1. Slobodan Milosevic Addresses the Public
2. President Milosevic under treath of total isolation
3. ICDSM protests isolation of President Milosevic
=== 1 ===
Slobodan Milosevic Addresses the Public
(received from "Sloboda" Association, Belgrade)
The shameful terror against my family is part of the criminal
lawlessness and tyranny, through which the Belgrade regime is aiding
The Hague and its aggression against our country and our people
- Slobodan Milosevic’s public response to charges fabricated by the
Belgrade regime -
In March 2001, I was accused of imaginary crimes, so I could be
arrested and delivered to The Hague.
These new accusations in 2003 have the same purpose: The Hague. Only
this time, their goal is to try to prevent, or at least minimize, the
obvious fiasco of the false Tribunal, which is serving as the weapon of
war against our country and our people. This time, unlike 2001, they
have also begun to terrorize my family, fiendishly persecuting my wife
and my son. The criminal campaign against my wife and my son is being
mounted solely because of my struggle here.
It is absurd and shameful that they are hounding a woman, a spouse of a
long-time head of state, a University professor; the author of ten
books, translated into 30 languages and printed worldwide, so no one
will be able to destroy or cover up her weekly testimonies on the
Yugoslav crisis. Their worth has been time-tested and proven, to Mira’s
honor and our pride. No other intellectual has raised her voice more
against war, violence, primitivism, exploitation, and slavery and in
favor of peace, freedom and equal rights.
They are hounding a young man who with an open and clear heart decided
to make his way in life independently, through his own labor,
intelligence and abilities, and has done everything to help others and
make his town more beautiful and more humane.
A crime is being committed against two people who have treated others
with nothing but goodness and humanity.
Their only crime is being my family.
People of Serbia and freedom-loving people throughout the world send me
messages of support and wish me victory. It seems that only the
Belgrade regime cheers on the Hague Tribunal, so much so that it does
not balk from terrorizing women and children.
I have told the two men who came to interrogate me – five months after
I publicly requested it – that only cowards attack women and children,
that there is no greater shame. The political, media and police
campaign against me and my family is the greatest infamy for any
country; an infamy that will grow greater for its participants, but
also those who witness it in silence, with time.
Legija and the Red Berets
Regarding the “reasons” for which the judge and the prosecutor came to
The Hague, I wish to make it clear that:
Neither I nor my entourage ever had any connections with any criminal
groups.
No “Zemun Clan“ existed while I was President. It is the direct result
of the current governments’ behavior, the role certain groups and
individuals had in the October 5, 2000 coup, and their mutual
arrangements.
Neither I nor any of my entourage had personal contacts or
acquaintances with members of the Special Operations Unit, popularly
known as the Red Berets. I believed it was an elite anti-terrorist
unit, common to any Security Service. I still believe that most of that
unit’s members were true to this description. Those who had a criminal
past or inclination thereto are certainly better known to the present
regime, as they used them on October 5.
My visit to the Kula facility in 1997 was ceremonial, a gesture of
appreciation for the Service chief Jovica Stanisic, whom I respected as
a professional and a man who endeavored to do his job in accordance
with his position. That the visit was ceremonial, and that everything
there was new to me, should be obvious to anyone who reviews the entire
tape and pays attention.
The officer who reported to me on the parade grounds was unfamiliar to
me. Now I know his name was Lukovic, “Legija.” When he came to arrest
me in March 2001, I mistook him for the officer who during my visit
drove Stanisic and me from the headquarters to the outdoors gymnasium,
which they also wanted to show me. By the way, even today I cannot
recall any of the names of officers who reported to me on various
occasions before an honor guard. This goes even for the commanders of
Yugoslav Army Guard units.
The first time I talked to Lukovic-Legija was when he came to arrest
me, on March 31, 2001. Given that I had never been in any contact with
him before, or even conversed with him, the only thing I could have
“ordered” him would have been my arrest.
Clearly, those who used the “Red Berets” members for my arrest (and
others, who jumped over the fence into the residence with stockings on
their heads) have also used them before and after. I clearly could not.
Rumors that this unit also worked as my security detail are not true.
Plain lies. My security detail at all time was the public security unit
(not State Security), commanded by Senta Milenkovic.
Ivan Stambolic
I have been a friend of Ivan Stambolic for many years. We parted ways
at the 8th Session of the Serbian League of Communists’ Central
Committee, in 1987. We never quarreled personally.
