Helt sentrale sider av spørsmålet om krigsforbrytelser i det tidligere
jugoslaviske området er latterlig underbelyst i den skandinaviske
mediedekningen. Standard i Skandinavia er det laveste og mest uinformerte
nivå av den propagandistiske NATO- versjonen. En hvilkensomhelst bare litt
mer seriøs NATO-kilde vil korrigere mye av dette barnaktige vrøvlet som
dumme skandinaviske journalister tuller sine lesere/lyttere/seere inn i. Her
er noen eksempler. Også Voice of America er som en oase av seriøsitet i
forhold til det vi er vant til fra våre hjemlige oppblåste og krakilske
idioter i journalistikken. Disse er vant til å være hevet over kritikk
og bli behandlet med den ytterste underdanighet som tilkommer guruer.
Karsten Johansen
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1428000/1428991.stm
Sunday, 8 July, 2001, 15:26 GMT 16:26 UK
Croatian president backs extraditions
Many Serbs were driven out of Croatia in 1995 The Croatian President, Stipe
Mesic, has backed the government's decision to hand over two war crimes
suspects to the international tribunal at The Hague.
Mr Mesic said it was the only possible course of action the government could
take.
But the decision has caused political turmoil in Croatia, where there is a
popular view that all fighters in the conflict following the break-up of
Yugoslavia are war heroes.
Four of the cabinet have resigned, leaving the 18-month-old coalition to
face a knife-edge confidence vote in parliament next week, while war
veterans are planning mass protest demonstrations.
The two suspects still have not been identified, but are reported to be army
generals who were involved in campaigns to force Serbs out of Croatia
following the country's independence.
The Croatian Government's decision comes 10 days after the authorities in
Serbia handed over the former Yugoslav leader, Slobodan Milosevic, to the
custody of the Hague tribunal.
President Mesic said on Sunday: "The government of the Republic of Croatia
took the only decision it could realistically take, and did what it had to.
"That is why raising tension and creating a feeling of psychosis and an
atmosphere akin to a state of emergency seems inappropriate and unnecessary.
"A lawfully-elected government cannot and must not even think of avoiding
its international obligations."
Speculation over suspects
The war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, visited the
Croatian capital Zagreb on Friday to urge Prime Minister Ivica Racan to act
without delay on sealed indictments for the two suspects, which were served
by the UN tribunal almost a month ago.
She has welcomed the government's decision. But a tribunal spokeswoman said
the identities of the accused had to remain secret.
"The accusation documents have been sealed and we can't give any information
until the transfer of the accused to The Hague," Florence Hartmann told the
AFP news agency.
However, Croatia's state news agency, Hina, citing unidentified government
sources, has said the two suspects are likely to be retired General Ante
Gotovina, a commander during the 1995 offensive, and Rahim Ademi, a general
of Kosovo Albanian origin.
There is speculation that Mr Ademi may be accused of responsibility for the
killings of dozens of Croatian Serbs during a separate offensive in central
Croatia in 1993.
Tribunal prosecutors have been investigating the killings of hundreds of
Croatian Serbs following the Croatian army's 1995 offensive to recapture
land seized by Yugoslav-backed rebels during the six-month war of 1991.
Rift
As in Serbia, the decision to co-operate with the tribunal has caused a rift
between reformers and nationalists.
Mr Racan said: "I am afraid of unrest. Every normal person should be, now
that the tourist season has started, but I hope it will not come to that."
The decision to extradite the two war crimes suspects came after an all-day
emergency cabinet session on Saturday.
Deputy Prime Minister Goran Granic and three other ministers, all members of
Mr Racan's key ally, the Social Liberal party, resigned immediately
afterwards.
The Social Liberals have 23 members in the 151-seat parliament, with the
strongly nationalist HDZ, the former ruling party, holding another 41.
If the Social Liberals decide to oppose the government, Mr Racan's Social
Democrats face defeat in the confidence vote.
