Judge at War Crimes Tribunal Faults Acquittals of Serb and Croat Commanders

Judge at War Crimes Tribunal Faults Acquittals of Serb and Croat Commanders

By MARLISE SIMONS

Published: June 14, 2013

PARIS — A judge at the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has exposed a deep rift at the highest levels of the court in a blistering letter suggesting that the court's president, an American, pressured other judges into approving the recent acquittals of top Serb and Croat commanders.

 

The letter from the judge, Frederik Harhoff of Denmark, raised serious questions about the credibility of the court, which was created in 1993 to address the atrocities committed in the wars in the former Yugoslavia.

Even before Judge Harhoff's letter was made public Thursday, in the Danish newspaper Berlingske, the recent acquittals had provoked a storm of complaints from international lawyers, human rights groups and other judges at the court, who claimed in private that the rulings had abruptly rewritten legal standards that had been applied in earlier cases.

Experts say they see a shift in the court toward protecting the interests of the military. "A decade ago, there was a very strong humanitarian message coming out of the tribunal, very concerned with the protection of civilians," said William Schabas, who teaches law at Middlesex University in London. "It was not concerned with the prerogatives of the military and the police. This message has now been weakened, there is less protection for civilians and human rights."

Other lawyers agreed that the tribunal, which has pioneered new laws, is sending a new message to other armies: they do not need to be as frightened of international justice as they might have been four or five years ago.

But until now, no judge at the tribunal had openly attributed the apparent change to the court's current president, Theodor Meron, 83, a longtime legal scholar and judge.

Judge Harhoff's letter, dated June 6, was e-mailed to 56 lawyers, friends and associates; the newspaper did not say how it obtained a copy.

In his letter, Judge Harhoff, 64, who has been on the tribunal since 2007, said that in two cases Judge Meron, a United States citizen who was formerly an Israeli diplomat, applied "tenacious pressure" on his fellow judges in such a way that it "makes you think he was determined to achieve an acquittal."

"Have any American or Israeli officials ever exerted pressure on the American presiding judge (the presiding judge for the court that is) to ensure a change of direction?" Judge Harhoff asked. "We will probably never know."

A spokesman at the court declined to comment on the letter. Other judges and lawyers were willing to speak, provided that their names were not used.

By their accounts, a mini-rebellion has been brewing against Judge Meron, prompting some of the 18 judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to group around an alternative candidate for the election for tribunal president this fall.

"I'd say about half the judges are feeling very uncomfortable and prefer to turn to a different candidate," said a senior court official. The official said he did not believe that American officials had pressured Judge Meron to rule a certain way in any case, "But I believe he wants to cooperate with his government," the official said. "He's putting on a lot of pressure and imposing internal deadlines that do not exist."

The legal dispute that is the focus of Judge Harhoff's letter and that has led to sharp language in dissents is the degree of responsibility that senior military leaders should bear for war crimes committed by their subordinates.

In earlier cases before the tribunal, a number of military or police officers and politicians were convicted of massacres and other war crimes committed by followers or subordinates on the principle that they had been members of a "joint criminal enterprise."

In contrast, three Serbian leaders and two Croatian generals who played crucial roles during the war were acquitted because judges argued that they had not specifically ordered or approved war crimes committed by subordinates.

Judge Meron has led a push for raising the bar for conviction in such cases, prosecutors say, to the point where a conviction has become nearly impossible. Critics say he misjudged the roles played by the high-level accused and has set legal precedents that will protect military commanders in the future.

The United Nations Security Council created the tribunal, a costly endeavor, and has been pressing it for years to speed up work and wind down, with the United States and Russia at the forefront of those efforts.

By early this year, 68 suspects had been sentenced and 18 acquitted. But some of the highest-ranking wartime leaders have been judged at a time when the tribunal is short-staffed and under pressure to close down.

Several senior court officials, while declining to discuss individual cases, said judges had been perturbed by pressures from Judge Meron to deliver judgments before they were ready.

After the only session to deliberate the acquittal that Judge Meron had drafted in the case of the two Croatian generals, one official said, the judge abruptly declined a request by two dissenting judges for further debate.

In his letter, Judge Harhoff also said Judge Michele Picard of France was recently given only four days to write her dissent against the majority decision to acquit two Serbian police chiefs, Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic.

"She was very taken aback by the acquittal and deeply upset about the fast way it had to be handled," said an official close to the case.

Judge Harhoff's letter seems likely to add a bruise to the tribunal's reputation.

"The latest judgments here have brought before me a deep professional and moral dilemma not previously faced," he wrote in conclusion. "The worst is the suspicion that some of my colleagues have been behind a shortsighted political pressure that completely changes the premises of my work in my service to wisdom and the law."

 

www.nytimes.com/2013/06/15/world/europe/judge-at-war-crimes-tribunal-faults-acquittals-of-serb-and-croat-commanders.html?smid=tw-share&_r=0

Serbia is fully committed to resolving the Kosovo issue, it deserves more from Brussels

224 words - May 21, 2013 | © DiploNews, all rights reserved.

While welcoming German Foreign Minister Guido Westerwelle to Serbia, Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said that Serbia will meet its part of the obligations undertaken by signing the Brussels agreement with Pristina. "Serbia cannot wait any longer as any postponement of a decision on a date for the beginning of negotiations with the EU could have disastrous consequences for the country's future," a statement issued by Mr. Dacic's office said.

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic expressed similar views and affirmed that Serbia is fully committed to resolving the Kosovo issue and making further progress towards the EU. However Serbia will not make impossible promises and needs additional and positive steps from Brussels, that is a date for the start of accession talks with the European Union (EU), explained Mr. Nikolic.

On the Kosovo's side, there is optimism too that an agreement can be reached. According to President Atifete Jahjaga, the agreement will plan that local elections in the four municipalities in the north of Kosovo are held this year, and that at the same time it will "abolish all illegal and parallel structures held by Serbia at this part of the territory of Kosovo,"

It is unsure that using the word "illegal" will facilitate any positive outcome of the negotiations, DiploNews thought.

© DiploNews.com

http://www.diplonews.com/alerts/2013/20130521_SerbiaKosovoBrusselsAgreement.php

Sueddeutsche Zeitung: “Kidneys as special offer”

Sueddeutsche Zeitung: "Kidneys as special offer"

 

"Süddeutsche Zeitung" wrote about the verdict to the "Medicus" clinic owner, his son and associates responsible for the illegal organ trade, noting that the political background of the case remained unsolved, reports RTS.

"Kidneys as special offer" is the title of the article in this magazine, which states that clinic "Medicus" has been in the centre of the attention of the law enforcements since 2008.

