[Peace-discuss] Fwd: U.S./NATO Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of Pres. Slobodan Milosevic

[Morton K. Brussel]

I do believe that the behavior of the ICTY court at the Hague,  
Netherlands, has been unconscionable. Whatever you think of  
Milosevic, he did not receive a fair shake in that winners' court;  
they effectively killed him. --mkb

Begin forwarded message:

> From: International Action Center NYC <actioncenter at action-mail.org>
> Date: March 12, 2006 1:50:05 PM CST
> To: action.news at organizerweb.com
> Subject: U.S./NATO Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of  
> Pres. Slobodan Milosevic
>
>
> In this email:
>
> 1) Press Release from the International Action Center "U.S./NATO  
> Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of President Slobodan  
> Miloševic"
>
> 2) Letter from the The International Committee to Defend Slobodan  
> Miloševic to the UN Security Council
>
> 3) Statement from the International Action Center on the Death of  
> Slobodan Miloševic, President of Yugoslavia
>
>
>
> International Action Center
> 39 West 14th St, #206, New York, NY, 10011
> www.iacenter.org -  iacenter at action-mail.org
>
> Press Contact: John Catalinotto, Sara Flounders, Dustin Langley -  
> 212-633-6646
>
> March 11, 2006
>
> U.S./NATO Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of
> President Slobodan Milosevic
>
> Upon learning of the death of former Yugoslav President Slobodan  
> Milosevic in prison in The Hague, Netherlands, on March 12, the  
> International Action Center in the United States joined  
> organizations and individuals around the world in condemning the  
> court, prison authorities and the forces behind them with criminal  
> negligence in ignoring the prisoner’s medical care.
>
> The IAC also condemned the International Criminal Tribunal on the  
> Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for holding a “fraudulent trial for the  
> last four years in an attempt to blame President Milosevic and  
> Yugoslavia for NATO’s criminal war in the Balkans.”
>
> IAC co-director Sara Flounders said, “The full responsibility for  
> the death of President Slobodan Milosevic lies directly with the  
> fraudulent court created by the U.S. and NATO governments at The  
> Hague – the ICTY. Ever since the illegal kidnapping of President  
> Milosevic from Serbia in June 2001 and his forcible detention at  
> Scheveningen prison on fraudulent war crimes charges, the court has  
> consistently denied adequate medical care.”
>
> Flounders cited the last action of the International Committee for  
> the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM) continuing efforts to  
> save the life of the seriously ill defendant. The Defense Committee  
> appealed on March 8 to the 15 ambassadors of the members of the  
> United Nations Security Council. Their letter signed by prominent  
> supporters urged that Milosevic be transferred to Russia under  
> secure guarantees for his return, for emergency medical care, given  
> his critical medical condition, after the ICTY had refused this  
> treatment. The IAC delivered the letters to the UN Security Council  
> members.
>
> “During this trial, now over four years old,” said Flounders,  
> “the prosecution failed to present a coherent case against  
> President Milosevic. In addition, his vigorous defense exposed step  
> by step the crimes of the imperialist powers, especially the U.S.  
> and Germany, in conspiring to destroy the Yugoslav Socialist  
> Federation through subversion and direct military assault. As the  
> case was drawing to a close this presented a terrible dilemma for  
> the court.”
>
> Flounders traveled with international human rights lawyer Ramsey  
> Clark to Yugoslavia during the U.S.-NATO bombing in the spring of  
> 1999. Based on that trip Flounders met with President Milosevic in  
> Scheveningen prison at The Hague and was on the schedule to be a  
> witness at the trial for the defense on the impact of the NATO  
> bombing.
>
> The UN Security Council established the ICTY in 1993, at the  
> insistence of Secretary of State Madeline Albright. Its role from  
> the beginning was restricted to prosecuting solely people from the  
> Yugoslav Federation. Almost all the cases were directed against  
> Serbs and all of the cases served to deflect responsibility from  
> the U.S. and NATO. The ICTY rejected attempts by a group of  
> international attorneys to bring war crimes charges against the  
> United States for the 78 days of bombing primarily civilian targets  
> in Yugoslavia.
>
> Ramsey Clark has often described the ICTY’s establishment as “an  
> explicit violation of the UN Charter and a political court used as  
> an instrument of war against the Yugoslav peoples.”
>
> The Nobel Laureate Harold Pinter also described the court. “The  
> U.S./NATO court trying Slobodan Milosevic was always totally  
> illegitimate. It could never be taken seriously as a court of  
> justice. Milosevic defense is powerful, convincing, persuasive and  
> impossible to dismiss.”
