Show trial or justice? (Milosevic)

On Thursday, 19 February, the Amsterdam Forum focused on the trial Slobodan Milosevic, which is drawing to a close at the War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague. The former Yugoslav President stands accused of orchestrating the worst carnage in Europe since the Third Reich.

Mr Milosevic has chosen not to be legally represented. From the outset, he has denounced the tribunal as illegitimate and said it had no right to try him. His supporters believe the prosecution is politically motivated and that the process amounts to a show trial.

Flanking host Andy Clark at the Amsterdam Forum table were Avril McDonald, an expert in international humanitarian and criminal law who backs the Milosevic trial, and opposite her Andy Wilcoxson, who runs a pro-Milosevic website in the US.

The discussion kicked off with a quote from Mr Milosevic taken from an interview he gave to the US Fox News Channel shortly after being transferred to The Hague to face trial.

"I'm proud for everything I did in defending my country and my people. All my decisions were legitimate and legal, based on the constitution of Yugoslavia and based on the right to self-defence, which belongs to every nation in the world."

Mr Wilcoxson whole-heartedly agreed with the statement, and argued that the former Yugoslav president cannot be held responsible for war crimes committed by his fellow countrymen.

"The prosecution has failed to present a single order that he issued to his subordinates that they should commit atrocities. Radomir Markovic, the former state security chief in Serbia, testified that they were even arresting members of their own army and police and putting them on trial when they would catch them not abiding by the Geneva Conventions. […] They have absolutely no proof that Slobodan Milosevic is a war criminal."

Legal expert Avril McDonald from the Dutch-based Asser Institute for International Law responded by explaining that the prosecution doesn't have to find an order on a piece of paper; it just has to prove that Mr Milosevic knew war crimes were being committed and did nothing to prevent them.

"Obviously, since the prosecution indicted him with individual and command responsibility, it would like to be able to prove both. But in order to find someone, for instance, guilty of a war crime or a crime against humanity, it's not necessary to actually give an order in any kind of written or oral form."

Ms McDonald continued that, given the sheer scale of the atrocities committed in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, the international community was left no alternative but to prosecute the former Yugoslav president.

"What motivated the establishment of this tribunal and the indictment of Mr Milosevic? Over 200,000 people died in Bosnia. Someone is responsible for their deaths. It may or may not be Mr Milosevic, but he was the head of state of rump-Yugoslavia. Of course, it's not easy to find someone guilty for criminality committed in other states, which is what the prosecution has to do in relation to Croatia and Bosnia. Nevertheless, when there is evidence of so much rampant criminality throughout that area, there is apparently a case to answer."

Mr Wilcoxson, however, questions the legality of the tribunal. He believes it was set up unlawfully. "It was established by the UN Security Council, which under the UN Charter doesn't have any judicial powers."

Ms McDonald replied: "The UN Charter does not provide for the establishment of an international criminal court, but it does empower the United Nations to establish subsidiary organs."

Ted Graves from Ottowa in Canada wrote that the Milosevic trial imitates the court proceedings of the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War II:

"It is a propaganda show trial and of course a doomed effort to achieve international justice."

Mr Wilcoxson added that, in his view, the court definitely has an anti-Serb bias. He stresses there were more parties to the secessionist conflicts in Yugoslavia in the 1990s, and accuses the Croatian and Bosnian leaders of extremist policies, based on fascism and anti-Semitism.

Ms McDonald agreed that the Croatian leader Franjo Tudjman should have been put on trial in The Hague and regrets the fact that he died before that opportunity presented itself.

"Indeed, it was revealed after he died that there was a secret indictment against him. Should he have survived, he would have been sitting right where Mr Milosevic is sitting now."

Ms McDonald also agrees that there are elements of a show trial at this case and the way it's being conducted. But she says: "Frankly, it's Mr Milosevic who is making this into a show trial, it's not the chamber."

Mr Wilcoxson strongly believes that the Milosevic trial smacks of ‘selective justice'. He sees the case as an "attack on the Serbian people", but has "no idea why NATO and the West took the side of the secessionists who wanted to destroy Yugoslavia."

Avril McDonald, an expert in international humanitarian and criminal law from the Asser Institute for International Law here in the Netherlands. She believes the Milosevic trial may not be perfect, but it "demonstrates that it is possible to try the most senior leaders for the most serious international crimes, even where a defendant is obstructive, recalcitrant and disrespectful of the criminal justice process."

Andy Wilcoxson, who runs a pro-Milosevic website in the US, because he feels it's vital to defend Mr Milosevic.

"Because it isn't only him who is on trial at The Hague. The entire Serbian nation stands accused together with him. What Slobodan Milosevic is doing is heroic: he knows that this is a show trial and that he'll never be free again. In spite of that knowledge, he remains defiant. He is giving his own life to defend his country's honour."