After he was relieved, he came to me and asked for one of the best jobs
(in both our opinion) in the SFRY: President of the Yugoslav bank for
international economic relations. And he received it, staying in that
position for over 10 years despite the practice of rotating the
management, until his retirement – for which he was eligible long
before, on grounds of both work experience and age.
He had been completely forgotten as a politician for many years. Thus
the story of how he represented a potential challenge in the elections
is a blatant lie, since he was never in the running. He was not even a
candidate. Besides, in those ten years, has any harm befallen any other
candidates?
It is absurd to claim that I rushed to kill him as a threat, after I’d
enabled him to hold a position of his choice for 10 years and he
retired!
Especially puzzling for me is that his family has readily accepted this
shallow lie. It seems they care more to blame me than find out the
truth about the fate of their father and husband.
Ivan Stambolic was a forgotten politician, and at the time of his
disappearance, a forgotten banker as well. No one in the state or the
political apparatus had mentioned him for years. He belonged to the era
of the former SFRY, and things have unfortunately changed since 1990.
No offense, but no one cared about Ivan Stambolic any more. There was
no persecution of those who supported his position at the 8th Session.
Desimir Jeftić, the chairman of the Serbian government who was also
relieved, was for many years the Ambassador to Romania. Ivan’s best
friend and neighbor Dragan Tomic, the CEO of ”Simpo” furniture company,
remained a member of the Party and state leadership. I am certain he
would confirm that I had told him, after Ivan was relieved, that I
would think of him the worst if he’d renounced his friend and turned
his back on him. So, the truth is quite the opposite from the story
fabricated by several pathetic creatures.
I was informed of Ivan’s disappearance over the telephone, by interior
minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic. I told him to use all the available
resources to find him. He told me that Ivan’s wife and son reported his
disappearance in the afternoon, though he went jogging that morning,
which would make the investigation more difficult.
All border posts were notified, and Vlajko Stojiljkovic told me later
that evening that several hundred police were engaged in the
investigation. I insisted that all resources be used to find him
[Stambolic] as soon as possible. Certainly most of these officers are
still employed by the interior ministry, and can testify to that.
From what Stojiljkovic told me, everything that could have been done
was done.
Draskovic, Pavkovic and the Budva Incident
Since the investigator, during the introductions, mentioned my alleged
connection to the “attempted murder of Vuk Draskovic”, I wish to say a
few words about that as well.
I never believed that what happened in Budva was a real murder attempt,
because it seems improbable that someone could shoot up all the bullets
in a small room like that and miss with every one of them. Even Vuk
Draskovic, with his talent for the dramatic, could not have turned into
a fly or a mosquito. I believed that either someone tried to scare him,
or that he made the entire incident up to gain attention and promote
his role as the “victim of the regime.” It is not hard to see who could
have benefited from such an incident, but it is abundantly clear that
it did not serve the government. Quite to the contrary, in fact.
I am not aware that the Serbian Security Service had any activities in
Montenegro apart from gathering information about cigarette smuggling
into Serbia. Rade Markovic even showed me aerial reconnaissance photos
of an area known as Mehov Krs, on the Serbian side of the boundary with
Montenegro, and explained that according to his information, that was a
major warehouse for smuggled cigarettes. He was preparing a raid to
catch the smugglers and seize the contraband, when the timing was
right. I do not know whether the photos were made from an airplane or a
helicopter, police or military, as these details did not interest me.
I never talked to Pavkovic about transporting “assassins” and “agents”
from Montenegro. It is incredulous that the Commander in Chief would be
involved in shuttling some alleged secret agents, especially through
the entire chain of command starting at the Chief of the General Staff.
Truth is, I’ve always insisted that services shouldcooperate and
abandon their rivalry, as they did not serve me but the state, and they
were supposed to work for the state, in accordance with the law.
General Aleksandar Vasiljevic testified about that in this illegal
court, as a witness of the prosecution, no less. And Rade Markovic
testified both here and in front of two parliamentary committees that
he was illegally coerced into trying to incriminate me.
The only helicopter incident I ever remember concerned a low-altitude
flyover of one helicopter over the White Palace (which was illegal),
when a Yugoslav Army officer in charge of White Palace security kept
his calm and prevented it from being tragically shot down. Later that
day it turned out that the helicopter was evacuating a seriously ill
person from the [Bosnian] Serb Republic to the Academy of Military
Medicine [VMA].
Are you not ashamed?