Isolation
Croatia could have faced international isolation and even sanctions if the
government had failed to hand over the men.
Mr Racan said that his government had "preferred to choose the way of
co-operation to that of confrontation".
He added: "To turn down the request from The Hague would be to plunge
Croatia in to the abysses of the Balkans conflict."
The largest veterans' association of Croatia's 1991 war has threatened to
organise widespread protests against any extraditions.
"There will be no extradition; we will prevent them," said veterans' leader
Mirko Condic, whose group attracted over 100,000 people to a February rally
against the prosecution of a Croatian general in Split.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1185000/1185118.stm
Friday, 23 February, 2001, 13:42 GMT Analysis: Croatia and war crimes
Mighty fall: General Norac is driven to court in Rijeka By Dumeethra Luthra
in Zagreb
He is a war hero to some but a war crimes suspect to others - and he is now
being tried for possible involvement in the killing of Serbian civilians in
the town of Gospic in late 1991.
The case of General Mirko Norac has divided a nation that is still unclear
on how to deal with the events of the war of independence from the former
Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995.
Under the late nationalist President Franjo Tudjman, the population was
taught to believe that no Croats could possibly have committed any war crimes.
They were in a war in which they saw Serbs as aggressors and Croats the
victims.
National hero
Now the reformist government of Ivica Racan is forcing people to re-examine
the whole issue.
Thirty-three-year-old General Norac refused to give himself up until he had
received a guarantee that he would not be extradited to the International
War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) in The Hague, which some Croats claim is trying
to criminalise their war of independence.
It now appears that he has received those assurances - a development that
other war crimes suspects may regard with envy.
The tribunal insists it never issued an indictment against Mirko Norac, and
will not do so in the future, not only for the current case in Gospic but
for any war crimes he may be suspected of committing between 1991 and 1995.
The news of his surrender came just hours after the tribunal's position was
made public.
The tribunal has handed a victory to Prime Minister Racan and his coalition
government, which had earlier won international praise for its policy of
co-operating with The Hague.
Demonstrations
The case of Mirko Norac had provoked country-wide protests in support of the
general. War veterans organised road blocks and demonstrations.
The international community was watching the Norac case closely to see
whether the government would cave in to right-wing pressure.
The government's repeated commitment not to intervene on what it called a
judicial matter has won further international approval.
Domestically, the government can claim to have won a concession from the ICTY.
It can also say the international community has shown confidence in Croatia
being able to prosecute its own war crimes.
It is now up to the Croatian court to show that it can try General Norac
fairly in such a highly charged atmosphere.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/europe/newsid_1426000/1426234.stm
Friday, 6 July, 2001, 15:30 GMT 16:30 UK Where are Karadzic and Mladic?
By BBC News Online's Tarik Kafala
Everybody wants to known the exact whereabouts Radovan Karadzic and Ratko
Mladic - the Bosnian War leaders indicted for war crimes.
Indications that the Bosnian Serb Government may be ready to co-operate with
the criminal tribunal in The Hague have raised the prospect that the two
men, the former Bosnian Serb president and his military leader, may be
brought before the court.
Radovan Karadzic, the man behind modern-day Bosnian Serb nationalism, is
believed to be on the run in eastern Bosnia. Nobody is sure exactly where.
According to reports, General Mladic is hiding in his wartime bunker at Han
Pijesak, just outside Sarajevo.
Assuming the political will exists - on the part of the Bosnian Serb
Government and the international community - bringing the suspects before
the war crimes tribunal may come down to a hunt in the unforgiving mountains
of eastern Bosnia and a raid on a warren of bunkers. They were dug into
Bosnia's mountains during the Communist era in case of an attack on
Yugoslavia.
'Not ready to surrender'
Reports that the Mr Karadzic was preparing to surrender to the tribunal, and
testify against former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, his patron
throughout the Bosnian war, have been denied by Mr Karadzic's wife.
