Hague tribunal denounced for exonerating NATO war criminals
By John Catalinotto
June 15, 2000--Anti-war organizations and individuals around the world reacted in indignation to the announcement June 2 that the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia was exonerating NATO of all charges of war crimes committed against Yugoslavia.
Carla Del Ponte, chief prosecutor for the tribunal at The Hague, said that the court had examined charges brought against NATO by various forces. She said that after considerable study the court decided there was no reason to pursue any of these charges.
Lawyers' groups in Canada, Russia, Greece, France, Yugoslavia and the United States had brought charges before the court. Charges included the use of cluster bombs and depleted uranium weapons, as well as dropping bombs on civilian targets. The civilian targets included the Serb television station, the Chinese Embassy, a train crossing a bridge and a convoy of refugees in Kosovo--most of which have been reported in the mainstream media.
International Action Center co-director Sara Flounders said Del Ponte's announcement shows that "a people's court has to bring charges against U.S. and NATO leaders if we want to preserve the truth of this war for history."
The IAC initiated such a people's tribunal on July 31, 1999, and will hold its final hearing this June 10 in New York. Flounders said anti-war activists, elected representatives and prominent personalities from 18 nations will participate in the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes against Yugoslavia.
Flounders noted that "Del Ponte made her announcement just as people's tribunals were taking place in Rome and Berlin that were finding NATO leaders guilty of war crimes. And we were preparing our final tribunal for the following week. In the Netherlands, lawyers are bringing charges against government leaders on June 9.
"There is no doubt U.S. and NATO leaders planned the aggressive war against Yugoslavia over a long period, that they purposely bombed civilian targets, and that they used weapons illegal under international treaties. And there is no doubt Del Ponte was told to make this announcement now in an attempt to counter the success of these people's tribunals in bringing U.S./NATO crimes to the light of day," charged Flounders.
"We note that the article in the June 3 New York Times on Del Ponte's announcement described the lawyers who brought charges to the ICTFY court as 'paid by Yugoslavia.' We know for a fact that the lawyers in many different countries--including Canada, France, Russia and Greece--do their work out of their personal conviction. They often do this at great personal sacrifice, and they have succeeded in exposing the ICTFY as a corrupt court in the pay of the U.S. and other NATO powers."
'A corrupt tribunal is worse
than none at all'Prof. Michael Mandel is one of a group of Canadian attorneys who had brought charges to the ICTFY court.
Mandel said that Del Ponte's decision was no surprise to him, and that his group had denounced the tribunal as a farce and a disgrace in March.
"The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia is a corrupt institution," said Mandel. "It declared its own corruption with the announcement by the prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, that she is completely satisfied that NATO did not commit war crimes in Yugoslavia and for that reason is not going to open an inquiry.
"You might want to ask how she became satisfied of their innocence without an inquiry.
"NATO committed every crime from mass murder on down in front of the world and it confessed its guilt in every press conference of Jamie Shea," said Mandel.
"A corrupt tribunal is worse than no tribunal at all. This one should be shut down and Del Ponte fired, to find work in some other department of the Pentagon," said Mandel. He noted that the first prosecutor of the tribunal, Canadian Louise Arbour, was rewarded with a life appointment to the Supreme Court of Canada by Premier Jean Chretien.
In Italy, former senator and religious philosopher Raniero La Valle denounced the ICTFY as a "victor's tribunal" that was set up specifically to persecute the Milosevic government in Yugoslavia. La Valle said that "it is important that justice be found also outside of its traditional seats and be proclaimed before the tribunal of public opinion." He was referring specifically to the tribunals to be held June 3 in Rome and June 10 in the U.S. inspired by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark.
La Valle will participate at the June 10 tribunal in New York, which will take place from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. at the Martin Luther King High School Auditorium at 66th Street and Amsterdam Ave. in Manhattan. The doors open at 10 a.m.
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