"Jilman Altun, 23-year-old Turk, was caught at the airport in Pristina. Several hours before that he was visiting the clinic. His kidney was intended for 74-year-old Israeli man. Huge number of poor people from countries like Russia, Moldavia and Kazakhstan were brought to Pristina, where their kidney was removed for the appropriate sum of money. Usually the promise was EUR 15,000, but at the end they would get significantly less, reports Deutsche Welle.

German political weekly magazine Der Spiegel has, in the midst of the organ transplant scandal in Germany, written about the "Medicus" clinic in which rich German manufacturer Walter and poor Russian emigrant Vera, were operated. Vera sold her left kidney for EUR 8,100, and the German paid for the same kidney EUR 81,892, wrote Der Spiegel in August 2012.

Journalists of the magazine have investigated the illegal human organ trade for long time, and they have discovered information about the involvement of the Kosovo government, but also about how much were Germans involved in the business of huge profit and rapidly growing business of the criminal gangs.

In the analytical report and in the best style of the journalism world, magazine Der Spiegel wrote about donors and recipients of the organs, about the harsh reality of the poverty and possibilities of the wealth, about the "cover" of the Kosovo government, about German doctor Manfred Ernst Beer, who "hosted" the Dervisi family at the time of the Kosovo conflict , and they have then, by the explanation of the "Medicus" lawyer, proposed him to open clinic in Kosovo.

Vera was not the only one in the "Medicus" clinic. In november 2008. on the customs of the airport in Pristina Jilman Altun got ill.

The patient has been taken to the airport doctor, who found that the man had just a kidney removed, and according to the Turk's words, it was in "Medicus" clinic, wrote The Spiegel, adding that at the time the police raided the villa and found Israeli man there as the organ recipient.

Looking at the sad fate of those who ended up in the "Medicus" clinic, the question "What happened to Vera?" raises.

She has, according to The Spiegel, with the money she got from selling her kidney, managed to take her daughter from Russia to Tel Aviv. The daughter knows about the mother's sacrifice and wants to become a doctor, so she could help her mother.

 

Author

M. Stoiljkovic | E-Mail: m.stoiljkovic@inserbia.info | http://inserbia.info

Published On: Tue, Apr 30th, 2013

 

http://inserbia.info/news/2013/04/sueddeutsche-zeitung-kidneys-as-special-offer/

 

KOSOVO: UN whistleblower asks US to withhold UN payments

UN whistleblower asks US to withhold UN payments

The Associated Press

Saturday, April 13, 2013 | midnight

A United Nations whistleblower who won his case alleging corruption in the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Kosovo but received only 2 percent of the $2.2 million he sought in damages and costs asked the U.S. government Monday to withhold 15 percent of its payments to the global organization.

James Wasserstrom, an American citizen, alleged corruption involving senior officials in the U.N. peacekeeping operation in Kosovo in 2007 and was awarded $65,000 by the U.N.'s Dispute Tribunal last month. He is now a senior anti-corruption adviser at the U.S. Embassy in Kabul.

Wasserstrom told a news conference Monday that he was sending a letter to U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry and key Senate and House lawmakers asking that they implement the 2012 Consolidated Appropriations Act requiring a 15 percent withholding of U.S. funding if an organization does not take steps to implement "best practices" to prevent retaliation against whistleblowers.

"The evidence is overwhelming that the U.N. has failed to take such steps," Wasserstrom said.

U.N. deputy spokesman Eduardo del Buey said the U.N. is considering appealing the Dispute Tribunal's award of $50,000 in damages and $15,000 in costs to Wasserstrom and therefore could not comment.

Wasserstrom said he is also considering an appeal.

In the letter to Kerry, Wasserstrom said he was the lead anti-corruption officer at the U.N. peacekeeping mission in Kosovo in 2007 when he received reports of misconduct and corruption involving three top U.N. officials as well as officials in the Kosovo government.

"The corruption allegations involved a 10 percent kickback scheme to a Kosovo minister, to be shared with a senior (U.N. peacekeeping) official, for awarding a contract to a favored bidder," he said. "The amount of the payoff was $500 million."

Wasserstrom said he collaborated on an investigation with the U.N.'s Office for Internal Oversight Services or OIOS, the agency assigned to combat internal corruption.

When senior U.N. colleagues found out about his whistleblowing, he said, "they took drastic retaliatory action" _ closing his office, abolishing his post, searching his home without a warrant, seizing his property and putting up "Wanted" style posters at the gates of all U.N. buildings to restrict his entry. He said false charges were also made against him, leading to a Kosovo criminal investigation which ended quickly with no charges and a U.N. administrative investigation which cleared him of wrongdoing.

Wasserstrom told Kerry the U.N. peacekeeping mission also leaked news of the investigations to the local and international media "defaming me and doing serious damage to my professional and personal reputation."

In June 2007, Wasserstrom said he sought whistleblower protection from the U.N. Ethics Office, which commissioned a full investigation by OIOS. The agency called the actions against him "extreme" and "disproportionate" but found no evidence of retaliation. As a result, he said, his whistleblower protection ended in April 2008, and seven months later he was terminated, ending a 28-year U.N. career two years before retirement.

Wasserstrom then went to the U.N.'s Dispute Tribunal saying the Ethics Office and OIOS failed in their responsibilities.

In June 2012, Judge Goolam Meeran upheld his complaint, ruling that he was subjected to "wholly unacceptable treatment" and "appalling" acts in violation of the rule of law and human rights. The judge ordered a hearing on damages.

Wasserstrom asked for $2.2 million for losses in wages, benefits and pension as well as mental distress, defamation, damage to his professional reputation and violations of his rights.

In a March 15 decision, Meeran said "the tribunal finds it difficult to envisage a worse case of insensitive, highhanded and arbitrary treatment in breach of the fundamental principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights." He also said that "as an institution charges with the responsibility of uncovering acts of retaliation the effectiveness of the Ethics Office leaves much to be desired."

Wasserstrom was awarded $65,000.

"This is not justice," Wasserstrom told reporters Monday. "It is a travesty, and what a strong message it sends to whistleblowers: Even if you win, you lose. You will be worse off than if you had not come forward at all. And for retaliators, don't worry. There are no consequences for you."

He urged the State Department to report to Congress that it should withhold 15 percent of U.N. funds for the regular budget and the separate peacekeeping budget. According to the U.S. Mission, the U.S. assessments for 2013 are $618.9 million for the regular U.N. budget and $997.9 million for the peacekeeping budget. Under the 2012 act, the withheld funds should remain available until Sept. 30.

Wasserstrom said the U.S. should encourage the U.N. before then "to take steps to implement best practices in whistleblower protection before that time."