"The attitude of Radovan Karadzic towards that tribunal has not changed, nor
will it change under any conditions," Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic said in a
recent statement.
"We are again forced to deny the misinformation that Radovan Karadzic is to
surrender to the tribunal in The Hague and that he would testify against
Milosevic in exchange for a lighter sentence," said Mrs Zelen-Karadzic.
According to Maggie O'Kane, a British journalist who went in search of Mr
Karadzic earlier this year, the alleged war criminal is on the move between
the towns and villages of Rudo, Visegrad, Cajnice and Foca.
"There have been sightings of him in most of these areas. There are also
allegations that he has been harboured by the Serbian Orthodox Church, that
he has stayed in church property," Maggie O'Kane told BBC News Online.
Having lived happily for years in a suburb of Belgrade, General Mladic has
felt more vulnerable since Slobodan Milosevic lost power in Serbia.
Most speculation puts him in the bunkers of Han Pijesak near Sarajevo, from
where General Mladic led the army during the Bosnia war.
"I think it's logical that he would be in Han Pijesak [which] is a place
where Mladic would undoubtedly feel the safest," said Maggie O'Kane.
Raid or handover
Analysts say a commando raid by Nato's S-For soldiers or the British SAS to
capture either man might be very dangerous.
The military bunkers where General Mladic is thought to be hiding are
designed to resist attack, and the mountains of eastern Bosnia are an
extremely hostile environment. Both men are assumed to be heavily guarded by
loyal troops.
Whether Western military leaders are prepared to plan such a potentially
risky operation is not clear. But for Jacques Klein, the UN special envoy to
Bosnia, the only chance of bringing Karadzic and Mladic before The Hague
tribunal is a Western-led raid.
"We have to remember that the local police and intelligence services in the
Republika Srpska are under the strong influence of nationalist parties,"
said Mr Klein.
"And Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic leads what is basically a minority
government. The largest party in the Republika Srpska is the SDS nationalist
party - Mr Karadzic's party.
"I still think this is a function that Nato S-For will have to do, because
they are the only ones with the intelligence, information and capability to
do it," he added.
Domestic concerns
There are also domestic political considerations.
Analysts argue that an S-For raid could be highly destabilising if the
political groundwork is not set, as it was in Belgrade, before the indicted
war criminals are captured or handed over.
Mr Karadzic and General Mladic are still seen by some as nationalist heroes
in the Republika Srpska.
However, Jacques Klein argues that Bosnian Serbs may be coming to the
conclusion that harbouring Mladic and Karadzic may not be in their long-term
interest.
"I think that the Bosnian Serbs now understand that they do have a problem -
that Karadzic and Mladic are an albatross around their necks," he said.
"We are going to be trying Milosevic for between 7,000 and 10,000 deaths in
Kosovo. That's Karadzic and Mladic in a few days in Srebrenica."
Whatever the political or military considerations, domestic or
international, Mr Klein argues that Western leaders have delayed long enough
in dealing with Mr Karadzic and General Mladic.
"It is time we got on with [this task], because it shows the impotence of
the West in the face of evil," Mr Klein said.
http://rigg.aftenposten.no/nyheter/uriks/d220267.htm
Vanskelig å føre bevis
Drapene og overgrepene i det tidligere Jugoslavia er vel dokumentert, men
det kan bli komplisert å bevise at Slobodan Milosevic beordret eller
godkjente dem.
Aftenpostens korrespondent AASMUND WILLERSRUD
"Alle vet". Tusener av øyenvitner og overlevende etter massakrer lyver ikke
om hva som faktisk skjedde. Bilder av lik med bakbundne hender og knuste
hodeskaller i utallige massegraver dokumenterer scener fra bestialitetens
historie i vår egen samtid. Men aktoratet ved FNs krigsforbryterdomstol i
Haag må bevise Slobodan Milosevic' ansvar, før de får ham dømt for
forbrytelser mot menneskeheten, eventuelt også folkemord, dersom tiltalen
utvides. I Haag er også han uskyldig inntil det motsatte er bevist.