I demanded of both the investigator and the prosecutor that my
interrogation be public, and that they could even bring an open
telephone line, so anyone could ask me whatever they wanted. They
explained that this was not allowed by law, as long as the
investigation was ongoing. I accepted that, but requested that the
recordings be made public at the end of the investigation – since there
would be no danger of potential interference at that time. They
rejected that as well, even though they had the full legal authority to
approve it. Neither I, nor they, nor my legal representatives disputed
that.
Today’s government uses the law as an excuse for lawlessness and
tyranny. Nothing new!
Montestquieu wrote as early as 1742 that “There is no crueler tyranny
than one perpetrated under the shield of law, and in the name of
justice.”
In this entire dirty operation of trying to save this illegitimate
Hague court from a fiasco, the most shameful element is surely the
persecution of my wife and son. I told the investigating judge that his
investigation should include the phantom gold bars, foreign currency
reserves, villas in Switzerland and whatnot, because they were all
mentioned in various statements and extensive newspaper stories, only
to be “forgotten” later.
I asked him “Are you not ashamed?” He did not answer.
To my wife and son, Mira and Marko, who have been separated from me in
this heinous way, I wish to say: “Life is too short to thank you for
your goodness.”
The Hague, 17 August 2003.
Slobodan Milosevic
URL for this text: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/slobaE170803.htm
=== 2 ===
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC UNDER THREAT OF TOTAL ISOLATION!
(received from "Sloboda" Association, Belgrade)
Dear friends,
The Hague tribunal has just issued an order to ban all the visits to
President Milosevic from SPS and SLOBODA/Freedom Association!
Their “explanation” is that it was done because the members of the SPS
delegation gave statements to media after their recent visit.
The Tribunal’s decision was issued just after the application of Mr.
Bogoljub Bjelica, Chairman of SLOBODA to visit President Milosevic.
We responded to the tribunal letter immediately. You can read our
respond and our original application bellow and the tribunal’s
outrageous letter addressed to President Milosevic in the attachment.
After he has been deprived of family visits, President Milosevic is now
cut from the visits of his closest associates, who also work on
preparations of his struggle for truth.
The strongest legal and public reaction is urgently needed.
It is perhaps also time to attack the fact that President Milosevic is
prohibited to talk to media when, at the same time both tribunal and
its prosecution have several spokespersons who talk to media all the
time!
The criminal political mechanisms of the Hague machinery, which in the
panic of total defeat try to destroy the victor, should be totally
exposed and stopped.
Vladimir Krsljanin
General Secretary of SLOBODA
Coordinator of ICDSM
Foreign Relations Assistant to President Milosevic
---
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Registrar
ICTY, The Hague, The Netherlands
U R G E N T
Re: Your unjustified decision of August 12 and our application for a
visit of August 11, 2003
Dear Mr. Holthuis,
In your letter to President Milosevic, dated August
12, the copy of which we have received by fax on August 15, after our
phone intervention to accelerate your respond to our August 11
application, and which has been delivered to President Milosevic only
yesterday, August 18, you threat with total isolation of President
Milosevic. After he has been deprived of family visits, now you want to
cut also the visits of his closest associates. Except it is outrageous,
your decision is totally legally unsustainable. Here are the reasons:
1. It is not true that your rules prohibit that any information
about the visit can be disclosed to the media. Rule 63(B) of your
“Rules on Detention” and Regulation 33(B) of your “Regulations to
govern the supervision of visits to and communications with detainees”
only says that: “Permission may be denied if the Registrar has reason
to believe that the purpose of the visit is to obtain information which
may be subsequently reported in the media.” So even if someone says
some detail to media it still does not mean that it was the purpose of
his visit. Then, even if some individual does something you dislike, it
still does not mean that you should punish the whole organization. And
finally, the spirit of all your other relevant rules implies that the
discretion right given to you should have only meaning to prevent
influence of media on the processes before the ICTY.
2. Nobody in Serbia is aware that any of the members of SPS
delegation gave any public statement that can influence the process.
3. You are very well aware that listing the Freedom Association
among the “associated entities” with SPS has absolutely no legal
meaning and is bellow the level of anyone who claims to be a lawyer.
SPS is a political party and Freedom Association is a non-governmental
and non-partisan organization. These two entities are completely
legally independent one from each other. Following the same logic of
who is “associated” with whom you can also ban visits of all Serbs and
finally of all human beings.