He suggested several steps including removing caps on compensation awards, ordering an independent external review of retaliation cases the U.N. Ethics Office failed to substantiate, disciplining retaliators, revising U.N. policy to give whistleblower protection to U.N. peacekeepers, police and victims who currently aren't covered, and issuing an apology to him and other whistleblowers.

Asked what the chances were that Congress will agree to withhold the U.N. funds, Wasserstrom said, "I'm optimistic because I think the evidence is indisputable."

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2013/apr/13/us-us-un-whistleblower/

News 11 Apr 13

Serbia Slams Hague Tribunal at UN Debate

Serbian President Tomislav Nikolic described the Hague war crimes court as a biased "inquisition" during a UN General Assembly debate that was boycotted by the US as inflammatory.

Marija Ristic

BIRN

Belgrade

At the UN debate on Wednesday about the role of international war crimes courts, organised by the current Serbian president of the assembly, Vuk Jeremic, the Belgrade leadership took the opportunity to attack the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, which it believes is biased against Serbs.

Nikolic said that the ICTY was unfair because of its "systematic atmosphere of lynch-mobbing of everything that is Serbian", which made reconciliation in the Balkans even harder.

"ICTY trials will never reach the real truth, that is why the reconciliation will not be real and honest," he said.

Belgrade was angered by last year's war crimes acquittal of two Croatian generals, Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac.

Nikolic also cited war crimes trial defendant Vojislav Seselj, the former leader of the Serbian Radical Party, of which Nikolic was once a member, as an example of unfair treatment.

"Vojislav Seselj has been in The Hague for 11 years, which is a precedent in legal history," Nikolic said.

But Ranko Vilovic, Croatia's representative at the UN, said the ICTY deserved support.

"Croatia, as a victim of aggression, has strongly supported the work of the ICTY... Maybe we didn't always agree with some decisions made, but we always supported the work," said Vilovic.

The US boycotted the debate, alongside Canada and Jordan, describing it as "unbalanced" and "inflammatory".

Erin Pelton, spokesperson for the U.S. mission to the United Nations, said international courts had been "critical to ending impunity and helping these countries chart a new, more positive future".

"We regret in particular that the way today's thematic debate and the related panel discussion are structured fail to provide the victims of these atrocities an appropriate voice," she said.

The debate started with opening remarks from Jeremic, who said that "it is finally time to tell the truth about international tribunals".

"I deeply believe that there should not be taboo topics among UN states," Jeremic said.

But UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon, who spoke right after Jeremic, defended the idea of international war crimes courts.

"We cannot expect human rights to be respected if we don't support the international justice system," he said.

The Serb member of the tripartite Bosnian presidency however expressed concerns about the ICTY's recent acquittals of the two Croatian generals, three Kosovo Liberation Army commanders and a former Yugoslav Army general.

"Dissatisfaction with [the court's] verdicts exists within all three nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina and this has been increased following the recent three ICTY verdicts in particular," said Nebojsa Radmanovic.

The debate was briefly interrupted when a representative of an organisation representing wartime victims from the Bosnian towns of Srebrenica and Zepa, Munira Subasic, was ejected for attempting to show a banner describing Bosnia's Serb-run entity Republika Srpska as genocidal, according to media reports.

The controversial debate provoked the Croat member of the Bosnian presidency, Zeljko Komsic, to cancel a planned visit to Belgrade, saying that the Serbian president had offended wartime victims.

Nikolic was also criticised in Belgrade by the Serbian Liberal Democratic Party, which argued that his speech was "insincere and harmful toward Serbian national interests".

Belgrade's Centre for Euro-Atlantic Studies, CEAS, called on other top Serbian officials to make a stand for reconciliation in the Balkans.

"The CEAS believes that the western Balkans would be a much more unstable and undemocratic place to live if those convicted at the Hague Tribunal and by domestic courts were still at large and even in the ranks of the security services in the countries of the region," the think-tank said in a statement.

Despite the criticism however, Jeremic was convinced that the debate was a success.

"This is the biggest debate in history of the UN. Eighty-two countries had their representatives present, we had 42 speakers... We had very interesting opinions, many of them critical," Jeremic said.

http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/un-debate-turns-as-criticism-of-the-icty

Emil Vlajki: Dodik's testimony "exceptionally courageous"

 

