Hague ´Prosecutor´ Calls Milosevic Unfair
[ICDSM] Jared Israel - 02.03.2002 10:44
Hague ´Prosecutor´ Calls Milosevic Unfair (to Liars?)
The excerpt below, from a news story by reporter Ian Fisher, sounds like a
parody. But really, it is impossible to parody The Hague ´tribunal´:
[Start quote from National Post]
"THE HAGUE - Prosecutors sought yesterday to clamp down on Slobodan
Milosevic´s lengthy cross-examinations, saying his grillings could deter
future witnesses from testifying against him at his trial for war crimes.
"´We do have to have in mind the effect that questioning can have on
witnesses yet to come,´ the lead prosecutor, Geoffrey Nice, told the judges.
"´It would be foolish to pretend that this process isn´t being given very
wide publicity.´
"His comments came at the end of a day when Mr. Milosevic, at times sharply,
questioned two ethnic Albanians who said they witnessed executions by Serb
forces in the war in Kosovo in 1999.
"During the first six days of testimony, Mr. Milosevic, the former Yugoslav
leader acting as his own lawyer, has taken vigorous advantage of his right to
ask questions to make his own case: that his army and police were not
responsible for atrocities."
-- End quote from National Post On-Line, February 27, 2002
 http://www.nationalpost.com/news/world/story.html?f=/stories/20020227/183738.h
tml
Note that Mr. Fisher describes President Milosevic as taking "vigorous
advantage of his right to ask questions," suggesting there is something
illicit about a sharp cross-examination in which witness after witness is
exposed as a liar.
Look at the balance sheet, if you will.
On the one hand, The Hague has virtually unlimited financial, organizational
and communications resources.
On the other hand, Slobodan Milosevic has a tiny cell in the same prison
"which was used by the Gestapo during the Second World War as a torture
centre for Dutch resistance fighters." (National Post, February 11, 2002)
He is only permitted to see his wife once a month. (Other prisoners get to
see family every day.) The prison food is inedible. He is not allowed to
exercise when The Hague is in ´session.´ (I put ´session´ in quotes because
this is not a real court.) He is not permitted to meet with his legal
advisers, other than his Yugoslav attorneys and perhaps one Dutch lawyer.
This ban includes the head of his legal team, Chris Black. It also includes
most of his attorneys suing the ´tribunal´ and Holland for denying President
Milosevic basic rights. Whenever ´Judge´ May wishes, he silences Milosevic by
turning off his microphone. He has access to no research library nor the
Internet. He cannot freely receive documents. He is not allowed to talk to
the press although the prosecution holds regular press conferences. During
much of his detention (though not at the moment) lights have been turned on
in his cell, 24 hours a day.
I could go on. The point is, his rights are violated constantly and his
living conditions are awful.
All Slobodan Milosevic has is his knowledge of what really happened in Kosovo
and his brilliance, which enable him, despite widespread press censorship, to
reach people around the world with the truth.
So why should witnesses be afraid? Why are they refusing to testify? Why did
Agence France Press report, about one Mr. Zeqiri, that:
"Throughout his testimony, Zeqiri twisted in his chair to avoid facing
Milosevic, who listened impassively and scribbled notes. The witness looked
away even as the one-time Serbian strongman fired questions at him during
cross-examination." (AFP, February 20, 2002)
Note that, even in this context, Agence France Presse feels the need to label
Milosevic a "strongman." But in fact Slobodan Milosevic has no army, no
police, nothing but his eyes and his words. On the other hand, the witnesses
are part of the secessionist organization which runs Kosovo with the support
of not only NATO but The Hague ´tribunal´ as well.
President Milosevic doesn´t yell at these witnesses. He doesn´t threaten
them. He just catches them in lies.
That is why the ´prosecutor,´ Geoffrey Nice, is worried. As Mr. Nice says:
"It would be foolish to pretend that this process isn´t being given very wide
publicity."
The ´prosecution´ wants to silence Slobodan Milosevic because he is proving
that NATO´s witnesses - and therefore NATO´s ´tribunal´ - are liars. This is
causing would-be witnesses to think twice about appearing. Moreover, Slobodan
Milosevic is showing millions of people around the world that a) we have been
sold a pack of lies about Yugoslavia and that b) one principled leader of a
small country is more than an intellectual match for the legal ´minds´ of the
NATO emperors.
And that translates: NATO can be defeated.
The so-called prosecution at NATO´s so-called tribunal is worried because
millions of people around the world are learning from President Milosevic
that NATO can be beaten.
[Coming Soon: "Lies and More Lies at NATO´s ´Tribunal´" ]
-- Jared Israel
 Website: http://www.icdsm.org/more/unfair.htm
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