So, after he has been in many respects deprived in comparison
with other detainees when the visits are concerned (he was the only one
kept in total isolation so long at the beginning of his detention; he
is the only one whose family can visit him for only three days in a
month; now his wife can not visit him at all; he is often not informed
about the requests of the people who apply to visit him; many visitors
were denied access with false justification that he didn’t request to
see them, in spite he made written requests etc.) President Milosevic
is now cut of the visits from the only home organization which protects
his human rights and from his closest associates, which also seriously
affects his right to defense.
We expect you to change your wrong decision immediately.
Otherwise, we will be forced to take other legal and public measures in
order to protect law and justice.
Belgrade, August 19th, 2003
On behalf of Freedom Association
Igor Raicevic, Chairman of the Assembly
---
Ms. Monica Martinez
Chief of OLAD
Registry, ICTY
The Hague, The Netherlands
U R G E N T
Subject: Application for a visit of Mr. Bjelica to President Milosevic
Dear Ms. Martinez,
We apply hereby for a visit of the Chairman of the
“Freedom” Association Mr. Bogoljub Bjelica to President Milosevic. We
make this application with the consent of President Milosevic. The
visit would take place at earliest convenience. Having in mind the
health situation of Mr. Milosevic and the amount of his current
activities in the preparations for the continuation of the process, we
would appreciate very much if you could agree the exact date for the
visit in direct communication with President Milosevic.
Since several months have passed since our last visit, we
are sure that there will be no difficulties in approving this visit.
Our legal interest and our commitments remain as before.
For your reply or any further information our contacts
remain: phone +381 63 8862 301 or fax +381 11 630 549.
Belgrade, August 11th, 2003
Appreciating your cooperation, I remain
Yours sincerely
Igor Raicevic
Chairman of the Assembly of "Freedom" Association
=== 3 ===
ICDSM protests isolation of President Milosevic
Hans
Holthuis
August 26, 2003
Registrar,
His Honour Judge Theodor Meron,
President,
The Honourable Judges Trial Chamber III
ICTY, The Hague, Netherlands
RE: Slobodan Milosevic
Illegal Prohibition of Visits and Communication With The Press
The International Committee For The Defense of Slobodan Milosevic
protests the illegal and unjustified prohibition of visits to Slobodan
Milosevic by members of the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Sloboda
(Freedom) Association, a non-government organization dedicated to
achieving his rightful freedom.
The order prohibiting visits is allegedly based on a violation of the
newly introduced rule prohibiting communication to the media of
statements made by a detainee during visits, a rule which is both
illegal and unjustified and the sole purpose of which is to silence the
voice of an innocent man, a political prisoner, held hostage by the
“judicial” arm of NATO.
The British House of Lords has stated in Regina v Ex Parte Sims and
O’Brien that the right of prisoners to communicate with the media is
essential to prevent miscarriages of justice. The prohibition of such
communication is a fundamental violation of the presumption of
innocence set out in the Statute of the Tribunal.
The blanket prohibition of personal visits is also a flagrant violation
of Article 10 of the European Convention For The Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, of Rule 92 of the UN Standard Minimum
Rules For The Treatment of Prisoners, Principle 15 of the UN Principles
of Detention and the Tribunal Rules of Detention themselves.
The Tribunal is unable to demonstrate any need for this action in terms
of the security or good order of the UN Detention Unit or under any
other legitimate rationale. Therefore, the question arises; what is the
real purpose of the order of prohibition? There can be only one answer;
to silence the voice of an innocent man in order to prevent the
embarrassment of the NATO countries who are his political enemies and
the enemies of the Serbian people and in order to suppress the truth
about the war crimes committed by NATO in Yugoslavia.
The actions of the Tribunal follow the issuance of arrest warrants by
the present Belgrade regime against his wife and son which have the
sole objective of preventing them from visiting him in an attempt to
isolate him and wear him down psychologically. In this, neither NATO
nor the Tribunal will succeed.
The ICDSM demands that the order prohibiting visits to Slobodan
Milosevic be rescinded forthwith along with the “rule” prohibiting
communication with the news media.
Prof. Velko Valkanov, Co-Chair, ICDSM,
Christopher Black, Toronto
Prof. Mikhail Kuznetzov, Moscow
Maitre Jacques Verges, Paris,
For The Legal Committee, ICDSM
---
YOUR HELP
The work for the defense of Slobodan Milosevic totally depends on your
donations.
