ICDSM-U.S. prepares for ‘final phase’ of Milosevic’s defense

October 28, 2005--To prepare for what defense activists called “the final phase” of NATO’s star-chamber trial of the former Yugoslav president, the U.S. section of the International committee for the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic held a strategy meeting Oct. 16 with representatives of the ICDSM from Germany and Serbia.

The main topics of the meeting included: (1) the latest developments in the trial; (2) their project to publish before the end of 2005 a newly translated English version of Milosevic’s opening defense speech at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands.

The ICTY, set up under the direction of U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright in the early 1990s, has charged Milosevic with war crimes allegedly committed as he was defending the former Yugoslavia from a NATO-directed dissolution.

Cathrin Schuetz, an assistant to the legal team in The Hague and member of the German committee, reported on the course of the ICTY proceedings, which she attends regularly, either in the courtroom or working behind the scenes. Schuetz focused attention on the recent testimony of Radical Party leader, Vojislav Seselj.

Vladimir Krsljanin, a former adviser to Milosevic who works with the Serb committee Sloboda, also reported by phone from Belgrade. Krsljanin discussed, among other things, the harsh conditions of life for many people in Serbia five years after the election-coup that overthrew Milosevic’s presidency and allowed a foreign takeover of the country.

Schuetz said that while it was clear the “trial” was in its final phase, neither she nor apparently anyone else knew exactly how long that would be. “They said Milosevic had 150 days to present his defense, in comparison with 300 days for the prosecution, but they explained later that they were only counting Milosevic’s time and not the cross-examination of defense witnesses.”

Later investigation showed that about two-thirds of Milosevic’s time had been used, which indicates the trial should end sometime in the spring of 2006.

“The discussion of the ‘Kosovo war’ is almost over,” Schuetz added, “but there will still be something on Bosnia and Croatia,” since there was prosecution evidence presented on those charges, too.

Milosevic had not been charged for any alleged crimes until May 1999, when the U.S. and other NATO powers used the ICTY to bring additional pressure against the Yugoslav leader as they were in the midst of a 78-day campaign bombing Serbia.

No conspiracy for ‘Greater Serbia’

Seselj’s testimony made some of the more important political points in recent months, she continued, and in some ways was the most interesting. “One of the main charges against the president was that he was part of a ‘criminal conspiracy’ to work toward a ‘Greater Serbia,’” that is, to expand the boundaries of what had been the Yugoslav Serbian Republic. “Seselj was adamant that his party and only his party, the Radical Party, supported this program. He insisted that Milosevic was opposed to this policy of a Greater Serbia.”

“Seselj’s testimony was almost amusing,” Schuetz said, “because he would describe all the Serb politicians who were supposed to be part of the conspiracy and it was obvious that they all were political enemies who met rarely, if at all, and who were at odds all the time.”

Schuetz also reviewed the struggle that arose when Milosevic had counsel imposed on him by the court in September 2004. So many witnesses refused to cooperate under those circumstances that the two attorneys resigned. The president insists on his right to defend himself and refuses to officially recognize the court,

While reserving the choice of continuing the trial without Milosevic should he be ill, the ICTY was forced to allow the president to defend himself. The court-appointed lawyers resigned later in the fall of 2004.

High poverty rate in Serbia

The Oct. 16 New York Times, in its Travel Section, had a front page and major article on how Belgrade has become a “fun city” to visit and how the night life is so lively. This tourist’s version contrasted sharply with Krsljanin’s description of daily life for many people in Serbia. “All the major industry has either been shut down completely or taken over by foreign capital with the work force cut in half or less. Close to half the people are bordering on despair.

“There may be few outward demonstrations of the building resentment,” he continued, “although there will be strikes and demonstrations by workers trying to keep their jobs, but that doesn’t mean the people are content. It can end with a change in the political process at the next vote, which will be next spring, or in an explosion.”

International Action Center co-coordinator Sara Flounders, who chaired the meeting, turned the discussion to the new book now nearing completion. She thanked Radmila Milentijevic for the “tremendous job she did re-translating the text from the Serbian original” and filmmaker Milo Yeleseyevich (Serbian Classics), who edited the English translation.

The Defense Speaks—for History and the Future

Those present who had worked on the book agreed that Milosevic had made good use of his defense speech to present a coherent, accurate and concise history of the recent Yugoslav period and the role of the U.S. and Germany in breaking up his country.

Participants discussed how to break through the propaganda offensive of the 1990s that succeeded in convincing so many people, even among what is usually considered the left, to demonize Milosevic in particular and Serbs in general. Some people believed that the low level of credibility after Bush’s lies about Iraq might open the way for people to re-examine the Yugoslav question.

Discussion continued on ways to promote sales and distribution of the book, whose title will be: The Defense Speaks – for History and the Future. People said this would be a way to begin to counter all the lies about the Balkans.

The meeting paid tribute to Harold Pinter, playwright and author and recent winner of the Nobel Prize in Literature, who was a strong opponent of NATO’s war against Yugoslavia.

Among those present, besides those mentioned above, were Prof. Barry Lituchy, organizer of the Jasenovac Research Institute; political journalists Heather Cottin and George Samueley and Serb-American composer Milos Raickovich. Political journalist Greg Elich and author Leonora Foerstel joined the discussion by phone.

John Catalinotto, co-editor with Flounders of “Hidden Agenda—U.S.-NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia,” wrote this article.

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