facts: After he defeated politically his
bureaucratic rival and earlier close party colleague Stambolic in
late 1980s, Slobodan Milosevic provided him with a fine post of the
director of YUBMES (Yugoslav Bank for International Economic
Cooperation) bank, where he stayed around 10 years, until retired.
As a pensioner in late 1990s, until his disappearance, he continued
with private business, including oil. He never again played any role
in active politics, nor was, as ex-communist, ever truly accepted by
that time opposition. In 2000, he was advocating that Goran
Svilanovic (today Foreign Minister) should be chosen as common
presidential candidate of DOS. On August 10, DOS formally elected
Kostunica as a candidate. Stambolic disappeared on August 25, too
late to appear even as individual candidate at the presidential
elections scheduled for September 24. Since DOS immediately started
blaming "Milosevic regime" his disappearance produced only political
harm for Milosevic.
Victims of the present campaign are until now, three innocent
comrades, who are arrested on purely political ground, to serve as
hostages, in order to increase pressure on Milosevic and to weaken
his position at The Hague, Bogoljub Bjelica, chairman of
SLOBODA/Freedom Association-Yugoslav Committee for the Defense of
Slobodan Milosevic, as well as Uros Suvakovic and Goran Matic, who
are depicted by DOS propaganda as "closest political associates" of
Mira Markovic.
Here is what President Slobodan Milosevic said this morning at The
Hague:
Richard May:
The interpreters haven't heard what you have said.
President Slobodan Milosevic
I said that I want to express some requests before the witness
starts. First of all, I request from you to allow that I'll be
questioned in connection with an unprecedented media campaign, which
is being held in Belgrade. This campaign started just before the last
weekend, in the conditions of total lawlessness and terror created by
the regime...
Richard May:
The only things we deal here with, are those linked to this trial.
In this moment I don't see that what you are saying has anything to do
with this trial. If you are concerned that... that thing can affect
this trial, or that the Chamber in this trial could be biased because
of that, you shouldn't worry. This Chamber does not take into account,
and even does not follow very much what's printed in the press. So we
are here to try on the basis of the facts. If this, what are you
telling us, has anything to do with this trial, than you can speak. If
not, you know that we can't listen to that.
President Slobodan Milosevic
It has to do with this trial, Mr. May and therefore I think that you
are obliged to listen to me. I find and I will insist on that, that
there is a link between this so-called prosecution and the media
campaign and the accusations present in that media campaign these
days. They are being conducted against my wife and myself in a way
that we are through media accused, tried and sentenced. There is no
judicial but a media process. The best proof for that is the fact that
they haven't even came to question me, although they loudly announced
that and your spokesman confirmed, I saw that on TV, that they can
come here and question me. They know very well that it was I who had
power and not my wife, but they haven't approached me, but they attack
my wife, which is the best proof that they are not interested in any
truth, but that they conduct...
Richard May:
Wait, the things we can deal with here are only the things related
to this trial. The things regarding your wife are not the matter of
this trial.
I will consult my colleagues to see if we have to listen to you
further about that subject. What is the relation, according to you,
between the Prosecution and those others? If on that you can say
anything coherent, we will listen to you, but you are expressing now
only some wild allegations.
President Slobodan Milosevic
Mr. May, I consider and I will prove it that the retaliation against
my wife and my children is being performed only because of myself and
because of the struggle I conduct here. So I claim that this
retaliation is orchestrated with this illegal prosecution.
Richard May:
Just a moment, just a moment. Mr. Milosevic, we are not going to
listen to you any more. What you are talking now is a speech about the
Belgrade. It has nothing to do with this trial. We are going now to a
closed session in order to examine the following witness.
President Milosevic has not been allowed to finish. He then used the
first following opportunity to condemn the illegal arrest of Bogoljub
Bjelica and his other associates, as a part of the same pressure,
aimed to undermine his struggle for the truth about his nation.
Later today, at the press conference of YUL in Belgrade, the
following written message of his wife Professor Mira Markovic, sent
from Russia, has been presented:
I follow the untruth, disgusting and with a retaliation against the
political opponents motivated accusations against me.
Of course that I am in no relation to any of the crimes in
Yugoslavia. Nor I have any relation with any criminal activity at all.
