Byzantine Blog

Presumed Guilty Until Proven Innocent

Justice for Dr. Seselj, by Dr. Jonathan Levy, Member of the International Criminal Bar

Dr. Seselj has issued a list of demands to the ICTY that are necessary to insure a fair trail. We must remember that Dr. Seselj voluntarily made himself available for a trial at The Hague in 2003 -- however the ICTY has repeatedly delayed the process and prevented Dr. Seselj from proving himself not guilty to the world.

You see, Dr. Seselj unlike a normal defendant has already been adjudged guilty by the ICTY political process and must therefore have the tools and means to prove his innocence. Even with the reality of this unfair process, Dr. Seselj will be able to vindicate himself if the ICTY will provide a few basic rights that even the lowest criminals are entitled to:

Convicted of No Crime

Dr. Seselj as the master of his own defense is entitled to all documents and materials in hard copy and most importantly in the Serbian language. Serbian is the language of Yugoslavia and the tribunal is called the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia but proceedings and pleadings are not in Serbian but French and English for the convenience of the judges and prosecutors and to deny a fair trial to defendants.

Even though Dr. Seselj is well versed in the law, he is entitled to the support and counsel of a subordinate defense team of his choosing. The ICTY judges and prosecutors have access to the latest high technology and gadgetry while Dr. Seselj is reduced to the level of prisoner under the old Russian Czar. A proper legal support team of lawyers, investigators and technicians must immediately be accredited and provided to Dr. Seselj to assist his defense.

The ICTY is still attempting to force upon Dr. Seselj counsel not of his choosing. These so called back up counsel serve no good purpose and have no standing. They are not wanted and not needed. Why then does the ICTY insist upon their presence? There can only be one reason; they are pawns being used to compromise the confidentiality of the defense case.

Finally, Dr. Seselj has been convicted of no crime, his initial presence at the ICTY was voluntary and there is no threat that he will escape, why then is he denied basic visits from family, friends, and colleagues? He is being treated as if he has already been convicted when he is simply detained for trial.

Like a Fascist Tribunal

Like a Fascist tribunal – the purpose of the ICTY appears to be political show trials not justice. Dr. Seselj is not a brigand but Serbia’s most popular current leader; he should be afforded every courtesy due a head of state. I ask the ICTY to let Dr. Seselj prove himself innocent and show the world that but for his actions a greater genocide of Serbs would have occurred at the hands of their unrepentant enemies. Let Dr. Seselj teach the world about the true enemies of Serbia who even now seek to further destroy and corrupt the Serbian state.

Gulag of False Courts Engaged in Persecution and Revenge

By Christopher Black, Barrister-at-Law from Toronto, Canada, Lead Counsel, ICTR, for General Augustin Ndindiliyimana, Chief of Staff, Rwanda Gendarmerie, and Chair of the Legal Committee, International Committee For the Defence of Slobodan Milosevic

The people and jurists of the world must salute the brave action being undertaken by Dr Seselj in support of his basic right to defend himself, to see his family and to prepare the defense of the case against him. It is clear that the Tribunal has no intention of affording Dr. Seselj his basic rights any more than it did President Milosevic whose rights were also cruelly and cowardly violated to prevent him from defending himself against the false charges made against him and which finally resulted in his murder at the hands of the Tribunal.

The pattern of conduct of this Tribunal, and its sister Tribunals for Rwanda and Sierra Leone, clearly demonstrate that these Tribunals are engaged not in prosecution but persecution of the persons illegally held by them. They are engaged not in global justice as they claim but global revenge against the accused for resisting the globalization policies of the United States and its allies. Jurists and the peoples of the world must demand the immediate abolition of these ad hoc tribunals which are nothing less than the public face of the vast gulag of false courts, military tribunals and secret prisons constructed by the United States and its allies to destroy the sovereignty of nations and peoples and replace that sovereignty with the jackboot of fascism.

P E T I T I O N
Of Support to Dr. Vojislav Seselj, President of Serbian Radical Party

The President of Serbian Radical Party, Vojislav Seselj, PhD, detained by the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia at its detention facility at the former Gestapo prison at Scheveningen, since February 24th 2003, began a hunger-strike on November 10th, 2006, at 18 hours to protest the callous disregard of his fundamental human and legal rights by the ICTY including his fundamental right, as guaranteed in the Statute of the Tribunal, to represent himself in his case before the ICTY.

Four years of struggle by Dr Seselj to exercise this fundamental right has been met by a complete denial of his legal and human rights and he has therefore been forced to take the difficult decision to engage in a rigorous hunger strike.

Dr. Vojislav Seselj has therefore stopped eating and refuses to take any solid or liquid food except water. He has also stopped using all medication prescribed to him for high blood pressure, asthma, and spinal cord pain, and refuses to accept any further medical aid.

Dr.Seselj has addressed four requests to Hague Tribunal, as a condition for the suspension of his hunger strike.

The Requests are as follows:

1. The lifting of all restrictive measures of a discriminatory character, regarding the visits by his wife, Jadranka Seselj, and the cessation of the campaign of misinformation and false allegations made by the Prosecutor of the Tribunal in that regard.
2. That all lawyers be properly registered and all conditions for preparation of the defense be normalized so that he can make full answer and defense to the charges against him.
3. That all disclosure documents, from the Prosecutor and all other documents and communications to him be transmitted to him by hard copy and in his language, the Serbian language, as required by the Rules of Procedure and Evidence in order for him to understand the nature of the charges against him and in order for him to effectively prepare the case for the defense.
4. That the imposed, “stand by” counsels, Mr. David Hopper and Mr. Andreas O’Shea, be withdrawn as their presence is a violation of his fundamental right to defend himself, is a violation of the Statute and all civilized legal and judicial norms, is against his interests and is nothing less than an attempt by the Tribunal to manipulate his defense to the advantage of the prosecutor, to prejudice his defense and to impede his ability to make full answer an defense.

We, the undersigned, fully support the requests of Dr.Vojislav Seselj, PhD.

Support Dr. Seselj’s basic rights to defend himself by writing to Serbian Radical Party, the author of the Petition, raising awareness of the mockery of justice the Hague represents.