http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/daily-news/vlajki-dodiks-testimony-exceptionally-courageous DAILY NEWS 10.04.2013. | PIŠE: Oslobođenje PORTAL Vlajki: Dodik's testimony "exceptionally courageous" RS President Milorad Dodik demonstrated "exceptional courage and honesty" as a witness for the defense of Radovan Karadzic, RS Vice President Emil Vlajki says.     In a statement from Vlajki's office, it is said that Dodik "exposed the militarization and politicization of religion, the demonization of the Serb people, and the politicking of the Hague Tribunal." "In this way he opposed the new world order, its crimes, servants, and lies. Because of his foreign policy, Milorad Dodik before the international public pushed back to some extent against the lies that damage the dignity of the Serb people and in a real way once again affirmed RS on international terms. So he will certainly go down in the history of the Serb people as a positive personality, and with his exceptional performances before the Hague Tribunal he has won the affection of millions of Serbs and all truth-loving people, both at home and in the diaspora," Vlajki said. http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/daily-news/dodiks-testimony-in-the-hague-the-reason-why-civil-coalition-march-first-was-created DAILY NEWS 10.04.2013. | PIŠE: Oslobođenje PORTAL Dodik's testimony in The Hague the reason why civil coalition "March First" was created Yesterday's "performance" of RS President Milorad Dodik, as a defense witness in the trial of the second president of the entity Radovan Karadzic, was not a witness but a threat to all non-Serb returnees who have returned to their pre-war homes.   Now it is clear that institutional discrimination and massive violations of human rights of returnees to the entity are actually the result of the policies implemented by the order of Milorad Dodik himself, and that his regime is just a continuation of what Karadzic started. His testimony yesterday was the reason why the civil coalition "March First" was created and will continue to exist, and why now, more than ever, the unity of those who don't deny the crimes and want to preserve the state is needed.   "March First" calls on the leadership of all political parties who know Milorad Dodik lied yesterday to show they wouldn't allow part of Bosnia and Herzegovina to become one of the "two Serbian states in the Balkans."   "March First" once again calls on the leadership of all political parties considered state-building to enter the joint list and to ensure not only institutional representation, but also a chance for physical survival for returnees in RS.   A joint list does not imply any abandonment of political principles and ideological divisions, but is simply an acknowledgment that the parties gathered have one common item that others do not have: the fight for the preservation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.   Today, when it is obvious there will be at least three powerful blocs in RS at the next elections, mathematically and logically it is impossible to expect that some of the parties we have invited to a joint list would be elected to a place in the BiH Parliament from constituencies in RS.   Let's show that our forces have the responsibility for when the time comes, where protection of returnees remains a key commitment, political survival in RS as a condition for canceling the results of genocide, and ultimately the only measurable and unambiguous confirmation that in the entity there is still the state of BiH and those who believe in it. On 13 April we will know who is on our side, the side of survival.   http://www.oslobodjenje.ba/daily-news/izetbegovic-im-not-surprised-by-dodiks-testimony-in-the-hague DAILY NEWS 10.04.2013. | PIŠE: Oslobođenje PORTAL Izetbegovic: I'm not surprised by Dodik's testimony in The Hague Member of the BiH Presidency Bakir Izetbegovic said that he was not surprised by Milorad Dodik's testimony yesterday in The Hague, who, as a defense witness of ICTY indictee for war crimes Radovan Karadzic, defended the behavior and activities of RS leadership during the war developments in BiH, and for the war blamed the first President of BiH Presidency Alija Izetbegovic and his Party of Democratic Action. "Nothing new from Mr. Dodik and those which he inherited. So, in the way of political struggle, it is the reliance on cheap and transparent lies. No Islamic Declaration was mentioned at the time of beginning of the aggression on BiH nor is it the basis for what was happening there," Izetbegovic said. Testifying before the ICTY, Dodik said that the RS army and police during the war were "legitimate structures which performed their legitimate role during war in BiH." He rated charges against Karadzic as "fictions and manipulations."   Izetbegovic today in Sarajevo reminded that the "work plan was made in Belgrade," and that "on the basis of that plan in BiH they proclaimed Serbian autonomous regions which cover almost 90 percent of the territory of BiH" and that "Mr. Karadzic formed an Assembly of the Serbian People with Momcilo Krajisnik."   "Karadzic got the dock in The Hague, and Milorad Dodik has inherited his presidential seat in RS," the member of the BiH Presidency said.   Asked whether it is possible Dodik does not remember what he was talking about regarding the SDS ten years ago, Izetbegovic said: "How seriously did he respond to accusations in relation to SDS and Karadzic ten years ago. It's Milorad Dodik, you do not know who you're dealing with."  Izetbegovic signs book of condolences   Presidency member Bakir Izetbegovic signed today in the book of condolences on the death of Baroness Margaret Thatcher, the former Prime Minister of Great Britain and Northern Ireland.   "I do not see that she was controversial, she was a principled, courageous, determined woman which we will remember by just on those lines. The world will remember her as one of the global leaders who helped to free the world of dictatorial regimes, who helped to stabilize the situation in her country. Just in a time of weakness, cowardice, lack of principles, lack of understanding in relation in BiH she proved to have principles, courage, and friendship, and Bosnians have every reason to remember her as a friend, as a brave and determined woman," Izetbegovic says.

 

ICTY President Criticizes Serbian - Organized UN Debate

[ Mislim da vise nema dileme da smo uradili ispravnu stvar... ]

ICTY President Criticizes Serbian-Organized UN Debate

Judge Theodor Meron, the president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

 

TEXT SIZE

By RFE/RL

April 04, 2013

The president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has criticized a scheduled Serbian-organized UN debate on the tribunal, saying it "poses questions in terms of fundamental respect for the rule of law."

Judge Theodor Meron said, "It is not a [debate] in which my participation would make any significant contribution to the norms which I hold dear."

Vuk Jeremic, the Serbian president of the UN General Assembly, scheduled the April 10 debate about the performance of the tribunal after two controversial ICTY acquittals.

The tribunal in November 2012 freed on appeal Croatian Generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markac, who had been sentenced to jail for their roles in a 1995 offensive to drive Serbian rebels out of the Krajina region.

Meron, who was speaking at the Brookings Institution in Washington, said, "Acquittals, just as convictions, show the health of the system."

 

 

http://www.rferl.org/content/icty-meron-criticises-serbian-organized-un-debate/24948303.html

SERBIA – GUILTY FOR BEING ALIVE

SERBIA – GUILTY FOR BEING ALIVE

Pecat in English | Уредништво | februar 26, 2013 13:50

---

Slobodan Jankovich

At the eve of the hundred year anniversary of the beginning of The First World War, the western public opinion shows an overwhelming increase in, nowadays well established, rewriting of history. These theories statethat the blame for atrocities, and even Nazism, partly or exclusively lies with the Serbs.

One of our greatest historians DragoljubZivanović, in his book "Involuntary warriors: The Great Powers and The Macedonian Front", wrote, based on the rich historical documentation, thoroughly on topic of weather western countries and Serbia were reallyallies during the World War I. He even succeeded in proving that the Great Britain was the enemy of Serbia, even though not openly as Germany, Austro Hungarian Empire and Bulgaria.

A book about how politics influences writingof the history, but with the main thematic on wars during nineties, history of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbian –Albanian relations, our historians Mile Bjelajalac and GordanaKrivokapić-Jović, published a book in 2011. They also disclose a notorious fact that Richard Holbrookewas personallyhanding out the pamphlet- book   "Short history of Kosovo" by Noel Malcolm, and the fact that the book of the German historian Holm Zundhauzen about 19^th and 20^th  century Serbia was the project sponsored by the state of  Germany.

As the hundredth anniversary of the First World War approaches,considerable number of authors from countries that were once allies, eagerly works on redefining the role of Serbia during The Great War. The most drastic example of this is the one from the pamphlet monograph by Philip J. Cohen, from the „A&M"University, Texas and the book by Tim Judd.  By the order of the Republic of Croatia Cohen printed "Serbia's Secret war: propaganda and the manipulation of history" 1996. This scientificforgery fortunately wasn't accepted in the scientific circles, as well as in general, because of its obvious exaggeration and incompetence(stomatologyst) of the author.Cohen was trying to prove that the Croats were anti fascists while the Serbs created some kind of autochthone fascism even before Italians did. The similar are the contributions to the history made by professor of hydraulics Andrew L. Simon(of Hungarian descend), who was the redactor and have published a series of works in English flowing in irrational animosity towards the orthodox nations, and specially to Serbs, blamed for the destruction and fall of Austro Hungarian Empire. These authors, as well as very similar Noel Malcolm and Holm Zundhauzen, distort the historical picture of the Balkan nations,especially Serbia by selective quotation and putting the facts or material out of their context.

It was nice of American historian Pol Kennedy that in his most famous and undeservingly praised work, "The rise and fall off Great powers", has to say great many good things about the Serbian involvement in breaking of the World War II. He says: "There was a lot of truth within the old cliché that theArchduke's death was just the sparkle that ignited the fire". He says that the Austro Hungarian Empire declined the peace offering from Serbia. This book was published 1987, but is still considered as a very important piece of literature at America's universities and also at Yale, where Kennedy still works as a lecturer.

