Ex-rebel Croatian Serb leader convicted at Hague

Reuters ^ | 28 Jan 2004

[yonif]

AMSTERDAM, Jan 28 (Reuters) - The Hague war crimes tribunal convicted ex-rebel Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic on Wednesday of persecuting Croats in a Serb campaign to seize territory in Croatia in 1991-92.

Babic, former prime minister in the breakaway Krajina Serb republic after Croatia declared independence from Yugoslavia in 1991, pleaded guilty to a crime against humanity in a plea agreement with prosecutors at the U.N. tribunal on Tuesday.

Judges on Wednesday accepted the agreement under which four counts of war crimes are being dropped by the prosecution.

"Mr Babic, this chamber finds you guilty on count one of the indictment issued on the sixth of November, 2003: persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity," judge Alphons Orie said.

"The chamber gives its consent to the withdrawal of the other counts," the judge told prosecutors in a Web cast of a hearing at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

Prosecutors have recommended a maximum jail sentence of 11 years as part of the plea agreement. The court scheduled a sentencing hearing for April.

U.N. tribunal prosecutors regard Babic as one of former Serbian and Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's key allies during a campaign to expel non-Serbs from about a third of Croatian territory in the early 1990s.

Babic testified against Milosevic at his trial in The Hague in 2002. Milosevic is on trial charged with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in Croatia, Bosnia and Kosovo in the 1990s.

Babic, who was also foreign minister for the Krajina Serb republic before the enclave was recaptured in a huge Croatian offensive in 1995, told the court on Tuesday he felt a "deep sense of shame and remorse" over his actions.

[adam_az]

"Mr Babic, this chamber finds you guilty on count one of the indictment issued on the sixth of November, 2003: persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity," judge Alphons Orie said.

So he "persecuted" then, he didn't kill them and place them in mass graves? There aren't 100,000 bodies in mass graves, as Clinton used for justification to bomb Serbia? Does that mean that Serbia wasn't an 'immediate threat' to US security, AND there was no UN resolution? If so, why did Weasly Clark prosecute the war? Oh, so many questions, now my head hurts.

I'm sure the NY Times will be all over the fact that "Clinton Lied," after all the attention they've paid to the previous times. /sarcasm

[wonders]

Um, the Hague charges against Babic had nothing to do with the NATO becoming the KLA/UCK Air Force. The deal he made with Hague prosecutors... maybe. The charges against Babic were strictly concerning Croatia.

Babic is a nasty little thug who's sold his soul so many times over he's lost count. In the end, he sold out and abandoned his own people (the Krajina Serbs). He was really, really nasty to the remaining Croat minority within RSK during his brief reign (late 1991- early part of 1992) and it probably wouldn't be hard to prove he was ultimately responsible for the murders of a hundred or so Croats. Or maybe it is hard to prove because the prosecution decided to drop those those charges. I think they charges were dropped because of the "deal" rather than lack of evidence, though. Not sure.

Eleven lousy years from the Kanga Kourt in exchange for "testimony" against Slobo (in case anyone would believe anything the lying weasel says). Personally, I'd rather have seen him (along with Martic) tried by a jury consisting of Krajina Croats and Serbs.

News articles keep describing him as "an ally of Milosevic" but, as best I can recall, he was generally on the outs with Slobo. Didn't Slobo insist the RSK leadership can him in '92, or do I not remember right? Then there was the power struggle with Mikelic toward the end, with Babic winding up as PM after all at the very end in '95. The Milosevic/Mikelic/Babic thing was convoluted. Vooch, kosta...can one of you guys help me out here?

[kosta50]

I would have to dig into my files because honestly I don't recall much more than what you posted, and that whole Krayina issue was so convoluted, as you said, it involved a lot of wheeling and dealing. I know that at one point the Krayina and RS united but that was only theory.

While there is no doubt that in an ethnic war, populations of warrings factions will victimized based on their nationality or ethnicity, let's not forget that "recapturing" of Krayina by Coratians (with American help) resulted in "persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds, a crime against humanity" just the same. I am still waiting for parallel "convictions" from the Kosovo Albanian side, the Coratians as well as Izetbegovic's lietuenants like Nasir Oric. Somehow, based on the Hague's track record, I doubt it.

[wonders]

Thanks kosta! If you (the brilliant and scholarly one--and I mean that sincerely --please take it as a compliment) say it was convoluted, then no wonder I can't remember it aright. If ever I really understood it. As you said, lots of wheeling and dealing.

...let's not forget ...

How could I, of all people, forget? You are right to point it out. I sometimes forget to do so, as I take it as a given. And that snake, Babic, sold his own people into exile. And while the Croats were making their way down the column of "refugees" no one was left to negotiate an end to this slaughter except Pajic. Martic and Babic absconded well before any Croat soldier set foot inside the ZOS on August 4th. If Pajic had not remained, I don't know what we would have done.

I am still waiting for parallel "convictions"...

Me too. We'll wait a long, long time, my friend. It's clear to me that the Hague is not about Justice, but about clothing the "Will of the West" in the robes of justice.