>
> The ICTY received its financing from the U.S. and other NATO powers  
> and from international financial organizations such as those  
> connected with billionaire George Soros, an enemy of socialism in  
> Eastern Europe. Although there was an extremely unequal financing  
> of the ICTY’s prosecution compared with Milosevic’s defense  
> effort, NATO governments still interfered with all attempts to  
> collect funds from human rights organizations to support the  
> Yugoslav president’s effort to make his case. The German and  
> Austrian governments closed the Defense Committee’s bank accounts  
> in both countries in the last few months before Milosevic’s death.
>
> Despite having no permanent staff and relatively little legal  
> assistance to respond to 500,000 pages of prosecution documents,  
> Milosevic politically countered every charge against him while  
> discrediting the prosecution witnesses. During the defense part of  
> the trial, he was able to present a damning case against the U.S.  
> and NATO. Though the NATO powers first announced the Milosevic case  
> as the “trial of the century” and planned a show trial, when  
> Milosevic turned the table on the prosecution and counter-charged  
> NATO with war crimes almost all coverage of the trial ended.
>
> In two major statements, answering the charges against him in 2001  
> at the opening of the trial and in 2004 at the opening of his  
> defense, Milosevic makes the historical record. The 2001 statement  
> is published in the 2002 book, “Hidden Agenda – The U.S./NATO  
> Takeover of Yugoslavia,” and his 2004 statement in the book,  
> “The Defense Speaks – For History and the Future.”  Both books  
> are published by the IAC.
>
> In a statement released by the International Committee to Defend  
> Slobodan Milosevic – www.icdsm.org the committee called the courts  
> action: “tantamount to the murder of a man who stood as a symbol  
> of resistance to the New World Order and a symbol of and fighter  
> for the independence and sovereignty of the peoples of Yugoslavia  
> and for social justice in the world. This was his only crime.”
>
> The Defense Committee demanded: “that there be an international,  
> independent enquiry into the circumstances and cause of his death  
> and that his family, his party and his supporters be party to that  
> enquiry. We also demand the right of his wife and family to attend  
> his funeral without fear of persecution, arrest or any other  
> impediment to their right to honor their beloved husband, comrade  
> and father.”
>
> In a statement made Nov. 29, 2005, exposing the duplicity of the  
> court regarding the inadequate health care provided him; Milosevic  
> made it clear to British judge Ian Bonomy what he thought of the  
> tribunal: “This entire court was envisaged as an instrument of war  
> against my country. It was founded illegally on the basis of an  
> illegal decision and carried through by the forces that waged war  
> against my country. There is just one thing that is true here: It  
> is true that there is a joint criminal enterprise, but not in  
> Belgrade, not with Yugoslavia as its center, but those, who, in a  
> war that was waged in Yugoslavia from 1991 onwards, destroyed  
> Yugoslavia.”
>
> - 30 –
>
> President Milosevic opening statement as the Trial opened is  
> printed in full in the IAC book Hidden Agenda: The U.S./NATO  
> Takeover of Yugoslavia .His statement to the court 2 years later as  
> the defense finally began its rebuttal is printed in full
> in the IAC book The Defense Speaks – For History and the Future  .
>
>
>
> The International Committee to Defend Slobodan Miloševic I C D S M
> Sofia-New York-Moscow-Belgrade
> www.icdsm.org
> Founded 25 March 2001 in Berlin
> New York, 8 March 2006
> Phone/Fax +381 11 630 549
>
>
> Letter to the 15 Members of the UN Security Council
>
> Dear Ambassador,
>
> We are dismayed and deeply distressed at the cavalier and dilatory  
> dismissal by the ICTY Trial Chamber of former President Slobodan  
> Milosevic’s request that, as recommended by the internationally  
> respected Bakoulev Center for Cardiovascular Surgery in Moscow, he  
> be transferred there for further testing and possible treatment for  
> a life threatening cardiovascular condition. The Trial Chambers  
> opinion is attached. Based on medical examinations of President  
> Milosevic by three doctors on November 4, 2005, including Dr. M.V.  
> Shumilina, an angiologist from the Bakoulev Center, Dr. L.A.  
> Bockeria, Director and Chairman of the Bakoulev Center found  
> President Milosevic condition to be “critical”. The Trial  
> Chamber received these medical evaluations on November 15, 2005.  