For more details, see: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/finappeal.htm
Send a check to our address:
SLOBODA
Rajiceva 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia
or transfer your donation to our account using the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomocdet.htm
---
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)
2. President Milosevic under treath of total isolation
3. ICDSM protests isolation of President Milosevic
=== 1 ===
Slobodan Milosevic Addresses the Public
(received from "Sloboda" Association, Belgrade)
The shameful terror against my family is part of the criminal
lawlessness and tyranny, through which the Belgrade regime is aiding
The Hague and its aggression against our country and our people
- Slobodan Milosevic’s public response to charges fabricated by the
Belgrade regime -
In March 2001, I was accused of imaginary crimes, so I could be
arrested and delivered to The Hague.
These new accusations in 2003 have the same purpose: The Hague. Only
this time, their goal is to try to prevent, or at least minimize, the
obvious fiasco of the false Tribunal, which is serving as the weapon of
war against our country and our people. This time, unlike 2001, they
have also begun to terrorize my family, fiendishly persecuting my wife
and my son. The criminal campaign against my wife and my son is being
mounted solely because of my struggle here.
It is absurd and shameful that they are hounding a woman, a spouse of a
long-time head of state, a University professor; the author of ten
books, translated into 30 languages and printed worldwide, so no one
will be able to destroy or cover up her weekly testimonies on the
Yugoslav crisis. Their worth has been time-tested and proven, to Mira’s
honor and our pride. No other intellectual has raised her voice more
against war, violence, primitivism, exploitation, and slavery and in
favor of peace, freedom and equal rights.
They are hounding a young man who with an open and clear heart decided
to make his way in life independently, through his own labor,
intelligence and abilities, and has done everything to help others and
make his town more beautiful and more humane.
A crime is being committed against two people who have treated others
with nothing but goodness and humanity.
Their only crime is being my family.
People of Serbia and freedom-loving people throughout the world send me
messages of support and wish me victory. It seems that only the
Belgrade regime cheers on the Hague Tribunal, so much so that it does
not balk from terrorizing women and children.
I have told the two men who came to interrogate me – five months after
I publicly requested it – that only cowards attack women and children,
that there is no greater shame. The political, media and police
campaign against me and my family is the greatest infamy for any
country; an infamy that will grow greater for its participants, but
also those who witness it in silence, with time.
Legija and the Red Berets
Regarding the “reasons” for which the judge and the prosecutor came to
The Hague, I wish to make it clear that:
Neither I nor my entourage ever had any connections with any criminal
groups.
No “Zemun Clan“ existed while I was President. It is the direct result
of the current governments’ behavior, the role certain groups and
individuals had in the October 5, 2000 coup, and their mutual
arrangements.
Neither I nor any of my entourage had personal contacts or
acquaintances with members of the Special Operations Unit, popularly
known as the Red Berets. I believed it was an elite anti-terrorist
unit, common to any Security Service. I still believe that most of that
unit’s members were true to this description. Those who had a criminal
past or inclination thereto are certainly better known to the present
regime, as they used them on October 5.
My visit to the Kula facility in 1997 was ceremonial, a gesture of
appreciation for the Service chief Jovica Stanisic, whom I respected as
a professional and a man who endeavored to do his job in accordance
with his position. That the visit was ceremonial, and that everything
there was new to me, should be obvious to anyone who reviews the entire
tape and pays attention.
The officer who reported to me on the parade grounds was unfamiliar to
me. Now I know his name was Lukovic, “Legija.” When he came to arrest
me in March 2001, I mistook him for the officer who during my visit
drove Stanisic and me from the headquarters to the outdoors gymnasium,
which they also wanted to show me. By the way, even today I cannot
recall any of the names of officers who reported to me on various
occasions before an honor guard. This goes even for the commanders of
Yugoslav Army Guard units.
The first time I talked to Lukovic-Legija was when he came to arrest
me, on March 31, 2001. Given that I had never been in any contact with
him before, or even conversed with him, the only thing I could have
“ordered” him would have been my arrest.
Clearly, those who used the “Red Berets” members for my arrest (and
others, who jumped over the fence into the residence with stockings on
their heads) have also used them before and after. I clearly could not.
Rumors that this unit also worked as my security detail are not true.
Plain lies. My security detail at all time was the public security unit
(not State Security), commanded by Senta Milenkovic.
Ivan Stambolic
I have been a friend of Ivan Stambolic for many years. We parted ways
at the 8th Session of the Serbian League of Communists’ Central
Committee, in 1987. We never quarreled personally.
After he was relieved, he came to me and asked for one of the best jobs
(in both our opinion) in the SFRY: President of the Yugoslav bank for
international economic relations. And he received it, staying in that
position for over 10 years despite the practice of rotating the
management, until his retirement – for which he was eligible long
before, on grounds of both work experience and age.
