Posted on 02/17/2002 9:02:50 AM PST by nikola
THE HAGUE CHRISTOPHER BLACK is a dedicated seeker of international justice. But the kind of justice the Toronto lawyer seeks makes him as many enemies as friends.
His latest quest is to defend Slobodan Milosevic.
The former strongman of Serbia is acting as his own counsel at a war-crimes tribunal here, where he faces 66 charges. But Black is in his corner nonetheless.
He insists it's still an open question whether the scowling, silver-haired figure in The Hague tribunal's Courtroom Number One will appoint a lawyer.
"Milosevic never said he would not have counsel," Black explains. "He always said that if he came to trial, he would take part."
Although he has chosen to defend himself, Milosevic does have three amicus curiae, or friends of the court, appointed to assist him if he wishes.
And though they don't act as defence attorneys, the three — from Serbia, Britain and the Netherlands — can facilitate his calling of witnesses, draw the court's attention to any mitigating evidence he may have overlooked or do anything else that would improve his chance for a fair trial.
Black himself was barred from talking to Milosevic after he broke court rules by passing on some of the deposed leader's telephoned comments to reporters in October.
To Black, Milosevic is a much-maligned victim, a man more sinned against than sinning and a hero who stood up against global capitalism, taking the rap for crimes committed by the West.
"I am convinced that Milosevic is innocent of any of those crimes," says the 52-year-old lawyer. "I've talked with him several times. I looked him in the eye. I know he is not guilty.
"His life has been dedicated to supporting the multi-ethnic community in former Yugoslavia."
Phrases like these send shock waves through many in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo, where more than 100,000 people died at the hands of Serbian forces in wars spanning nearly a decade. Thousands more are missing and presumed dead.
Over the next year, hundreds of witnesses will turn up at The Hague to tell heart-rending stories of death and destruction. But Black, a successful criminal lawyer, argues that Milosevic is not at fault.
On policy and politics, the two men see eye to eye.
In the few days since the headline-making trial began, Milosevic has given blistering testimony that could have been written by Black, attributing his situation to an anti-Serb conspiracy.
For his part, Black sounds like Milosevic. "In order to accelerate the breakup of Yugoslavia into quasi-independent colonies of the United States and Germany," he told a recent forum in the Netherlands, "it was necessary to discredit the leadership in Yugoslavia, which tried to retain its political and economic integrity.
"An effective propaganda tool to accomplish this objective is a tribunal with an international character, which the public will accept as a neutral instrument of justice but which in reality serves political ends."
With a group of other lawyers, Black laid charges against NATO officials for the 1999 bombing of Yugoslavia that followed well-publicized images of massacres of ethnic Albanians in Kosovo.
He headed the legal committee of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic and travelled to Belgrade to meet with the former leader before the accused's transfer to a cell in The Hague, and becoming his most articulate advocate.
Not only is Milosevic innocent of the war-crimes charges, Black says, he is "absolutely innocent" of the corruption charges laid against him in Serbia.
And Black is convinced — in spite of Milosevic's ouster by hundreds of thousands of outraged Serbs — that he and his socialist party are the victims of American propaganda by an administration bent on installing the current "puppet regime."
For a man driven by a vision of global conspiracy, Black is surprisingly laid-back. A focused personality with a powerful intellect, he doesn't indulge in shouting matches. Unlike some of the ranters in Milosevic's supporting cast, the ginger-haired lawyer speaks in quiet and measured tones.
The British-born son of middle-class parents, Black joined the Communist party and ran as a candidate in the last federal election — going up against Defence Minister Art Eggleton in York Centre — with a pitch aimed at blue-collar workers.
"The only way for working people to gain control of their lives and build a humane society is to control the economic and political foundations of society," he said in his campaign platform. "In other words, a socialist society in which the prime directive is not the destructive search for ever-greater profit but the satisfaction of the needs of all working people."
Milosevic, Black believes, is the embodiment of this utopian ideal, hampered by American-driven sanctions in his drive to fulfill his dream of creating a prosperous Yugoslavia.
But Black's political crusade stretches even farther than the Balkans, to countries he had never expected to visit. No hired gun, he is deeply dedicated to his cause — so dedicated that he has been known to pen passionate political poetry.
Stepping where many would fear to tread, Black agreed to become the lawyer for Gen. Augustin Ndindiliyimana, a Hutu who is charged by the International Criminal Tribunal on Rwanda for acts he allegedly committed as head of the police force during the 1994 genocide of Tutsis and moderate Hutus.
Unfazed by a case that would daunt the most hardened criminal lawyers, Black denounced the Rwanda tribunal as an "instrument for punishing those whose crime was to resist Great Power expansion."
The case has not been an easy one, he admits. Since it began, he has travelled to Arusha in Tanzania repeatedly, succumbed to a virulent form of malaria and been admitted to hospital twice, suffering permanent health damage.
The single-minded pursuit of political cases has also been financially costly. Although paid by the court to represent Ndindiliyimana, Black earns much less than he would in a high-profile Canadian criminal trial.
In addition, he has incurred some $20,000 in travel expenses by coming to Milosevic's aid.
Milosevic, who now pleads poverty, sparked widespread anger in Serbia for his posh Belgrade homes and the flamboyant lifestyle of his children. If he appoints legal counsel, he will join the vast majority of tribunal defendants whose bills are paid by the court.
"He has nothing," says Black. "He's wearing the same old suit he wore from the first day here, and it's not a designer suit. The stories about his hidden bank accounts are a myth."
Black says court refuses to allow Milosevic to interview prospective legal counsel in private. "Everything he says is monitored. When he talks to lawyers, there are so-called translators put into the room to record everything and report back.
"Those conditions are impossible for confidentiality. He can't get the advice he needs to make a proper decision."
Court spokesperson Jim Landale denies that.
"He made it quite clear he didn't want expert defence counsel," Landale says.
"He isn't seeking to interview people. He simply refused to even consider appointing counsel. In fact, he has had visits from legal advisers on matters that lie outside the tribunal, such as the European Court of Human Rights."
If Milosevic does call for a lawyer, Black says he won't be volunteering for the job. He must interview 150 witnesses for the Rwanda case, which will stretch until 2003.
As he speaks in a hotel near the court, Black is preparing for yet another flight to Africa. But while in The Hague, he gives Milosevic his undivided attention.
Black holds daily news conferences with other Milosevic supporters, denounces the court and jousts with opponents who believe the trial is the best chance for justice in former Yugoslavia.
"No doubt about it, Milosevic could win the case," he says. "He's innocent of those charges and, morally, he feels fine."
So, undoubtedly, does Christopher Black
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