> Most dismaying and distressing is the total failure of the Trial  
> Chamber to address and acknowledge the medical condition of  
> President Milosevic and order needed testing and medical treatment  
> as is the right of every prisoner.
>
> International law—and in particular, the International Covenant  
> for Civil and Political Rights-- prescribes, and the ICTY’s own  
> Rules of detention guarantee, the rights of prisoners to be  
> “treated with humanity and with respect for the inherent dignity  
> of the human person”. Throughout the course of legal proceedings,  
> accused are presumed innocent, and those deprived of their liberty  
> are to be treated in a manner “appropriate to their status as  
> unconvicted persons”.
>
> President Milosevic remains untreated in the face of Dr.  
> Shumilina’s conclusion that his medical treatment at the United  
> Nations Detention Unit is “inadequate”. Incredibly, despite his  
> history of heart problems and high blood pressure, no vascular  
> diagnoses had been made before November 4, 2004. Yet President  
> Milosevic’s health has been a major concern in the proceedings for  
> the past three years. The stress of the proceedings, the inadequate  
> medical care and the prison conditions have severely worsened his  
> prior health problems endangering his life. The Trial Chamber has  
> taken no action to protect the life of a prisoner whose physical  
> condition has been found to be critical. Instead it has trivialized  
> its duty to assure adequate and necessary medical care for a person  
> being tried before it. Detainees who require special treatment, as  
> does President Milosevic, must be transferred to specialized  
> institutions for that treatment, as set out by the. Standard  
> Minimum Rules for the Treatment of Prisoners, adopted by the First  
> United Nations Congress on the Prevention of Crime and the  
> Treatment of Offenders.
>
> The Trial Chamber astonishingly proclaims:
> 1. “That neither Dr. Shumilina nor Dr. Bockeria states that the  
> Bakoulev Center is the only possible location for appropriate  
> diagnosis and treatment of the accused’s condition.” What  
> conceit could lead them to such a boast? They doubtless believe  
> their Center is the best and such a conclusion is justified. No  
> confidence can be placed in the medical choices of the Court  
> authorities after their years of neglect and selection in December  
> 2005 of Dr. Aarts, a Dutch neurological radiologist, who found no  
> pathological condition in President Milosevic and made no  
> recommendations for treatment.
>
> 2. That it “...accepts the submission of the Prosecution that if  
> the Accused wishes to be treated by specialists who are not from  
> the Netherlands, such physicians may come here to treat him.” Rich  
> and famous people travel from all parts of the world to leading  
> medical centers like Bakoulev, often when their very travel is a  
> risk. No one believes the same quality service could be provided by  
> roving medical teams of the world’s best doctors and if it could  
> be, the number of patients they serve would be drastically reduced.  
> Both propositions are absurd in a proceeding where life and  
> fundamental rights are at stake. And how does the panel explain  
> it’s authorizing Pavle Strugar to be repeatedly released to travel  
> to Montenegro, an entity which is not a UN member, for hip  
> replacement surgery, a relatively safe, simple and a minor  
> procedure? Prosecutor v. Pavle Strugar, IT-01-42-A, 3 December  
> 2001, 16 December 2005. The final conclusion of the Trial Chamber  
> proclaims that it is “not satisfied ... that it is more likely  
> than not that the Accused, if released, would return for the  
> continuation of his trial”. Why it has more trust in the  
> government of Montenegro or interim administration of Kosovo than  
> the Russian Federation, which has given its word to return  
> President Milosevic, is not explained, but the insult to a  
> permanent member of the Security Council is inescapable. The Trial  
> Chamber’s reliance in denying President Milosevic needed medical  
> care, on the proceedings being in “its latter stages ... at the  
> end of which ... he may face the possibility of life imprisonment”  
> is irrational at best. Does it mean under such circumstances, a  
> prisoner may just have to die? Is it too late for urgently needed  
> medical treatment? Does it mean “the possibility of life  
> imprisonment is greater in the latter stages of a trial than in the  
> beginning? Then it is commenting on the weight of the evidence  
> which it will judge. Would a defendant who believes he would be  
> convicted and sentenced to life in prison wait until the latter  
> stages of proceedings to seek a means of escape? Would an impartial  
> Court obligated to hear all the evidence before reaching a decision  
> believe in the latter stages of a trial it was hearing that the  
> defendant was more likely to flee then than he was at the  
> beginning, unless the Court believed the evidence supported a  
> severe sentence? Has the Court revealed its bias by its bizarre  
> reliance on a presumed fear of a life sentence by the accused in  
> the latter stages of these proceedings? The decision of the Trial  
> Chamber is unsupportable in fact and in law. It exposes the  
> Court’s strategy of feeble excuses to support its prejudice and  
> reveals its own failures to protect the health of this prisoner.  