He had been completely forgotten as a politician for many years. Thus
the story of how he represented a potential challenge in the elections
is a blatant lie, since he was never in the running. He was not even a
candidate. Besides, in those ten years, has any harm befallen any other
candidates?
It is absurd to claim that I rushed to kill him as a threat, after I’d
enabled him to hold a position of his choice for 10 years and he
retired!
Especially puzzling for me is that his family has readily accepted this
shallow lie. It seems they care more to blame me than find out the
truth about the fate of their father and husband.
Ivan Stambolic was a forgotten politician, and at the time of his
disappearance, a forgotten banker as well. No one in the state or the
political apparatus had mentioned him for years. He belonged to the era
of the former SFRY, and things have unfortunately changed since 1990.
No offense, but no one cared about Ivan Stambolic any more. There was
no persecution of those who supported his position at the 8th Session.
Desimir Jeftić, the chairman of the Serbian government who was also
relieved, was for many years the Ambassador to Romania. Ivan’s best
friend and neighbor Dragan Tomic, the CEO of ”Simpo” furniture company,
remained a member of the Party and state leadership. I am certain he
would confirm that I had told him, after Ivan was relieved, that I
would think of him the worst if he’d renounced his friend and turned
his back on him. So, the truth is quite the opposite from the story
fabricated by several pathetic creatures.
I was informed of Ivan’s disappearance over the telephone, by interior
minister Vlajko Stojiljkovic. I told him to use all the available
resources to find him. He told me that Ivan’s wife and son reported his
disappearance in the afternoon, though he went jogging that morning,
which would make the investigation more difficult.
All border posts were notified, and Vlajko Stojiljkovic told me later
that evening that several hundred police were engaged in the
investigation. I insisted that all resources be used to find him
[Stambolic] as soon as possible. Certainly most of these officers are
still employed by the interior ministry, and can testify to that.
From what Stojiljkovic told me, everything that could have been done
was done.
Draskovic, Pavkovic and the Budva Incident
Since the investigator, during the introductions, mentioned my alleged
connection to the “attempted murder of Vuk Draskovic”, I wish to say a
few words about that as well.
I never believed that what happened in Budva was a real murder attempt,
because it seems improbable that someone could shoot up all the bullets
in a small room like that and miss with every one of them. Even Vuk
Draskovic, with his talent for the dramatic, could not have turned into
a fly or a mosquito. I believed that either someone tried to scare him,
or that he made the entire incident up to gain attention and promote
his role as the “victim of the regime.” It is not hard to see who could
have benefited from such an incident, but it is abundantly clear that
it did not serve the government. Quite to the contrary, in fact.
I am not aware that the Serbian Security Service had any activities in
Montenegro apart from gathering information about cigarette smuggling
into Serbia. Rade Markovic even showed me aerial reconnaissance photos
of an area known as Mehov Krs, on the Serbian side of the boundary with
Montenegro, and explained that according to his information, that was a
major warehouse for smuggled cigarettes. He was preparing a raid to
catch the smugglers and seize the contraband, when the timing was
right. I do not know whether the photos were made from an airplane or a
helicopter, police or military, as these details did not interest me.
I never talked to Pavkovic about transporting “assassins” and “agents”
from Montenegro. It is incredulous that the Commander in Chief would be
involved in shuttling some alleged secret agents, especially through
the entire chain of command starting at the Chief of the General Staff.
Truth is, I’ve always insisted that services shouldcooperate and
abandon their rivalry, as they did not serve me but the state, and they
were supposed to work for the state, in accordance with the law.
General Aleksandar Vasiljevic testified about that in this illegal
court, as a witness of the prosecution, no less. And Rade Markovic
testified both here and in front of two parliamentary committees that
he was illegally coerced into trying to incriminate me.
The only helicopter incident I ever remember concerned a low-altitude
flyover of one helicopter over the White Palace (which was illegal),
when a Yugoslav Army officer in charge of White Palace security kept
his calm and prevented it from being tragically shot down. Later that
day it turned out that the helicopter was evacuating a seriously ill
person from the [Bosnian] Serb Republic to the Academy of Military
Medicine [VMA].
Are you not ashamed?
