Hague On Ice
Hague on Ice: Serbia Won't Let This One Slide
Serbian Premier Vojislav Kostunica reaffirmed his country's determination not to allow the outrageous Hague tribunal's decision to release war criminal Ramus Haradinaj stand, despite the deafening silence with which the EU treats the latest scandal, hoping it will go away.
"Apparently, the EU believes the proper response is to keep silent about the decision to release Ramus Haradinaj and that it would be best if it pretends nothing happened. But Serbia will not slide over the Hague tribunal's decision to declare war criminal Ramus Haradinaj innocent," Kostunica said.
He added that the Hague tribunal had erased the difference between the criminal and innocent to justify the horrific crimes Haradinaj committed.
Kostunica said Serbia will not let the justification of Haradinaj's crimes against the innocent Serbs stand, nor will it allow for everything to end as one of the media stories which lasted few days.
"Being that the EU considers Hague tribunal a pinnacle of the European values, we now need to jointly evaluate whether the institution which issued a certificate of innocence to a war criminal deserves to be called a court," Serbian premier stressed.
He pointed to a need to conclusively determine if it is possible for the EU to consider the Hague tribunal, "even after this ominous decision, a pinnacle of European values and a highest parameter for measuring the European standards in the process of European integrations."
"Serbia has every right to persist in seeking conclusive determination on whether the Hague tribunal can be regarded as a legitimate court, because this is Serbia's obligation toward the innocent victims who have been humiliated by the Hague declaring Ramus Haradinaj innocent," said Kostunica.
What Happened to the Hague's Command Responsibility Concept?
Professor of the international criminal law on the University of Law in Belgrade, Milan Skulic noted for Vecernje Novosti that the indictment against Haradinaj was put together in a way which enabled Ramus Haradinaj's acquittal:
"There is no doubt the ruling was brought about in bizarre circumstances. First of all, it is well known that the prosecution witnesses were threatened, even killed. The level of evidence sought to prove Haradinaj's guilt is also rather peculiar, especially when one takes into account the concept of command responsibility which, strangely enough, was not part of Haradinaj's indictment. In the Hague tribunal Statute and its practice, the command responsibility is described as very close to the objective responsibility. Regardless of the fact that KLA was not a real army, it had a very clear and easy to prove command structure," Skulic said.
Ramus Haradinaj was the notorious leader of the terrorist KLA and if he was charged on the basis of command responsibility, as all the Serbs indicted by the same tribunal were and are, it would not be possible to accuse his subordinates of committing grievous crimes against the civilian population, while letting their commander leave scot-free.
Hague Tribunal Simply Ignored the Evidence Against Haradinaj
Apart from Haradinaj's own admission of the crimes his gang of thugs committed against civilians in Kosovo-Metohija province, published in his book, inexplicably, the Hague tribunal managed to ignore the overwhelming evidence of Haradinaj's unquestionable guilt presented by Zoran Stijovic, former Analysis Chief of Serbia's State Security in Kosovo province.
Stijovic testified in October 2007, on 4th, 8th, 9th and 10th, in the process against Haradinaj, Brahimaj and Baljaj, even though the defense team of the accused tried everything to avoid Stijovic's testimony, claiming his knowledge about the crimes of the accused are from secondary sources and not witnessed by Stijovic in person. A crudely cynical request by the prosecution, since it is well known that the only Serbs who have 'witnessed' Haradinaj's crimes were his victims.
Despite the defense lawyers' wrangling, Stijovic was officially informed during the trial that the court accepts his testimony in entirety, including all 78 pieces of evidence, and that his consolidated statement will also be used as evidence in the process. The statement was signed by Carla Del Ponte, Hague's chief prosecutor at the time.
Stijovic published the evidence documenting Albanian terrrorists' crimes, Haradinaj included, in his book "Kosovo-Metohija, My Testimony". The long list of Haradinaj's victims consists of mostly Serbs, but also includes a number of the Kosovo province Roma and the Albanians psychopathic Haradinaj considered 'disloyal', or blamed for "collaboration" with the Serbs.
