Posted on 02/02/2005 8:24:14 AM PST by Ezekiel2517
War Crimes Prosecutor Under Investigation By UN
NEW YORK - Insiders at the United Nations in New York are buzzing over allegations that could rock the UN war crimes tribunal for former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Evidence has been presented to the United Nations in New York that Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte may have knowingly submitted forged documents to the UN tribunal in order to obtain the indictment of Croat General Ante Gotovina, accused of war crimes against Serb civilians in the aftermath of a 1995 military campaign known as Operation Storm. Del Ponte then allegedly engaged in a subsequent cover-up to prevent any investigation of the authenticity of the documents. The UN’s Office of Internal Oversight Services is examining whether, as part of the alleged cover-up, Del Ponte ignored the requests for witness protection of a Croatian witness who participated in the creation of the forged documents and who had come forward to provide the tribunal with evidence of the forgery. The Croatian witness was subsequently killed in Croatia after Del Ponte ignored the witness’s requests for protection.
The forged documents at issue concern transcripts of a meeting on 31 July 1995 between former Croatian president Franjo Tudjman and senior members of his military leadership, including Gotovina. In the transcript, Tudjman is recorded to have urged his military commanders to “hit the Serbs so hard that they will disappear forever.” Four days later, Croatian forces under Gotovina’s command launched a massive military operation known as Operation Storm that resulted in the flight of over 200,000 Serbs from the Krajina region of Croatia. Del Ponte obtained a copy of this transcript from the office of current Croatian president Stipe Mesic and submitted it to the tribunal as evidence to obtain the indictment of Gotovina. Del Ponte argued to the tribunal that the transcript proves Gotovina’s primary objective in Operation Storm was to ethnically cleanse the Serb population from Croatia.
New evidence, however, suggests that the transcripts may have been forged in March 2001 by officials in Mesic’s office with the intent of discrediting Gotovina, a political opponent of Mesic. There is serious concern at the UN that Del Ponte may have known prior to submitting the transcripts to the tribunal that the transcripts were in fact forgeries, and that Del Ponte has complicated matters by failing to disclose the forgery to the tribunal. Reportedly, several witnesses who attended the 31 July 1995 meeting between Tudjman and Croatia’s top military leadership have told Del Ponte that the transcripts are inaccurate.
The most explosive charges, however, concern witnesses who work in Mesic’s office and who contacted Del Ponte in the summer of 2004 requesting to testify that they had participated in the creation of the forgeries. One of these insider witnesses allegedly sought witness protection measures from Del Ponte, claiming that his life would be in danger if officials in Croatia discovered that he had disclosed the forgery. Del Ponte allegedly expressed interest in the witness’s testimony, but took no action to meet with him or provide witness protection. The witness was later killed in Croatia, after rumours began circulating in the Croatian press that the documents used against Gotovina were forgeries. The UN is investigating whether the witness’s death was related to his disclosures to Del Ponte and whether the witness’s death could have been avoided if Del Ponte had granted the witness’s request for protective measures.
After Croatian officials loyal to Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader expressed a desire in November 2004 to open a criminal investigation in Croatia about possible forgery of transcripts, Del Ponte reportedly threatened Croatian officials that if they commenced such an investigation she would issue negative reports about Croatia’s cooperation with the U.N. tribunal, resulting in suspension of Croatia’s negotiations to enter the European Union. The Office of Internal Oversight Services is investigating whether Del Ponte abused her power by making such threats to Croatian officials.
The charges against Del Ponte come on the heels of several scandals that have plagued the UN recently, including charges of corruption in its Iraq Oil-for-Food Program and sex scandals involving senior UN officials. Del Ponte herself has been the focus of UN criticism in the past, having been removed from her post as chief prosecutor for the United Nations war crimes tribunal for Rwanda after allegations of mismanagement were raised by the Secretary General.
END
Sourced or not, this is utterly believable for anyone who has been following the sordid career or Del Ponte.