I demanded of both the investigator and the prosecutor that my
interrogation be public, and that they could even bring an open
telephone line, so anyone could ask me whatever they wanted. They
explained that this was not allowed by law, as long as the
investigation was ongoing. I accepted that, but requested that the
recordings be made public at the end of the investigation – since there
would be no danger of potential interference at that time. They
rejected that as well, even though they had the full legal authority to
approve it. Neither I, nor they, nor my legal representatives disputed
that.
Today’s government uses the law as an excuse for lawlessness and
tyranny. Nothing new!
Montestquieu wrote as early as 1742 that “There is no crueler tyranny
than one perpetrated under the shield of law, and in the name of
justice.”
In this entire dirty operation of trying to save this illegitimate
Hague court from a fiasco, the most shameful element is surely the
persecution of my wife and son. I told the investigating judge that his
investigation should include the phantom gold bars, foreign currency
reserves, villas in Switzerland and whatnot, because they were all
mentioned in various statements and extensive newspaper stories, only
to be “forgotten” later.
I asked him “Are you not ashamed?” He did not answer.
To my wife and son, Mira and Marko, who have been separated from me in
this heinous way, I wish to say: “Life is too short to thank you for
your goodness.”
The Hague, 17 August 2003.
Slobodan Milosevic
URL for this text: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/engleski/slobaE170803.htm
=== 2 ===
PRESIDENT MILOSEVIC UNDER THREAT OF TOTAL ISOLATION!
(received from "Sloboda" Association, Belgrade)
Dear friends,
The Hague tribunal has just issued an order to ban all the visits to
President Milosevic from SPS and SLOBODA/Freedom Association!
Their “explanation” is that it was done because the members of the SPS
delegation gave statements to media after their recent visit.
The Tribunal’s decision was issued just after the application of Mr.
Bogoljub Bjelica, Chairman of SLOBODA to visit President Milosevic.
We responded to the tribunal letter immediately. You can read our
respond and our original application bellow and the tribunal’s
outrageous letter addressed to President Milosevic in the attachment.
After he has been deprived of family visits, President Milosevic is now
cut from the visits of his closest associates, who also work on
preparations of his struggle for truth.
The strongest legal and public reaction is urgently needed.
It is perhaps also time to attack the fact that President Milosevic is
prohibited to talk to media when, at the same time both tribunal and
its prosecution have several spokespersons who talk to media all the
time!
The criminal political mechanisms of the Hague machinery, which in the
panic of total defeat try to destroy the victor, should be totally
exposed and stopped.
Vladimir Krsljanin
General Secretary of SLOBODA
Coordinator of ICDSM
Foreign Relations Assistant to President Milosevic
---
Mr. Hans Holthuis
Registrar
ICTY, The Hague, The Netherlands
U R G E N T
Re: Your unjustified decision of August 12 and our application for a
visit of August 11, 2003
Dear Mr. Holthuis,
In your letter to President Milosevic, dated August
12, the copy of which we have received by fax on August 15, after our
phone intervention to accelerate your respond to our August 11
application, and which has been delivered to President Milosevic only
yesterday, August 18, you threat with total isolation of President
Milosevic. After he has been deprived of family visits, now you want to
cut also the visits of his closest associates. Except it is outrageous,
your decision is totally legally unsustainable. Here are the reasons:
1. It is not true that your rules prohibit that any information
about the visit can be disclosed to the media. Rule 63(B) of your
“Rules on Detention” and Regulation 33(B) of your “Regulations to
govern the supervision of visits to and communications with detainees”
only says that: “Permission may be denied if the Registrar has reason
to believe that the purpose of the visit is to obtain information which
may be subsequently reported in the media.” So even if someone says
some detail to media it still does not mean that it was the purpose of
his visit. Then, even if some individual does something you dislike, it
still does not mean that you should punish the whole organization. And
finally, the spirit of all your other relevant rules implies that the
discretion right given to you should have only meaning to prevent
influence of media on the processes before the ICTY.
2. Nobody in Serbia is aware that any of the members of SPS
delegation gave any public statement that can influence the process.
3. You are very well aware that listing the Freedom Association
among the “associated entities” with SPS has absolutely no legal
meaning and is bellow the level of anyone who claims to be a lawyer.
SPS is a political party and Freedom Association is a non-governmental
and non-partisan organization. These two entities are completely
legally independent one from each other. Following the same logic of
who is “associated” with whom you can also ban visits of all Serbs and
finally of all human beings.
