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Extreme prejudice: the Hague Tribunal and the trial of Slobodan Milosevic

By Ian Johnson - posted Monday, 15 July 2002


Mr Y. " I don’t know"

Judge May. " Mr Milosevic, move on, it is not relevant when he joined the party."

Mr M. "It is very relevant. However. How is it that you were Mayor of your village at such a young age, this is very unusual?"

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Mr Y. " I was Mayor because I represent modern civilisation, unlike the backward Serbs. Modern civilisation that we are now building in Kosovo needs leaders like myself to take them out of the backwardness that Serbs kept them in. We are building a civilisation that is modern and we need intelligent people like me."

Judge May allowed this racist diatribe to go on without comment.

Judge May. " Have you many more questions for this witness Mr Milosevic?"

Mr M. " I have about forty more questions."

Judge May. "Well I am giving you ten more minutes with this witness."

Mr M. " That just shows the bias of this court as I have said previously."

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The scales of justice

The essence of this Tribunal is summed up perfectly by lawyer Christopher Black:

No citizen of any country in the world would consider themselves fairly tried before a court that was paid for, staffed and assisted by private citizens or corporations which had a direct stake in the outcome of the trial and who were, themselves, in practical terms, immune from that court. It is a well established principle of law that a party in a legal action, whether civil or criminal, is entitled to ask for the removal of any judge sitting on the case when there exists a reasonable apprehension of bias. In this instance, a compelling argument can be made that the bias is not only apprehended, it is real, that it is not of one judge but of the entire tribunal, that this is not a judicial body worthy of international respect but a kangaroo court, a bogus court, with a political purpose serving very powerful and identifiable masters. To be consistent with my thesis I will go further and say that as a political instrument designed to violate, to destroy the integrity and sovereignty of a country, its creation is a crime against peace under the Nuremberg Principles. Instead of resolving conflict as it claims, it is used to justify conflict, instead of creating peace, it is used to justify war and therefore is an instrument of war.

During the trial session of Friday 7th June Mr. Milosevic complained to the court that he had not as yet received a copy of the statement made by William Walker, head of the OSCE and a vital prosecution witness. Mr Walker was due in court the following Monday. Judge May said he would look into this.

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About the Author

Ian Johnson is North West Regional Secretary, Socialist Labour Party, England.

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