Zoran Stijovic notes that Hague tribunal ignored quite obvious and unambiguous evidence presented against Haradinaj, and wonders why.
Political Court Established to Prosecute the Serbs
The "International Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia" (ICTY) in the Hague was established in May 1993, during the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Until the end of 2004, when it was scheduled to finalize all the investigations and issue all indictments, this court had charged 161 person.
The overwhelming majority of those taken before the tribunal's judges are of Serbian ethnicity—93 thus far—versus 31 Croats, 14 Bosnian Muslims, 6 Kosovo Albanians and 3 Macedonians.
Unlike any other state built upon the ashes of former Yugoslavia, Serbia alone has had its entire political and military leadership charged by this institution: two former presidents—Slobodan Milosevic and Milan Milutinovic, the vice president of the Federal government Nikola Sainovic, the Yugoslav Army HQ chiefs of staff of Serbian ethnicity—Momcilo Perisic, Nebojsa Pavkovic, Dragoljub Ojdanic, and numerous other military and police generals.
In contrast, the list of those indicted by the Hague does not contain the name of the former Croat president Franjo Tudjman, despite the devastating role he played in the civil wars in both Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina, despite the extermination of the Croat Serbs and ethnic cleansing of up to 500,000 Serbs from Slavonia and Serbian Krajina, and despite the fact that Hague prosecutors had heaps of hard evidence against Tudjman, including a recording of the conversation between Tudjman and his generals while making plans for the Operation Storm — the biggest single episode of ethnic cleansing since WWII, where Tudjman requested from his army to attack the Serbian population in Croatia "in such a way that Serbs are practically annihilated". For this, Tudjman was assigned only a negligible part within the "joint criminal enterprise" in the indictment against his general Ante Gotovina.
War president of Bosnia-Herzegovina, avowed jihadi Muslim Alija Izetbegovic was investigated, but never indicted by the Hague.
The list of those given the most severe punishments is again dominated by the Serbs. Stanislav Galic was given the harshest sentence Hague tribunal can issue, the life imprisonment. Goran Jelisic and Momir Stakic are each serving forty years in prison, while Radoslav Krstic was sentenced to 35 years in prison.
Looking at the number of those who were indicted and the subsequent verdicts they received reveals that Hague tribunal exerts most benevolence toward Albanians and Bosnian Muslims. Out of lone ornamental six Albanians indicted by the Hague, no less than four were acquitted and declared not guilty of any of the charges. Only two Albanians—Haradin Bala and Lahi Brahimaj were sentenced to 13 and 6 years in prison.
The symbolic sentence of merely two years imprisonment ("served" during the trial), issued to Bosnian Muslim ogre Naser Oric, Srebrenica warlord responsible for the horrific crimes against Bosnian Serb population in Srebrenica region prior to General Mladic putting an end to carnage, or equally lenient five years imprisonment sentence to Drazen Erdemovic who executed several hundred Serb civilians in cold blood, completes the picture about the Hague tribunal's alleged impartiality and the kind of justice it delivers.
Hague Tribunal—Safehaven for Terrorists
Serbian Radical Party (SRS) official Zoran Krasic told Belgrade media Hague tribunal is a safehaven for terrorists. Krasic, who is heading the team for Vojislav Seselj defense, assessed that the tribunal is on its way to recognize the independent mafia state on Serbian territory—Kosovo—so it had to do its best to try to transform terrorist Haradinaj into a verified "freedom fighter". He added that legally sentenced terrorists are being used by the Hague prosecution as protected witnesses in the current process against Seselj.
"Some have only now recalled what SRS kept insisting upon since the Hague tribunal was established: to question the legality of that court. Hague tribunal is a court for the Serbs, the others are a mere decoration for Euro-fanatics and for those who have handed 50 Serbs over to the Hague", Krasic said.
He stressed that, after the war criminal Haradinaj was acquitted of each of the 37 charges, every Serb charged by this tribunal must seek revision of the processes against them.
Cartoon by Aleksandar Klas (Serbia)