THE BRITISH SCHOOL

One of the rising starsin the science of historyis Kennedy's colleague at Yale University, the professor of history Timothy Snyder, so called transatlantic leftist, with a Ph.D. degree at the Oxford University. Very passionately opinionated, Snyder is interested in Central and Eastern Europe, the holocaust and suffering of the people from Germany to Russia. Snyder is a typical example of the trend of relativisation and according to it the Russia and Serbia are to blame for the all kinds of evil and unimaginable destruction unknown to civilized nations. In that perspective, Snyder in his article "Hitler's logical holocaust", published December the 20th in magazine The New York Review of Books, managed to master Goebbels's doctrine that states that a hundred times spoken lie becomes the truth.

He states, ignoring the actual facts that the decolonization started at Balkan (as if he didn't know how to make out the distinction between the colonies from the conquered territories), in the way that the Balkan states got free from the Osman Empire, and then from their "British, German and Russian patrons", all that inclusive and half true and without any basis in facts. He mentions wars (plural) betweenBalkan states, and there was but one short lasting war between Bulgaria and Serbia in the year 1885. After these fictional wars "Balkan countries turned against the Osman Empire". So actually there was no liberation of the territories under the Turk occupation rather the liberated states attacked the OsmanRaska, Kosovo and Metohija,Albania,Thessaly, Epirus,Trakia. Finally Snyder gives a revisionist vision of the beginning of the World War I: "Conflict that we know as the World War I can be perceived as the third Balkan war (the thesis commonly present among other western historians) because certain elements within the Serbian government tried to seize and appropriate part of the Austrian territory as they did with the Osman Empire". According to this, Serbia in fact grabbed from the poor Osman their Raška, Crimea and Macedonia, and then laid their paws on the Austrian lands (presumably those are the German motherland in the Bosnianvalley or historicalyAustrian cities Novi Sad and Dubrovnik)

This is not the end of it. Obviously, these claims should be reason enough not to have Snyder on a position of a professor, especiallyata prestigiousAmerican University, where for instance William Clinton and George Bush Jrgot their degrees. And he goes even further in his recklessness operating with obvious fabrications. When the World War I broke out, the Balkan model of establishing of the national states spreads to Turkey(including mass murder of more than a million of Armenians), and later to the Central Europe.

HITLER COPIED FROM BALKAN?!

According to Snyder, nation state is a Balkan invention. After the French bourgeois revolution all through the Europe emerged the multitude of new initiatives and movementsstruggling for establishingof the nation state, but he is not aware of this fact, as he is not aware that the Serbians were fighting against the Turkish occupation for centuries. Nevertheless, here theTurkey is the victim of Balkan states because they spreaded the virus of nationalism,therefore they were the reason for the murder of more thana million of Armenians. And of course, not a single word on the crimes committed against the Serbs and Greeks.

It doesn't stop there, because the new history by Snyder claims that the Balkan nationalistic states are to blame partialy, for the rise of Nazism, because Hitler, had this specific model in mind while writingMein Kampf. In what way and how, he doesn't state. In conclusion, if there were us primitive Balkan people Nazism would never haveexisted. To the very same conclusion came also Robert Kaplan, American journalist of Jewishdescent. Kaplan was a lecturer at the police and army academies all over USA, part time consultant for the Department for defense and Department foreign affairs in America, and nowadays for Stratfor and the newspapers. In the book "Balkan Ghosts: A Journey Through History" from 1994, he says thatNazism, for instance….originates from the Balkans. In the poorhouses of Vienna,fertile ground for ethnic hatred similar to the one in the south slave world, learnt to hate so addictively"

Snyder belongs to the new school of historians that writes so called transnational history.  Covering himself by this phrase he claims that without Soviet Union there wouldn't be anyholocaust, as he did in the controversial book "Bloodlands". This book ignited a series of serious debates and succeeded in indicating that the real victims are primarily in the Eastern Europe.Snyder is trying very hard not to mention Russians. By his words, the victims were Jews, Polish, Belarusians, Ukrainians, Kazakhs and unidentified soviet citizens, as if the most of them were not already the citizens of USSR. When he mentionstheRussians he says that they are not included in the 14 millionvictimsof the mass crime committed by Hitler and Stalin in Eastern Europe. So, the number of Russian victims is minimized or not even mentioned, (of course they are mentioned here and there, but in a by the by manner) on the other hand the atrocities happenedon the Balkan are completelyswept under the rug. The conclusion from this is that there were no atrocities in Balkan.

Much like American professor Timothy Snyder, great number of cadets from Oxford and even more so Cambridge has the same negative attitude when writing aboutSerbians.  Perhaps, the most famous and well known here isNoel Malcolm. There's also historian John Ottywhose commentary about Serbian nationalism and the causes that led to theFirst World War, has been published in 2009. Shallow and overburdened by the quotations of Tim Judd and MishaGlenny that deals with the "Serbian myth about Kosovo", the Serbiandepicts as the "swine merchants" that lusted for Great Serbia. Serbia and Austro Hungarians,according to his words,are the guilty parties for the war and ofcourse Russia becauseit tried to help Serbia. His perception of Serbia's role was disclosed on AmericanPublic Broadcasting Service and British magazine„History Today".

PESKY SERBIAN CASUALTIES

Australian Christopher Clarke, got his Ph.D. at Cambridge, and he is a professor of history at the same University. His book about the causes of the World War I was published September 27th 2012in England. ("The Sleepwalkers: How Europe Went to War in 1914"). It is actually the continuance of the British politics of revisionism, with intention to show that either there was no guilty party for the World War I or that guilt would be that of Serbia or Russia. Christopher Clarke is partial to this second approach. "The World War wasThe Third Balkan War, before the World War I begun", says Clarke. He states that Serbian government officials were linked to "terrorist organizations" that were "dreaming of Great Serbia". This book have already had two bad reviews.

However, Mathew Price, a Cambridge man, BBC correspondent, at one time a correspondent from Belgrade, commended on the book in Emirate's newspapers. He says:"Clarke is right, in the claim that the justice was on the side of Austro Hungarians". And then it continues with the claim that because of the proportionally greatest number of casualties in the war it is "maybeeasy to overlook the Serbianarrogantand insensitive answer to assassination".

That everything is not so gloomy, shows the contribution of the publishing house "Yaka book" from Miilan,which in 1999, published the  of works written by two Italians, and number of Serbian historians and famousintellectuals, with the editor in chief, member of the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences, late  NikšaStipčević. Many good things were written about us by the famous professor David Fromkin from Bostonthat also participated.