From IFCY home page

Since its inception, the Tribunal has become a fully operational legal institution rendering judgements and setting important precedents of international criminal and humanitarian law. Many legal issues now adjudicated by the Tribunal have never actually been adjudicated or have lain dormant since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials.

ICTY PERSONNEL:

As of January 2004: 1238 staff members from 84 countries.

REGULAR BUDGET:

1993...........$276,000

1994...........$10,800,000

1995...........$25,300,000

1996...........$35,430,622

1997.......... $48,587,000

1998...........$64,775,300

1999.......... $94,103,800

2000...........$95,942,600

2001...........$96,443,900

2002-2003......$223,169,800

Another Clinton legacy.

Show trial or justice?

Justice, of Hitler's and Stalin's variety. It has nothing to do with the concept of justice in Common law or European law (innocent until proven guilty)

The Hague presumes guilt. Their only problem is they can not prove it.

TEAR DOWN THIS CIRCUS MR. BUSH !

thanks for posting this, very few Americans realize how potentially dangerous this Clinton created tribunal is.

The Tribunal stes the stage for future tribunals createdby and for liberals, eventually US citizens could be apprehended and subjected to similar Star Chamber procedures.

Thankfully, the Bush Administration had called for the Tribunal to be shut down as soon as possible.

Despite Bush'es calls for the Tribunal to be shut down.........the US taxpayer still funds this $100 million per year fiasco.

Why does GWB still allow tacpayer dollars to fund this ?

The Hum-Warrior 'expert' is a newly minted Ph.D.

A. McDonald
Supervisors: Prof. Tom Hadden (Queens University of
Belfast, Northern Ireland) and Prof. Colm Campell
(University College Calway, Republic of Ireland)
Subject: Rights to Legal Remedies for Victims of War Crimes

Here is my take: The Asser Institute is a semi-school, semi-business related to international legal questions. Its website offers consulting services on international law

Given the fact that the ICTY is a short commute away from the Asser Institute and has a $100 million annual budget, it is a safe bet that Miss McDonald isn't about to start her first year out of school alienating the biggest potential client her company has, the ICTY

Miss McDonald is basically a ambulance chaser.

I was wrong about Miss McDonald, she is already on the ICTY payroll. She moderates a NYT's discussion 'International Jusrtice' and this is what the NYT's says about her:

Avril McDonald is Legal Assistant, Press and Information Office of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The tribunal was established in The Hague pursuant to United Nations Security Council Resolution 808 (1993) to try individuals accused of serious violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia since 1991. Its Press and Information Office, headed by Christian Chartier, the tribunal's spokesman, acts as an intermediary between the media, embassies, ministries, intergovernmental and nongovernmental organizations, academic institutions, and the tribunal.

====================

Calling her a international expert is a another bit of mis-information. She is a paid apparatnick of the ICTY

not only is she a ICTY PR flunky without any legal background whatsoever, as of last She was in New York yammering on about DU. Another anti-American at the ICTY:

'The International Legality of Depleted Uranium Weapons'
background paper for presentation, Symposium on the Health Impact of Deplete Uranium Munitions, Held at the New York Academy of Medicine, 14 June 2003

http://www.nuclearpolicy.org/documents/mcdonald_jun_14_03.pdf

Her bio on the paper says she is a Journaism Major. So much for her expertise in International Law

>>>>>Her bio on the paper says she is a Journaism Major. So much for her expertise in International Law<<<<<

She is fit for ICTY job. A bunch of unqualified "experts":

Helena Ranta, forensic dentist. No experise in firearm inflicted wounds. Racak "expert"

Patrick Bell. Not a statistician by profession but presented by ICTY as "scientist" to prove that Kosovo Albanians did not flee from NATO bombs. His "expertise" work was a blunt hoax. Even those who commissioned this "scientific evidence" (AAAS) have isssued disclaimer.

Dr Berko Zecevic, expert on Markale market hoax. Dr. Zecevic's published papers show that his field of expertise is missile technology, not Crater Assessmnent He made calculations to show mortar projectile came from the Serb side. What he actually did was to calculate paramameters and then make false measurements of crater to prove calculation. He even boasted that "anyone in the world can confirm my calculation". Sure, but no one can say what the crater really looked like before Muslims dug it the previous day.

Nancy Patterson. wrote Milosevic indictment WITHOUT any material evidence. Could not even make Racak hoax victims names right. Dissapeared from legal profession to obscure position on an American university after ICTY fame.

You forgot Judge May, a far left labout party hack, rescued from his obscure Midland Courthouse where he heard petty crime cases and divorces to become head of the ICTY

We should also be reminded that this McDonald was presented by the radio as a neutral expert, instead she is a paid PR agent of the ICTY.

"He just has to think it."

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