Certainly seems believeable, but I'd like a source before I spread this around.
Owl_Eagle
”Unleash the Hogs of Peace.”
P.J. O'Rourke Parliament of Whores
On the other hand, it is very easy to forward an alleged copy of an e-mail with a political agenda in mind hoping that a large forum will run with the story. The downside is obviously damage done to FR credibility when the story turns out not to be true.
Overall, I guess I prefer to see us debunk stories like document forgeries by the MSM and terrorist captures of dolls. I think this is preferable to being the "firstest with the wrongest".
Thanks for the ping. I see the purported source is posted at #16. Will stay tuned, as they say.
Forged documents, hm? Seems to be the "in" thing.
bttt
x42 as head of the UN...
Hitlery as president of the US...
Be afraid. Be very, very afraid!
what's going on here? Found a link, still no source: http://cryptome.org/delponte.htm
also see http://cryptome.org/cviti%E6-lies.htm
This possibility is REAL DANGER.
Luckilly, Bubba can not become UN Secretary General as long as he has U.S. citizenship. Citizens of the permanent Security Council members can not become UN Secretary General. It was built in safeguard against Ruskies and Chicoms
Remember (and this is really scary): To these folks, the rules doe not apply to them...
I do not know. Let me guess. Even if I am all wrong, this may serve as a food for thought.
1. this is not only direct attack on Carla Del Putana but on President Mesic as well. Could be that the folks who lost recent presidental election in Croatia are angry. (Their putana did not win). So, it could be internal Croatian powerplay, aimed at Croatian diaspora.
2. MI-6 was badly embarrased in Croatia and Serbia and tries to brew more trouble. In Serbia, it is Beba Popovic blasphemous interview. This could be Croatian version.
3. Gotovina has a strong lobby among Croatian diaspora in U.S.
Jeffrey T. Kuhner ( a Croat from Canada) is one of the more prominent mouthpieces. He is eloquent enough to write something like this, but not under his real name.
4. Last but not least, this may be true. The question is WHY CARLA DEL PUTANA USED FORGED DOCUMENTS WHEN THERE IS ENOUGH OF WHITER THAN WHITE EVIDENCE TO INDICT GOTOVINA? Planted evidence would be effective way to get war criminal off the hook. Points 3 and 4 may be part of the same plan: Plant fake evidence, make it known, embarras prosecutor, get Gotovina out. it would not be for the first time that Croatian criminals walk free. Few if any were arrested after WWII, owing to similar tricks. The best known is the case of "Croatian Himmler" Andrija Artukovic, who was accused for the crimes he did not commit and thus sheltered from being prosecuted for the crimes he did commit (genocide and the crimes against humanity).
Freepers who read Croatian should monitor Cro newsgroups to get a drift of this.
Until the source and the author are disclosed, IMHO this "report" has to be treated as NATIONAL ENQUIRER story.
"I will carry out great vengeance on them and punish them in my wrath. Then they will know that I am the Lord, when I take vengeance on them."
This is rather strong statement for fruitful discussion.
Alternative #5:
Connection to this maybe
"Del Ponte Threatens to Spill Beans on Karadzic Hunt"
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/1333614/posts
Otherwise, this appears to be a rather clumsy attempt to publish a rumor.
Americans, please take note: never, ever put your trust into The Hague and the UN...learn from how they are framing Croatians, amongst others. They wish to do the same to your generals and your political leaders.
As I said earlier, you can confirm the story by calling the UN directly, at (212) 963-1111.
As for the screen name, it comes from Pulp Fiction. I'm a Tarrantino fan.
Sorry, Dio - Gotovina's either going to come in from the cold, or keep Croatia there. This "innocents, wronged" line of yours just doesn't cut it.
And the beat goes on ... we will hunt down the leaders, but the guys who actually pulled the trigger will go free.
Croatia must have some pretty robust confidentiality laws.
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