> The decision is so unreasonable and plainly unjust as to  
> demonstrate the appearance and the fact of judicial prejudice. The  
> Court has determined that President Milosevic must face the  
> possibility of death because it sees the possibility of a life  
> sentence as the cause for his seeking emergency medical care. The  
> decision alone, affirmed by the Appeals Chamber, will do great  
> injury to the ICTY and international humanitarian law. The death or  
> serious impairment of President Milosevic for want of medical care  
> will impose the same sentence on the ICTY and international law as  
> a means to peace. We urge you to direct the ICTY to order the  
> immediate transfer of President Milosevic to the Bakoulev Center  
> for testing and treatment under the conditions proposed.
>
> Respectfully submitted,
>
> Ramsey Clark, Former US Attorney General, USA
>
> Professor Velko Valkanov, doctor of law, President of the Bulgarian  
> Committee for Human Rights, former MP, Bulgaria
>
> Professor Alexander Zinoviev, philosopher, writer, Russian Federation
>
> Professor Sergei Baburin, doctor of law, Vice-Chairman of the State  
> Duma of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Russian Federation
>
> Judr Vojtěch Filip, Vice-Chairman of the Chamber of Deputies of the  
> Parliament of the Czech Republic Thanassis Pafilis, Member of the  
> European Parliament, General Secretary of the World Peace Council,  
> Greece
>
> Tiphaine Dickson, international criminal lawyer, Quebec
>
> Professor Aldo Bernardini, doctor of international law, Italy
>
> Christopher Black, international criminal lawyer, Canada
>
> Klaus Hartmann, Vice-Chairman of the World Union of Freethinkers,  
> Germany
>
> Sara Flounders, Co Director of the International Action Center
>
>
> Attachment: Decision of the ICTY Trial Chamber
>
>
>
> IAC STATEMENT ON THE DEATH IN PRISON OF SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC,  
> PRESIDENT OF YUGOSLAVIA
>
> The International Action Center would like to send its sincere  
> condolences to the family, friends and comrades of President  
> Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and to the peoples of the Balkans  
> who mourn his death at the hands of the court and prison  
> authorities in The Hague. We join with others around the world to  
> condemn the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former  
> Yugoslavia (ICTY) for this crime. The full responsibility for the  
> death of President Slobodan Milosevic lies directly with the  
> fraudulent court created by the U.S. and NATO governments at The  
> Hague – the ICTY. We join the also the demands for an independent  
> investigation of the circumstances of President Milosevic’s death.
>
> Since the illegal kidnapping of President Milosevic from Serbia in  
> June 2001 and his forcible detention at Scheveningen prison on  
> fraudulent war crimes charges, the court has consistently denied  
> adequate medical care. The ICTY has held a fraudulent trial for the  
> last four years in an attempt to blame Milosevic and Yugoslavia for  
> NATO’s criminal war in the Balkans.
>
> During this trial, now over four years old, the prosecution has  
> failed to present anything like a case against Milosevic. In  
> addition, his vigorous defense has exposed the crimes of the  
> imperialist powers, especially the U.S. and Germany, in conspiring  
> to destroy the Yugoslav Socialist Federation through subversion and  
> direct military assault.
>
> In the days before President Milosevic’s death, the IAC joined the  
> efforts of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobodan  
> Milosevic (ICDSM), sending to the 15 ambassadors of the members of  
> the United Nations Security Council a request that President  
> Milosevic be transferred to Russia for medical care, given his  
> critical medical condition. This court has now—at the very least— 
> allowed him to die rather than exposing its own inability to build  
> a case against this Yugoslav and Serb political leader. The ICTY  
> was responsible for his care and is guilty in the very least of  
> criminal neglect.
>
> The NATO leaders--with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard  
> Schroeder topping the list—should have been the ones on trial for  
> war crimes. >From the day of his kidnapping, President Milosevic  
> waged a heroic defense of his own actions to defend Yugoslavia. He  
> equally exposed the crimes of these leaders of the great powers to  
> the world. For this the peoples of the Balkans and of the world  
> will be indebted to him.
>
>
> Sara Flounders,
> Co-coordination, International Action Center
> March 11, 2006
>
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