Will the Whistleblower Who Revealedthe First War Crime in Yugoslavia Go to Jail Soon ?

Will the Whistleblower Who Revealedthe First War Crime in Yugoslavia Go to Jail Soon ?

GEORGES BERGHEZAN

June 25, 1991: Slovenia and Croatia unilaterally proclaim their independence, the Yugoslav army is deployed at the country's international borders. Three days later, in the village of Holmec, at the Slovene-Austrian border, three young conscripts, attacked by Slovene police who had encircled their tank, waved a white flag and surrendered. They were killed in cold blood by the police in the presence of a cameraman from the Austrian TV network ORF. It was the first documented war crime in a conflict that would continue spilling blood in the former Yugoslavia for the next eight years.These facts were kept secret for the next seven years until the ORF footage showing the surrender and the execution of the three soldiers -- two Serbs and one Croat -- was finally broadcast on Slovenian television. Pressured by the Slovene branch of the NGO Helsinki Monitor and its president, Neva Miklavcic Predan, an official inquiry was conducted, but it concluded in 1999 that no war crimes at all had been committed (the soldiers would have simulated their execution and they would have been killed shortly afterward in combat). Things probably could have stayed there -- and the affair could have continued to be completely ignored by the international media -- if Slobodan Milosevic, the former Serbian president, during his cross-examination of the Slovene President, Milan Kucan, who had been summoned by The Hague Tribunal in May 2003 to testify against Milosevic, had not posed several troubling questions to his adversary and brought several supplementary pieces of information to the case, which included the death certificates of the aforementioned soldiers. Visibly caught off guard, Kucan gave assurances that the case had not been closed, all the while denying that the conscripts had been executed. A few days later, Neva Miklavcic Predan held a press conference in Ljubljana in which she cast a shadow of doubt on Kucan testimony. The statements made at this press conference sparked a defamation lawsuit filed by twenty-six Slovene war veterans whose "feelings were profoundly hurt" by her allegation of war crime. At the same time, a Slovenian court closed the case once again at the beginning of April 2006, reiterating that no war crime had taken place in Holmec, basing its decision on the 1999 inquiry. On the other hand, in Belgrade, a special tribunal for war crimes finally decided to open an inquest on the matter. At The Hague, despite the evidence provided by Miklavcic Predan, and then by Milosevic, there still does not seem to be any interest in what appears to be the first war crime committed in the Yugoslav wars.For Neva Miklavcic Predan, however, the case has not been closed. The complaint filed by the war veterans has gone its course and resulted in the trial now taking place. She risks being sentenced to two years imprisonment and the next hearing has been set for May 30. During the first two hearings, the accusations relied on a gross falsification of the ORF video that tries to make one believe that the Slovene police did not fire upon the Yugoslav conscripts.Furthermore, she is accused of having tried to bribe a government official in order to obtain citizenship for a Roma. This second trial has now been suspended. She could be sentenced to three years more in prison as a result of the proceedings. Finally, a judge in Ljubljana, feeling offended by a remark that Miklavcic Predan made, has also filed a complaint. She is subject to three months' imprisonment if she is sentenced.Neva Miklavcic Predan considers herself to be the victim of political trials intended to punish her for having cast a shadow over the mini-war of independence waged by Slovenia, which has often been characterized as a model among the new members of the European Union. Even if the affair starts making headlines throughout the former Yugoslavia, it still remains unknown beyond. However, the World Organization Against Torture (OMCT) and the International Federation for Human Rights (FIDH) have initiated a campaign of support and have requested writing to the Slovene authorities in order to stop the harassment of the president of Helsinki Monitor. We have taken up their appeal, which we reproduce below. Action requested:Please write to the Slovenian authorities and ask them to: i. Put an end to any kind of harassment against Mrs. Neva Miklavcic-Predan, and ensure that her right to a fair and impartial trial be guaranteed in any circumstances;ii. Conform with the provisions of the Declaration on Humans Rights Defenders, adopted by the General Assembly of the United Nations on December 9, 1998, in particular article 1, which states that "everyone has the right, individually or in association with others, to promote the protection and realisation of human rights and fundamental freedoms at the national and international levels", and article 12.2, which states that "the State shall take all necessary measures to ensure the protection by the competent authorities of everyone, individually and in association with others, against any violence, threats, retaliation, de facto or de jure adverse discrimination, pressure or any other arbitrary action as a consequence of his or her legitimate exercise of the rights referred to in the present Declaration";iii. More generally, conform with the provisions of the Universal Declaration on Human Rights, and with all other international human rights instruments binding Slovenia.