Slobodan Milosevic har etter det man vet ikke etterlatt seg noe papirspor,
det vil si signerte dokumenter eller brev hvor det utgår ordre om å
massakrere eller torturere kosovoalbanere, muslimer eller kroater. Derfor
kan det bli avgjørende for aktoratet om de greier å fastslå den tiltaltes
såkalte kommandoansvar. Det vil si at han i kraft av sin posisjon og
autoritet bærer ansvar for sine underordnedes handlinger; i klartekst at han
visste om og godkjente drap og etnisk renskning i Kosovo.
Dersom tiltalen utvides, slik sjefanklager Carla del Ponte ønsker, kan
Slobodan Milosevic vise til at han "bare" var serbisk president under store
deler av krigen. Det vil si at en annen, forbundsstatens president, hadde
kommandoen over de jugoslaviske styrker.
- I så henseende kan man godt trekke paralleller til Stalin, sier en jurist
i Haag. Selv om ingen tviler på hans totale og effektive kontroll over
statsapparatet, fantes det ifølge sovjetisk rett grunnlag for å si at han
formelt ikke var verstkommanderende til enhver tid.
Grunn til å vite Aktoratet ved FN-domstolen mener imidlertid at begrepet
kommandoansvar, slik det utgår fra folkeretten i dag, ikke krever juridisk
("de jure") ansvar som verstkommanderende. Tvert imot kan det også omfatte
faktisk kunnskap om, eller "grunn til å vite", for eksempel via
informasjoner i systemet, hva underordnede drev med. Alt dette innebærer
kriminelt ansvar, ifølge en kilde i aktoratet, men også dette må først
bevises.
Den internasjonale påtalemakten ventes å fremlegge det de kaller
dokumentariske bevis samt vitneprov fra underordnede eller personer i
Milosevic nære omkrets. Etterforskerne har forberedt seg på saken mot
Milosevic gjennom hele seks år, og har samlet enorme mengder fakta gjennom
undersøkelser på stedet, intervjuer med overlevende og ikke minst et
omfattende etterretningsmateriale.
Vestlige spionsatellitter har registrert mye av det som skjedde på bakken,
og NATO avlyttet den militære kommunikasjon, slik at det eksisterer
detaljerte utskrifter. Spørsmålet er bare hvor mye av dette materiale som
tillates fremlagt i åpen rett.
Forsvaret Den internasjonale komitéen til forsvar for Slobodan Milosevic
hevder alt nå at det ikke finnes ett eneste bevis som kan knytte ham til
noen krigsforbrytelse. Dessuten er det nærliggende å forutse at forsvarerne,
hvis den tiltalte oppnevner dem etter hvert, vil forsøke å dokumentere i
forhold til en utvidet anklage, at Slobodan Milosevic prøvde å stagge noen
av sine allierte. For eksempel de bosnisk-serbiske lederne, menn fra
fjellene og skogene, som det ikke var lett å kontrollere fra Beograd.
Enda mer komplisert vil det bli for aktoratet å føre bevis for en eventuell
folkemord-anklage mot Slobodan Milosevic. Her kreves i tillegg dokumentert
hensikt og overlegg, det vil si en mental tilstand som sikter mot det
grufulle resultat.
Kroater tiltales Krigsforbryterdomstolen i Haag kommer også til å tiltale
tre kroatiske generaler for krigsforbrytelser mot lokale serbere i årene
1991-1995, ifølge NTB/AFP.
Domstolen har forberedt tiltale mot de to pensjonerte generalene Ante
Gotovina og Mladen Markac, og mot general Rahim Ademi. De vil bli krevd
utlevert til høsten, ifølge den kroatiske ukeavisen Nacional.
This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : 03-08-01 MET DST