I have never been in conflict with the laws of my country. All those
who accuse me know that perfectly well. The accusations against me are
motivated only by a wish to destabilize my husband at The Hague, to
put shadow on his brilliant defense. The accusations against me are a
retaliation, a punishment for the beautiful, dignified, clever and
remarkable personality of Slobodan Milosevic before the court in The
Hague. Him - since he is like that, they want to kill.
They attempt to exhaust him physically and psychically that much, so
that he could not appear before the court or die from exhaustion. They
commit a crime against him in front of the whole World. About that I
write and write and write and speak whereever I can.
The other form of fight against him is myself. The pressures on me
are aimed to destabilize him, so that the pain because of the
injustice towards me binds his hands.
The one who came to such idea and who accomplishes that is someone
without any honor, any moral, he is a bastard in the Serbian people
and in the human race.
The attacks on me and the intention to liquidate me are motivated
with an additional low and inferior motive - some in the rightist
government see me as a pretty smart and for that reason dangerous
political opponent. Since they can not overspeak me politically, it
seems to them easier to pronounce me as a criminal personality and to
remove me that way from the public scene.
One who is not in possession of the words, one whose mind is
moderate and whose heart is small, turns towards the violence. The
violence is a weapon of weak and immoral persons.
I left Belgrade near the end of February for personal and family
reasons.
Professor Mira Markovic
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS FAMILY AND
ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find their
addresses at
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
SLOBODA/Freedom Association
=== 2 ===
PEOPLES'-PATRIOTIC ALLIANCE OF RUSSIA
ALL-RUSSIAN SOCIAL MOVEMENT
Moscow, 31st March, 2003
STOP THE REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
After the assassination of the Prime Minister Djindjic a state of
emergency has been imposed in Serbia. Of course, it's upon the
authorities of every country, to decide how they will react to each
concrete situation. However, several facts show that the state of
emergency is used, first of all, for political purposes. One can
observe that in Serbia there is neither chaos nor civic disobedience.
The Law and order are respected. There is no outside threat. The
investigation of the murder goes without any obstacles. Then what
sense at all the imposition of the state of emergency can have?
On the other hand, the freedom of the press is drastically limited.
Meetings, rallies and strikes are forbidden. The behavior of the
authorities far away exceeds the frames of the murder investigation
and of the fight against crime. The police obtained the right to
perform arbitrary arrests and searches, to monitor the phone talks, to
violate the secrecy of the correspondence. More than two thousand
people have been arrested. With a severe violation of Law 35 judges
have been dismissed. There is a broad purge in the judiciary. So what
kind of connection all these purely repressive measures can have with
the search for the assassins? An impression is being created that
under cover of the search for the organizers of Djindjic's
assassination, the actual Serbian regime attempts to trounce its
personal and political rivals and to suppress every opposition.
Leading organizers of the activities in Slobodan Milosevic's defense
Bogoljub Bjelica, Uros Suvakovic and Goran Matic have been arrested.
Members of Slobodan Milosevic's family are under pressure and threats.
It is obvious that the "witch hunt" and arrests of the persons who
directly assist to President Milosevic in his defense against the
false accusations are aimed to save the judicial farce at The Hague,
which faces total fiasco.
The Western countries, which allegedly care about "democracy",
completely ignore the fact that the fundamental citizens' freedoms in
Serbia are under most serious threat.
The Peoples'-Patriotic Alliance of Russia condemns the use of the
state of emergency in Serbia for terrorizing the political opponents
of the present regime and calls upon the Government of Serbia to
restore as soon as possible the generally recognized citizens'
freedoms.
We intend to raise the issue of the political repression in Serbia
at the forthcoming session of the Parliamentary Assembly of the
Council of Europe.
President of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of the
Russian Federation, President of the Peoples'-Patriotic Alliance of
Russia
Gennady Zyuganov
STOP THE POLITICAL REPRESSION IN SERBIA!
STOP THE EVIL CAMPAIGN AGAINST PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC, HIS FAMILY AND
ASSOCIATES!
RELEASE BOGOLJUB BJELICA AND OTHER POLITICAL PRISONERS!
SEND PROTESTS AND APPEALS TO YUGOSLAV EMBASSIES! -find their
addresses at
http://www.mfa.gov.yu/Worldframe.htm
SLOBODA/Freedom Association