🚀 go-pugleaf

May 30th, 1999

 International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague
 and Indictment of Milosevic

 When Louise Arbour, main prosecutor of ICTY in The Hague, today 
announced the name of
 Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic as one of the accused for 
war crimes in Kosovo, it was an
 event that each democratically oriented citizen of Serbia longed 
for. The responsibility has been
 personalized and the process of punishing the real perpetrators 
finally began, instead of punishing the
 whole nation, as was the case so far. Still, this may be the 
single positive note in this decision, which
 will, at this moment and in these circumstances, quite certainly 
open new dimensions of peril for
 exactly those common people of Yugoslavia.

 First, it must be stressed that the idea of an international 
tribunal, which would deal with punishing
 those who committed war crimes is an extraordinarily humanistic 
idea. This way, various dictators of
 the world would not be able to hide behind the sovereignity of 
their states. But, the trouble with the
 practical implementation is the requirement for a court, which 
deals with such delicate matters as
 neglecting of sovereignity of independent states is, to be 
absolutely unbiased. There is but a thin line
 between the humanistic idea of prevention and punishing the 
crime, and the political
 instrumentalisation of the court in disputes between the mighty 
and tiny countries. It is exactly the
 absolute independence ot such a court that stops this line from 
being crossed, and the noble idea of
 establishing responsibility for the crimes from being compromised 
and reduced to a political
 instrument of the countries who founded and who finance the 
court, against the others. So, does this
 specific international court in The Hague satisfy thus defined 
conditio sine qua non of absolute
 independence?

 The answer is short, tragic and pathetic: NO. The ICTY in The 
Hague has so far managed to do only
 half of its job. The score is not that bad, until the 
distribution of this half is observed. Unfortunately,
 the aforementioned half is completely focused to only one of tha 
waring sides. Anyone who has
 origins here, with additional requirement of being immune to 
nationalistic propaganda of his own side,
 will witness that the atrocities were performed by all against 
all others. This simple truth, though, has
 not achieved much popularity with media houses like CNN or Sky. 
It's far easier to depict the matter
 in the traditional black-and-white manner, so simple and 
comprehendable for the target group of
 average audiences.

 What is substantial here? Naturally, Milosevic is responsible for 
the situation on not just Kosovo, but
 the areas of former SFRY as well. Naturally, the responsibility 
needs to be personalized and he needs
 to go to prison for his crimes. But, naturally as well, following 
the same criteria on the same atrocities
 (organized manslaughter of civilians targeted to break the 
morale, performing mass retaliations on the
 whole nation of Yugoslavia), the command structures of NATO and 
the politicians, who ordered
 these atrocities, must equally be held responsible. Is there any 
difference between firing remote
 missiles on Zagreb, that Milan Martic (ex-president of Serbian 
enclave in Croatia) was accused for at
 the Hague tribunal, and shelling Nis with cluster bombs, as 
performed by NATO? Yes there is. The
 only difference is that nobody died in Zagreb, and 20 people got 
killed in Nis. Does the statement by
 NATO generals that the attack on Nis was a mistake (sic!) 
constitute a sufficient reason for not
 raising an indictment? If this is taken as a valid defence, no 
mass killer will be prone to be convicted.
 Stating that he aimed something else and that there was a mistake 
should keep him safe from court.

 It is quite understandable that it is very difficult to charge, 
try and convict your employer. That is the
 exact position of the prosecutors and judges of the ICTY in The 
Hague. Still, this understandable fact
 pulls hard consequences against the credibility of this court. 
It, simply, doesn't exist. This is the very
 reason why the people of Yugoslavia perceive this court as a 
great injustice and doesn't go
 substantially wrong at that. What other name can be given to a 
situation where the laws apply only to
 the poor, while the rich and the mighty are above them? The 
situation irresistibly resembles the courts
 in dominions in the times of great colonial powers. The law 
applied to the natives only, while the
 citizens of the empire were in no way restricted.

 Sadly, the injustice of this double-key concept is not the sole 
and not the worst consequence of this
 specific indictment against Milosevic in The Hague. It suffices 
to notice the moment when it was
 published, and it will become clear how the prosecution of this 
international tribunal agreed to
 exchange the credibility of the complete court for a political 
favor to certain centers of power, which
 can't be said to represent the international community, but are 
influental to NATO command
 structure. They find this war, as much as Milosevic does, 
completely suitable. The indictment was
 read at the moment when a political solution to the crisis was 
visible on the horizon, on the very day
 when international envoys should have come to Belgrade for a 
final settlement. Someone is obviously
 keen on creating a situation where Milosevic would not accept any 
compromise, because the
 settlement includes recognition of ICTY in The Hague. Milosevic, 
always lacking responsibility, is
 now stimulated to fight to the ned. To go until the complete 
breakdown, trying to protect himself from
 the trial. The price will be, naturally, paid by common citizens, 
which will be dying and losing limbs in
 a total war. The frequent question from the West - why doesn't 
the people stand up against this -
 reflects the complete naivety and substantial misunderstanding of 
circumstances an ordinary citizen
 lives in. Rebelling against the dictator, who has all the means 
of opression by a blindly loyal police, in
 the time of declared state of warfare, buys him a sure one way 
ticket - to the Heaven.

 In the end, what to say? It is sad to see immoral people 
compromise the deeply moral ideas, as the
 international crime court was. It is sad to see these universal 
ideas stained by dragging them through
 the mud of daily political interests of circles who prosper in 
each war by killing the weak and
 innocent. It is sad that the world's media are in general so much 
financially dependent on these
 circles, that the editors of these (let's call them) junk-media 
are openly mocking the concepts of truth
 and complexity in reporting. Still, all of this is not enough to 
bring amnesty to the responsible for the
 crimes. Whatever side they be, whichever circles they may be 
protegees of. It is time for politicians
 with a visions, in all world, to win over the image-pursuing 
politicians, who are irresponsibly endorsing
 the public opinion, while killing and destroying in the name of 
alleged great causes, at the same time
 treading over all the norms of humanity.

 For us in Yugoslavia it is probably too late. We are all already 
taken off from the count, and
 condolescences have been sent in advance. Still, there may be 
some time left for the world.

                                                                     
Severian