FOR HOW LONG SHALL WE TOLERATE
Dear All: Earlier this week Brian Gallagher sent word out to some of us that the Prosecutor would not seek to prove the genocide charges against Slobo with respect to the Croats of BH. This AP story from today confirms Brian's detective work where we read the following:
"Prosecutors say time restraints have forced them to limit the scope of their case, and they will no longer attempt to prove genocide against Bosnian Croats, part of their initial allegation.
``We shall prove the genocide charges related to the crimes committed by Milosevic against the Bosnian Muslims,'' prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said Wednesday. ``We cannot deal with all the crimes committed in Bosnia.''
This is simply an outrage and the lamest excuse I have ever heard. One thought - some of us have been writing to del Ponte. Perhaps instead of the Prosecutor we should write to the Tribunal itself (Ibelieve the Tribunal's spokesman is James Lansdale) protesting this act and asking that in the name of BH's Croat victims the Tribunal take it upon itself to ask the Prosecutor how much time would be needed to prove its case re genocide against Croats.
This is important as I believe there are no other charges concerning genocide against Croats whether in Croatia or BH which have been brought against anyone else (except possibly Karadzic and Mladic).
John Kraljic
Op-ed
Where is the discussion for WAR REPARATION? Where are our rightsin Vojvodina and Montenegro? Who will PAY for destruction of our country? Theseare the questions that should be raised over and over. Then these"Genocide" questions would never in doubt. What is Croatian Governmentdoing about these issues?
NB
Milosevic Faces Next Stage of Trial
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
Filed at 2:20 a.m. ET
THE HAGUE, Netherlands (AP) -- U.N. prosecutors face their greatest challenge yet in the next stage of Slobodan Milosevic's trial: proving allegations that he orchestrated a campaign of genocide to achieve Serbian supremacy in Bosnia.
Prosecutors open their case on the 1991-1995 wars in Croatia and Bosnia Thursday when landmark proceedings resume at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal after a two-week break.
In coming months, they plan to call 177 witnesses to back up charges that Milosevic masterminded a scheme to wipe out the Muslim population in the worst crimes in Europe since the Holocaust.
The evidence: telephone intercepts, statements from Milosevic's close political associates, party documents, military directives and testimony from survivors of massacres by Serb soldiers.
The prosecution took nearly 100 days of court hearings and 124 witnesses to present the first part of their indictment against Milosevic for the Serb crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo in 1998-1999.
Judges have set a deadline of May 16 for prosecutors to present the remaining 61 counts of war crimes against the former Yugoslav -- and Serbian -- strongman, covering every violation of international law in the court's statute.
While the crimes in the second indictment seem more obvious and widespread -- the tribunal has already convicted a Bosnian Serb general of genocide in Bosnia -- it will be harder to prove Milosevic's involvement.
``It is more difficult because he was not the head of the country at war,'' said Judith Armatta of the Coalition for International Justice. ``He was the president of Serbia, not Yugoslavia'' at the time, she said.
Because there was no formal chain of command linking Milosevic to the crimes, prosecutors need to show that he was part of ``a joint criminal enterprise,'' which planned and coordinated systematic attacks of non-Serbs, she said. They need to show his intent and knowledge of the crimes.
``You have to prove his hands-on role and that Milosevic came to power on the back of Serb nationalism over a period of time and used that to achieve his goal of a 'Greater Serbia,''' Armatta said.
The crimes in Kosovo logically fell under Milosevic's responsibility because, as president, he was also the commander in chief of the forces committing atrocities, tribunal officials have said. But in Bosnia, the burden of proof is tougher.
Prosecutors allege that as the president of Serbia, one of the six republics that made up the Yugoslav Federation, Milosevic exercised power over the entire region by transforming formerly multiethnic Yugoslav institutions into Serb-dominated instruments of war.
Milosevic assumed control of police units and the Yugoslav army, purged political opponents and illegally armed pockets of rebel Serb nationalists to fuel a fight along ethnic lines, prosecutors allege.
Under his command, those military forces set up ``concentration-style'' camps where prisoners were tortured, raped and murdered. The ``ethnic cleansing'' policy virtually wiped out the non-Serb population in large regions of Croatia and Bosnia and led to the killing of thousands.
Hundreds of thousands more refugees fled to neighboring countries, many of them never to return.
Prosecutors say time restraints have forced them to limit the scope of their case, and they will no longer attempt to prove genocide against Bosnian Croats, part of their initial allegation.
``We shall prove the genocide charges related to the crimes committed by Milosevic against the Bosnian Muslims,'' prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann said Wednesday. ``We cannot deal with all the crimes committed in Bosnia.''
When prosecutors finish, Milosevic will present his defense case before the panel of three tribunal judges. The 61-year-old has refused the help of a court lawyer and has conducted his own cross-examinations, working though weekends and court recesses.
The pressure became measurable this year when hearings were postponed twice for two weeks when Milosevic had the flu and high fever.
More recently, doctors warned that Milosevic is at serious risk of a heart attack and the court ordered that the daily proceedings be broken up by a four-day weekend every two weeks.