Addresses:� President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Janez Drnovsek, Erjavceva 17, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 478-10-00, Fax: 00 386 1 478-12-00, Email: janez.drnovsek@up-rs.si; gp.uprs@up-rs.si� Premier of the Republic of Slovenia, Janez Jansa, Gregorciceva 20, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 478-10-00, Fax: 00 386 1 478-17-21, Email: janez.jansa@gov.si; gp.upv@upr-rs.si� Minister of Justice of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr. Lovro Sturm, Zupanciceva 3, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 369-52-72, Fax: 00 386 1 369-52-76, Email: lovro.sturm@gov.si� Minister of Foreign Affairs, Dr. Dimitrij Rupel, Presernova 25, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00386 1 478-23-73, Fax: 00386 1 478-21-70, Email: dimitrij.rupel@gov.si� Supreme State Prosecutor, Barbara Brezigar, Dunajska 22, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 434-19-35, Fax: 00 386 1, Email: bbrezigar@dt-rs.si� District Court of Ljubljana, president, Tavcarjeva 9, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 366-44-44, Fax: 00 386 1 366-45-18, Email: marjan.pogacnik@sodisce.si� Local Court of Ljubljana, President Vesna Pavlic Pivk, Miklosiceva 12, 1000 Ljubljana. Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 47 47.701, Fax: 00 386 1 47-47-705, Email: urad.@sodisce.si� Higher Court in Ljubljana, President Jernej Potocar, Tavcarjeva 9, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 366-40-00, Fax: 00 386 1 366-40-70, Email: jernej.potocar@sodisce.si� Supreme Court of the Republic of Slovenia, President Franc Testen, Tavcarjeva 9, Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel.: 00 386 1 336-42-02, Fax: 00 386 1 336-43-01, Email: urad.vhrs@sodisce.si� Constitutional Court of the Republic of Slovenia, President Janez Cebulj, Betthovnova 10, 1000 Ljubljana, Slovenia, Tel: 00 386 1 477-64-00, Fax: 00 386 1 251-04-51, Email: info@us-rs.si� Ambassador Mr. Aljaz Gosnar, Permanent Mission of Slovenia to the United Nations in Geneva, rue de Lausanne 147, 1202 Geneva, Switzerland, Tel: + 41 22 716 17 80, Fax: + 41 22 738 66 65, Email: mge@mzz-dpk.gov.si� Permanent Mission of Slovenia in Brussels, 30 avenue Marnix, 1000 Bruxelles, Belgium, Tel : +32 25124466, Fax : + 32 25120997AUTHOR'S ADDRESS : g.berghezan@tele2.beMORE : See chapter "Medialies" in the book Liar's Poker -Yugoslavia, the great powers and the next wars. Info : michel.collon@skynet.beMORE ABOUT YUGOSLAVIA, MEDIA-LIES? HIDDEN US and GERMAN STRAGIES...: (in French)
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'No Mladic, no membership'

Sir, I cannot see the draw for the people of Serbia to come into the 
vipers nest. After all,  the countries which are blackmailing Serbia 
over a Bosnian Serb, bombed the country and destroyed much of it's 
civilian facilities and infrastracture in 78 days of hell in 1999. 
There has been nothing but pressure and blackmail since that year of 
infamy. Why would anyone think for a moment that the Serbs have a 
place with the sowers of death and destruction is beyond me.
Sincerely, B. Perry
London

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http://www.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,13509-2163199,00.html


Times Online
May 03, 2006


EU tells Serbia: 'No Mladic, no membership'
By Simon Freeman and agencies

The European Union today suspended membership talks with Serbia in punishment for the country's failure to deliver the fugitive war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic to a UN tribunal.

A deadline for the transfer of the Bosnian Serb general, wanted on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity, into the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at The Hague expired at the end of April.
Olli Rehn, the EU Enlargement Commissioner, issued a statement today confirming that talks over Belgrade's possible integration into the EU had been frozen.
"It is disappointing that Belgrade has been unable to locate, arrest and transfer Ratko Mladic to the Hague. The Commission therefore has to call off the negotiations on the Stabilisation and Association Agreement.
"Serbia must show that nobody is above the law and that anybody indicted for serious crimes will face justice," he said after a meeting with Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor of the tribunal.
The EU's decision to carry out its long-standing threat will intensify the pressure within Serbia to hand over General Mladic, 64, who many Serbs still regard as a war hero, but whose continued freedom has rendered the country a hostage.
The renegade general has evaded capture since 1995, and is generally believed to be living under the protection of senior military and political figures within Serbia.
Suspension of the tentative talks will be seen as a hugely punishing sanction for the country which is struggling to rebuild its economy after a decade of civil war.
Vojisclav Kostunica, the Serbian Prime Minister, has coerced or bribed previous indictees into giving themselves up but General Mladic is refusing to co-operate, aware that his arrest could fatally destabilise the coalition government.
There was intense excitement on February 21 this year when television reports suggested that General Mladic, one of Europe's most wanted men, had been arrested.
Despite several days of headlines and insider reports that he had finally been captured, the reports - which came a few days before an earlier EU deadline - transpired to be without foundation.
There has been a fresh wave of rumours of his impending capture in the past few weeks, most recently it was suggested that Mladic had been tracked down by a team of agents from MI6 and the CIA and would be arrested on May 1.
General Mladic led the Bosnian Serb forces to commit many of the atrocities and massacres which characterised the Bosnian war.
He is chiefly associated with the four-year siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 attack on Srebenica - in which at least 8,000 Mulsim men and boys were massacred - considered the worst atrocity in Europe since the Second World War.
The next round of talks, the first stepping stone towards eventual EU membership, had been due on May 11. They have now been postponed indefinitely.