Among the new achievements would be "A Companion to World War I", not yet translated in Serbian language.  It is acompilation of works byBritish, American, Irish, French,German and also Australian, Canadian and Italian historians on the topic ofThe Great war. It is important because it is conceived as an unavoidable reading material for the universities of these countries. It includes also indications about politics influencing the writing of history. The director of the BritishInstitute for European studies from Safford-John Keiger points out to this important issue, and  in spiteof the casualcynicism, made probably the best descriptionof the role of Serbia, with the all the victories, suffering, retreat through Albania and the Macedonian front.

Usually in Italian university study books there is no mentioning of the Macedonian front. But, the role of Serbia in everything that led to war as fairly objectively showed.

In what way if any are the institutions of Serbia preparing, and are they preparing, for the impending full frontal assault with all the weapons of the propaganda machine from all the weapons?

THE CONTRIBUTION OF SERBIA

The shot fired at a fromGavriloPrincip's gun was a shot at the tyrant that came to occupiedBosnia and Herzegovina on Vidovdan , to provoke Serbian population, and that is the truth that many want to conceal and distort. On our side, apart from MileBjelajac and the team of historians who are, inspite of Serbian neo historians, struggling to the spread an sustain the truth about Serbia's role in World War I, now TheNational Library announced its contribution.

European union started two projects in 2009, EUROPEANA 1914-1918 and EuropeanaCollections 1914 – 1918:Memories of the First World War". Our National Library is taking part in this second one, as one of 12 institutions from eight countries. The goal is to create a digital collection ofdocuments with about    500.000 units, that will point out the importance of World War I for the common European identity of and reflect the experiences of people from different ethical, linguistic, political, social and religious communities from all the sides involved in that conflict, includingone the opposed to war.

For this reason, we approachedNemanjaKalezić, the coordinator of the project for TheNational Library of Serbia. Kalezićsays that The National Library of Serbia participatesfrom the middle of 2011 in the project Europeana Collections 1914 – 1918: Memories of the First World War – the digital collection of of valuable selectionsfrom national libraries".  The The National Library of Serbia has the obligation to digitalize and make accessible 1.405 digital objects. Top priority will be all the publishing production of the Kingdom of Serbia from the period Jun 1914- October1915, as well as all the printed publication made duringexile(Corfu, Bizerte, Genève, Solun…)

At the question posed to him about the specific military and war material that would bear witness to the military contribution of Serbia Kalezić answers: "At this moment we are unable to specificallyindicateto what degree the publicationwould be covering the military involvement of Serbia in the war, because the material from the relatedinstitutions (Archives of Serbia, Military museum, the Serbian Academy of Arts and Sciences…) is still is still being analyzed and the selection is far from over. At the moment, "War diary" the journal of the High Command, and the official bulletin of the War press bureau, is being scanned. A number of diaries and memorabilia belonging to the participants of the war, the correspondence of Duke ŽivojinMišić with the allied generals from the Macedonian front, the war maps, lists of soldiers killed in the battle ….This participation of The National Library of Serbia in thisproject is financed by European committee and The Ministry of culture and information participatingwith 50% each".

NO MORE OBIDIANCE!

This is not all. NLS will be involved inyet two more international projects with the topic of First World War: Project CENDARIhas the aim of providing to the explorers complete access to the historical materials by means of modern technology. Project "The World Remembers"aims to gather the names of the soldiers killed during the war,as many as possible,and provide their public display on the Internet and in public space. This year NLS should publish a monograph "Balkan peninsula and the South Slavcountries by Jovan Cvijić in Serbian and French language, and as a part of project EuropeanaNLS will organize an exhibition by the half of 2014. NLS also plans to build the portal "The GreatWar", February the 28^th, andbesides already mentioned material, it will contain numerous other publications from the period after1918with the topic of World War I. Besides scanned materials, at the portal, virtual exhibitions, interactive maps of the battles involving Serbian army will be available" explainsKalezić.

In the effort to pleaseand to get on the good sideof the West, numerous sacrifices at the expense of the state and people were made. After many years of this vassal behavior, the witch-hunt haven't stopped, on the contrary. Having this experience of shy festivity, almost an uneasy ritual, celebratingthe liberation of Kosovo and Metohija, Raška and Macedonia, and also knowing that we are always criticized for it, Serbia, must give its best to useall its availableknowledgeand resources to at least try to resist the continuance of the propaganda picture of bloodthirstySerbians.It's important to bear in mind, during the period where we were the "disruptivefactor", we managed to not only keep but to expand our state; today as servants, we are losing the battle, equally  the one with media, the cultural and the territorial.

http://www.pecat.co.rs/2013/02/serbia-guilty-for-being-alive/

Borislav Milosevic: Diplomat who defended his brother Slobodan

Borislav Milosevic: Diplomat who defended his brother Slobodan

He condemned his brother's arrest by the UN for alleged war crimes as 'kidnapping'

David Childs

Friday, 1 February 2013

Borislav Milosevic was a Yugoslav diplomat who served in Algeria, Japan and latterly Russia in the late 1990s. He will be best remembered, however, as the elder brother of the uncompromising former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, whose nationalist policies and interests Borislav defended until Slobodan's death in a prison cell in The Hague in 2006.

Borislav Milosevic was born in 1934 in the ancient town of Niksic, Montenegro, well-known as a centre of the Orthodox Church. It was then part of the Kingdom of Yugoslavia. At the beginning of the Second World War, the family moved to the Serb town of Pozarevac – a city that had been ruled by the Turks and the Habsburgs, and which became part of the new state of Yugoslavia in 1918. After the Nazi invasion of 1941 it was allocated to the German-controlled puppet state of Serbia. It was there that Borislav's famous brother, Slobodan, was born in 1941. Although the majority of the townspeople were Serbs, there were sizeable minorities of Roma, Montenegrins, Croatians and others. Borislav's childhood surroundings, therefore, gave him much to think about regarding identity.

For the Milosevic family, like almost everyone in Yugoslavia, the war years were a constant struggle for the basic necessities. Hunger, disease, and violent death were daily occurrences, even in areas like Pozarevac, as the Germans conducted a ruthless occupation policy. There was also a civil war between the royalist Chetniks, the Croatian fascist Ustashi and the pro-German Bosnian Muslims – all of whom were against Tito's partisans.

Pozarevac was liberated in 1944 by the Soviet Army and the partisans. It became part of the republic of Serbia in Tito's Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. The Communist rulers attempted to purge the land of the supporters of the previous regimes. Poverty, hunger, and disease continued to stalk the land after the war, although the Milosevic brothers were luckier than some of their contemporaries who died of starvation or disease. The casualties would have been higher had it not been for UN assistance.