So, after he has been in many respects deprived in comparison
with other detainees when the visits are concerned (he was the only one
kept in total isolation so long at the beginning of his detention; he
is the only one whose family can visit him for only three days in a
month; now his wife can not visit him at all; he is often not informed
about the requests of the people who apply to visit him; many visitors
were denied access with false justification that he didn’t request to
see them, in spite he made written requests etc.) President Milosevic
is now cut of the visits from the only home organization which protects
his human rights and from his closest associates, which also seriously
affects his right to defense.
We expect you to change your wrong decision immediately.
Otherwise, we will be forced to take other legal and public measures in
order to protect law and justice.
Belgrade, August 19th, 2003
On behalf of Freedom Association
Igor Raicevic, Chairman of the Assembly
---
Ms. Monica Martinez
Chief of OLAD
Registry, ICTY
The Hague, The Netherlands
U R G E N T
Subject: Application for a visit of Mr. Bjelica to President Milosevic
Dear Ms. Martinez,
We apply hereby for a visit of the Chairman of the
“Freedom” Association Mr. Bogoljub Bjelica to President Milosevic. We
make this application with the consent of President Milosevic. The
visit would take place at earliest convenience. Having in mind the
health situation of Mr. Milosevic and the amount of his current
activities in the preparations for the continuation of the process, we
would appreciate very much if you could agree the exact date for the
visit in direct communication with President Milosevic.
Since several months have passed since our last visit, we
are sure that there will be no difficulties in approving this visit.
Our legal interest and our commitments remain as before.
For your reply or any further information our contacts
remain: phone +381 63 8862 301 or fax +381 11 630 549.
Belgrade, August 11th, 2003
Appreciating your cooperation, I remain
Yours sincerely
Igor Raicevic
Chairman of the Assembly of "Freedom" Association
=== 3 ===
ICDSM protests isolation of President Milosevic
Hans
Holthuis
August 26, 2003
Registrar,
His Honour Judge Theodor Meron,
President,
The Honourable Judges Trial Chamber III
ICTY, The Hague, Netherlands
RE: Slobodan Milosevic
Illegal Prohibition of Visits and Communication With The Press
The International Committee For The Defense of Slobodan Milosevic
protests the illegal and unjustified prohibition of visits to Slobodan
Milosevic by members of the Socialist Party of Serbia and the Sloboda
(Freedom) Association, a non-government organization dedicated to
achieving his rightful freedom.
The order prohibiting visits is allegedly based on a violation of the
newly introduced rule prohibiting communication to the media of
statements made by a detainee during visits, a rule which is both
illegal and unjustified and the sole purpose of which is to silence the
voice of an innocent man, a political prisoner, held hostage by the
“judicial” arm of NATO.
The British House of Lords has stated in Regina v Ex Parte Sims and
O’Brien that the right of prisoners to communicate with the media is
essential to prevent miscarriages of justice. The prohibition of such
communication is a fundamental violation of the presumption of
innocence set out in the Statute of the Tribunal.
The blanket prohibition of personal visits is also a flagrant violation
of Article 10 of the European Convention For The Protection of Human
Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, of Rule 92 of the UN Standard Minimum
Rules For The Treatment of Prisoners, Principle 15 of the UN Principles
of Detention and the Tribunal Rules of Detention themselves.
The Tribunal is unable to demonstrate any need for this action in terms
of the security or good order of the UN Detention Unit or under any
other legitimate rationale. Therefore, the question arises; what is the
real purpose of the order of prohibition? There can be only one answer;
to silence the voice of an innocent man in order to prevent the
embarrassment of the NATO countries who are his political enemies and
the enemies of the Serbian people and in order to suppress the truth
about the war crimes committed by NATO in Yugoslavia.
The actions of the Tribunal follow the issuance of arrest warrants by
the present Belgrade regime against his wife and son which have the
sole objective of preventing them from visiting him in an attempt to
isolate him and wear him down psychologically. In this, neither NATO
nor the Tribunal will succeed.
The ICDSM demands that the order prohibiting visits to Slobodan
Milosevic be rescinded forthwith along with the “rule” prohibiting
communication with the news media.
Prof. Velko Valkanov, Co-Chair, ICDSM,
Christopher Black, Toronto
Prof. Mikhail Kuznetzov, Moscow
Maitre Jacques Verges, Paris,
For The Legal Committee, ICDSM
---
YOUR HELP
The work for the defense of Slobodan Milosevic totally depends on your
donations.
For more details, see: http://www.sloboda.org.yu/finappeal.htm
Send a check to our address:
SLOBODA
Rajiceva 16, 11000 Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro, Yugoslavia
or transfer your donation to our account using the instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomocdet.htm
---
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)