Experts in int'l law back Milosevic defense

Might doesn't make right. NATO forces were able to break up Yugo slavia but that doesn't make its kidnapped former leader a criminal.

Ramsey Clark at meeting in The Hague.

Fifty people interested in the defense of the former Yugoslav president attended an international conference here Feb. 26 to discuss "The Hague Proceedings against Slobodan Milosevic: Emerging Issues in International Law."

The group was concerned that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is attempting to cut short his legal defense.

And even as Milosevic fights for time to rebut the charges against him, the U.S. and the puppet Iraqi regime have plans to put another former leader of an invaded country on trial: Saddam Hussein.

The meeting brought together top jurists in international law, mainly from Europe and the United States but including a representative from India. The speakers made persuasive presentations exposing the illegitimacy of the ICTY and the case against President Milosevic.

The case has gone through a number of phases since NATO forces kidnapped the Serb leader from prison in Belgrade in June 2001. When the proceedings opened in February 2002, the media dubbed them the "trial of the century." Milosevic and Serbia were to be blamed for 10 years of civil war in the Balkans in the 1990s.

However, Milosevic was able, even with the minimal assistance available to him and despite serious medical problems, to turn the tables on the ICTY during cross-examination and indict the leaders of NATO for 10 years of aggression aimed at destroying Yugoslavia.

The result was that the corporate media stopped reporting on the trial, thus turning it into a de facto secret kangaroo court. Now the prosecution is attempting to limit Milosevic's active defense case and bring the trial to a close as rapidly as possible.

International jurists

Present at the Feb. 26 conference were former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, former Bulgarian presidential candidate Professor Velko Valkanov, Pro fes sor Dr. Hans Köchler of Austria, Professor Aldo Bernardini of Italy, Canadian international attorney Chris topher Black, Dr. John Laughland of Britain and Pro fessor Bhim Singh, chair of the Jammu Kashmir National Panther Party. Maitre Tiphaine Dickson of Quebec had to cancel her appearance but submitted a paper read by one of the participants.

Clark, a founding member of the Inter national Action Center, said his visit to Milosevic the day before had showed the "triumph of the human spirit" and called the president "undaunted." Clark said "the violence and deaths of the wars on Yugo slavia were caused by others" and "the real crime was that of organizing the war."

Clark compared the situation in Yugo slavia to that of the U.S. Civil War, although in the Balkans the reactionary side won. "He [Milosevic] was blamed for doing what Abraham Lincoln did in the American Civil War--and that was trying to preserve the Union. Lincoln said many times that his sole purpose was to preserve the Union, yet here the United States' sole purpose was to destroy Yugoslavia, so that the 'end of history' would appear real," said Clark.

"To do that you had to demonize and destroy the leadership that aimed to preserve the Yugoslav union," he added. "And to have its way the United States had to corrupt the United Nations and international justice."

Professor Valkonov pointed out that with regard to both Serbia and Iraq, "the United States violated all laws" to carry out military attacks on these countries.

Vladimir Krsljanin of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic announced plans to staff an office in The Hague. Two young activists will help Milosevic prepare his defense case in the remaining time and publicize the results. Krsljanin asked for the necessary financial and organizational support from those who understand the importance of refusing to allow NATO powers to be the sole ones to write the recent history of the Balkans.