Milosevic's family came from Montenegrin stock that traced its roots back to the time of the 1389 battle of Kosovo Polje, where the Ottoman Turks crushed the medieval Serbian empire. His father graduated from the Orthodox seminary in the ancient Montenegrin capital of Cetinje and worked before the Second World War as a professor of Russian at the Theological Academy of the Serbian Orthodox Church in Belgrade. His mother, known as a very attractive woman, was a school teacher who became an active member of the Communist party. His parents separated and, tragically, both committed suicide – in 1962 and 1972 respectively.

Slobodan and Borislav followed their mother into Tito's League of Yugoslav Communists. After years of pro-Soviet propaganda, all three had had to face the shock of the Tito-Stalin break of 1948. Perhaps Boris and his mother were hit much harder than brother Slobodan, who was only seven at the time. The Stalin-Tito split brought a purge of the pro-Moscow elements. The Milosevic family remained firmly in the Tito camp.

After studying law in Belgrade, Borislav Milosevic was active in the international section of the Central Committee of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia, and in the 1970s he started his diplomatic career in Russia. He was highly trusted by President Tito, whom he accompanied on many foreign visits. During Tito's sensitive talks with the then leader of the Soviet Union, Leonid Brezhnev, he acted as interpreter. After Tito's death in 1980 he continued his diplomatic career, serving as Yugoslav ambassador to Algeria, Japan and then, from 1998, Russia. He lost this position when Slobodan was ousted from the presidency in 2000. He remained in Moscow, heading an oil-trading company and acting as a consultant. A critic of the Western policies toward Serbia, he advocated stronger ties with Russia instead.

Borislav was a supporter of his brother's policies, and a strong critic of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, which tried Slobodan on genocide charges arising from the Balkan wars of the 1990s. When Slobodan was handed over to the court in 2001 by the Belgrade government, Borislav condemned the arrest as "kidnapping" and claimed that the Hague tribunal was illegal. He also accused the UN court of being responsible for the death of his brother, who suffered a heart attack in his cell in 2006.

When Slobodan's widow, Mirjana, and her son, Marko, faced criminal charges over alleged wrongdoings during the former president's era, Borislav helped them settle in Moscow, where they were granted refugee status.

Borislav Milosevic, diplomat: born Niksic, Yugoslavia 1934; married firstly, secondly Milanka (one son); died Belgrade 29 January 2013.

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/borislav-milosevic-diplomat-who-defended-his-brother-slobodan-8477878.html#

Serbia acknowledges loosening sovereignty over Kosovo in platform for negotiations

 

Serbia acknowledges loosening sovereignty over Kosovo in platform for negotiations

 

 

By Dusan Stojanovic, The Associated Press January 13, 2013

 

 

Serbia on Sunday adopted a set of guidelines for reconciliation talks with the leaders of Kosovo, in a strong first signal it is loosening its claim to its former province in hopes of getting closer to European Union membership.

In a resolution adopted by an overwhelming majority in Parliament, Serbia maintained it will never recognize Kosovo's 2008 declaration of independence. But in a big shift in policy, the document called for wide autonomy for minority Serbs within Kosovo's borders, indirectly recognizing Kosovo's sovereignty and territorial integrity.

While outlining a government plan for the talks with Kosovo's ethnic Albanian leaders, Serbia's Prime Minister Ivica Dacic said "Serbia's sovereignty over Kosovo practically does not exist" since NATO's 1999 bombing campaign chased Serbian troops out of the region.

Kosovo, which is recognized by some 90 countries including the United States and most EU states, is considered by Serbian nationalist the medieval cradle of the Serbian state and the Orthodox religion — something like Jerusalem for the Jews — and they have pledged never to give it up.

But, Dacic warned against "myths and fairytales" over Kosovo and said "we have to create a strong basis to save something."

"If Serbia keeps its head in the sand, it will have nothing to negotiate about," Dacic, who was former President Slobodan Milosevic's spokesman during the Kosovo war, said. "People need results and responsibility, not a policy of honourable failures and lost battles."

The more pragmatic approach to the ongoing talks indicates Serbian desire to get closer to EU membership. The EU said a progress in the talks is crucial for Belgrade to get a starting date for accession negotiations.

Hard-line nationalist lawmakers denounced the resolution, saying it represents "treason" and "a selloff" to the EU.

Serbia's nationalist President Tomislav Nikolic, who initiated the text of the original, more expansive resolution, praised the adoption of the document.

"This was a typical Serbian day in the parliament," Nikolic said, referring to the deep divisions in Serbia over Kosovo and other issues. "We did not reach a complete consensus, but it is clear that there is will to help find a solution to this problem."

http://www.canada.com/news/Serbia+acknowledges+loosening+sovereignty+over+Kosovo+platform/7813098/story.html

Serbia: Will 2013 be better than 2012?

Serbia

Will 2013 be better than 2012?

Jan 8th 2013, 16:47 by T.J.

 

2012 was the year of change in Serbia. It got a new government and a new president. 2013 will be the year that will tell whether the new leaders will deliver on their promises. According to two major opinion polls conducted in December, Serbs have high expectations of at least some of their leaders. According to one of them, 60% of Serbs think that their lives will be better than last year.

That poll, conducted by B92/Ipsos Strategic Marketing, shows that Serbs are worried by all the usual things. Thirty per cent  say the greatest challenge ahead is unemployment, 17% say it is poverty and 12% low standards of living. Maybe it was the way the question was asked, but oddly, the second major poll, by Faktor Plus for Politika, found that only 18% expected their lives would be better this year while 51% said they expected no improvement.

Faktor Plus, found that the country's most popular politician was Aleksandar Vucic (pictured above), the deputy prime minister now in charge of the anti-corruption campaign. Some 24% had a positive impression of him. Tomislav Nikolic, the president, scored 21%. Dragan Djilas, the mayor Belgrade and leader of the main opposition Democratic Party (DS) came third with 17.9 % and Ivica Dacic, the prime minister, scored 9.4%.

On party support B92 found that the Serbian Progressive Party (SNS) of Mr Vucic lead with 41.3% support., which is 11% more than a year ago. The DS are on 16.1%, which is 7% less than a year ago. The Socialists of Mr Dacic are on 14.9% but would get more support than the DS if you include their coalition partners.

On the question of Kosovo, Faktor Plus found that one third of Serbs thought that only autonomy for Serbs in the north could be obtained, 21% thought that the year would see a "strengthening" of Kosovo's independence (whatever that means,) and 11% believed that partition was possible. The B92 poll found that 63% of Serbs did not expect a solution to the Kosovo problem to be found this year though. With regard to the beginning of accession talks with the European Union 58% of those asked in the B92 poll thought that this was possible this year.

While the two polls do differ on various numbers they also show that Serbs enter 2013 in a rather optimistic or at least pragmatic frame of mind. High expectations are being vested in Mr Vucic above all. Yet he, and the government will need to deliver. His high ratings resemble those gained in the past by the former president, Boris Tadic, who now scores highly when people are asked whom they feel negative about.

The polls also show that, despite talk of early elections, this would clearly not be in the interests of the DS. It has not yet emerged from its post-election doldrums. Mr Djilas is very popular amongst many, but he also evokes strongly negative reactions amongst others.

In the next few months a couple of issues will determine the fate of the government and its popularity: The anti-corruption campaign, which has already seen the arrest of Miroslav Miskovic, the country's best-known tycoon, and the ongoing talks between Mr Dacic and Hashim Thaci, the prime minister of Kosovo, which are scheduled to resume on January 17^th. 

The economy is the government's Achilles heel. Like much of the rest of the region Serbia is facing a double-dip recession. Modest recovery of 1.6% of GDP in 2011 is expected to have been lost with a 2% contraction last year. Unemployment is at 22.4%  and the economy remains highly dependent on the fortunes of the euro zone.

http://www.economist.com/blogs/easternapproaches/2013/01/serbia

Serbs were ethnic-cleansing victims - The Washington Times - Stella Jatras

 

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/12/serbs-were-ethnic-cleansing-victims/

 

 

12 December 2012 (2 comments)

Serbs were ethnic-cleansing victims

Bottom of Form

As Ronald Reagan used to say, "Well, there you go again." Jeffrey Kuhner's recent piece about Croatia attempts to once again distort the truth ("Croatia's triumph," Commentary, Nov. 30).

The piece reads, in part, "Croatia's national independence finally has been secured." However, it should also be remembered that in 1941, Hitler granted Croatia independence for being his loyal ally, and according to the Simon Wiesenthal Institute, 40,000 Jews, 29,000 Gypsies and 600,000 Serbs were murdered.

The piece claims that hundreds of thousands of Bosnians and Croatians were slaughtered by Slobodan Milosevic's forces. Not so, according to a BBC report of 2002, which said, "Some 40,000 civilians were murdered as Serbs, Muslims and Croats fought for control of Bosnia from 1992 to 1995." During Operation Storm in 1995, ethnic Serbs were driven out of the Krajina region of Croatia. More than 250,000 Krajina Serbs were ethnically cleansed from their ancestral homes and thousands were slaughtered. Approximately 650,000 Serbs have been driven out of Croatia since 1992 with little prospect of ever returning.

Croatian Gen. Mladen Markac participated in a joint criminal enterprise, the purpose of which was the permanent removal of the Serb population from the Krajina region. In 2012, Croatian Gen. Ante Gotovina was convicted of having sought the permanent removal of the ethnic Serb population from the Krajina region during the war for Croatia's independence in 1995.

The reversal of war crimes committed by both generals further proves that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was created only to prosecute and convict Serbs.

STELLA L. JATRAS

Camp Hill, Pa.

KUHNER:  Croatian's Triumph http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/nov/29/croatias-triumph/

Read more: http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2012/dec/12/serbs-were-ethnic-cleansing-victims/#ixzz2EvjmPr00
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Selective Justice for the Balkans

Selective Justice for the Balkans

 

Joachim Ladefoged/VII

By DAVID HARLAND

Published: December 7, 2012

•  

Geneva

TOO bad if you were a Serb victim of any crime in the former Yugoslavia. More Serbs were displaced — ethnically cleansed — by the wars in the Balkans than any other community. And more Serbs remain ethnically displaced to this day. Almost no one has been held to account, and it appears that no one will be.

The United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague has acquitted Ramush Haradinaj, Kosovo's former prime minister, of war crimes. Last month, it acquitted on appeal the generals who led Croatia to victory over the Serbs.

Altogether, almost all of the West's friends have been acquitted; almost all of the Serbs have been found guilty. These results do not reflect the balance of crimes committed on the ground.

I have no sympathy with the Serbs who have been convicted. On the contrary. I lived through the siege of Sarajevo. I served as a witness for the prosecution in the cases against the former Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, and, most recently, the Bosnian Serb military commander, Ratko Mladic, who is accused of ordering the massacre at Srebrenica.

The Serbs committed many of the war's worst crimes, but were not at all alone, and it is not right, or useful, for them to carry the sole responsibility. Convicting only Serbs simply doesn't make sense in terms of justice, in terms of reality, or in terms of politics.

The Croatian leaders connived in the carve-up of Yugoslavia, and contributed mightily to the horrors on Bosnia and Herzegovina. I witnessed for myself the indiscriminate fury of the Croatian assault on the beautiful city of Mostar. I lived in a town in Bosnia where the decapitated heads of captured Muslims were displayed in the marketplace.

I saw for myself tens and tens of thousands of Serb civilian refugees fleeing Croatia in the wake of the 1995 Croatian offensive that ended the war. If the acquitted generals were not responsible for this ethnic cleansing, then somebody was, somebody who will presumably go free.

Nor were the Serbs and Croats alone, though they must shoulder most of the judgment of history. The Bosnian Muslim leadership had deeply compromising links to the international jihahist movement, and hosted at least three people who went on to play key roles in the 9/11 attacks on the United States. I witnessed attacks by foreign mujahedeen elements against Croat civilians in the Lasva Valley.

And the Kosovar Albanian authorities deserve a special mention, having taken ethnic cleansing to its most extreme form — ridding themselves almost entirely of the Serb and Roma populations. Kosovo's ancient Christian Orthodox monasteries are now almost the only reminder of a once-flourishing non-Albanian population. (These monasteries have been the object of numerous violent attacks. Several have been destroyed; others remain under threat.)

Haradinaj has been cleared of the charges brought against him, but the fact remains that hundreds of thousands of Serbs — mostly the elderly, women and children — were ethnically cleansed from Kosovo by the Kosovar Albanians.

What has happened at the tribunal is far from justice, and will be interpreted by observers in the Balkans and beyond as the continuation of war by legal means — with the United States, Germany and other Western powers on one side, and the Serbs on the other.

This will amplify the worst political instincts of the peoples of the former Yugoslavia: the persecution complex of the Serbs; the triumphalism of the Croats; the sense of victimization of the Bosnian Muslims; the vindication of the Kosovar Albanian quest for racial purity. Each of these traits has some basis in truth, and each has been exaggerated and manipulated by politicians on all sides.

The lack of legal reckoning will once again channel grievances into the political process, laying up plenty of ammunition for further rounds of conflict. It is the opposite of what the war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was created to achieve.

David Harland is executive director of the Center for Humanitarian Dialogue.

http://www.nytimes.com/2012/12/08/opinion/global/selective-justice-for-the-balkans.html