IAC Statement on the Death in Prison of Slobodan MilosevicI, President of Yugoslavia

IAC Statement on the Death in Prison of Slobodan Milosevic, President of Yugoslavia

The International Action Center would like to send its sincere condolences to the family, friends and comrades of President Slobodan Milosevic of Yugoslavia and to the peoples of the Balkans who mourn his death at the hands of the court and prison authorities in The Hague. We join with others around the world to condemn the International Criminal Tribunal on the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for this crime. The full responsibility for the death of President Slobodan Milosevic lies directly with the fraudulent court created by the U.S. and NATO governments at The Hague – the ICTY. We join the also the demands for an independent investigation of the circumstances of President Milosevic’s death.

Since the illegal kidnapping of President Milosevic from Serbia in June 2001 and his forcible detention at Scheveningen prison on fraudulent war crimes charges, the court has consistently denied adequate medical care. The ICTY has held a fraudulent trial for the last four years in an attempt to blame Milosevic and Yugoslavia for NATO’s criminal war in the Balkans.

During this trial, now over four years old, the prosecution has failed to present anything like a case against Milosevic. In addition, his vigorous defense has exposed the crimes of the imperialist powers, especially the U.S. and Germany, in conspiring to destroy the Yugoslav Socialist Federation through subversion and direct military assault.

In the days before President Milosevic’s death, the IAC joined the efforts of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobodan Milosevic (ICDSM), sending to the 15 ambassadors of the members of the United Nations Security Council a request that President Milosevic be transferred to Russia for medical care, given his critical medical condition. This court has now—at the very least—allowed him to die rather than exposing its own inability to build a case against this Yugoslav and Serb political leader. The ICTY was responsible for his care and is guilty in the very least of criminal neglect.

The NATO leaders--with Bill Clinton, Tony Blair and Gerhard Schroeder topping the list—should have been the ones on trial for war crimes. From the day of his kidnapping, President Milosevic waged a heroic defense of his own actions to defend Yugoslavia. He equally exposed the crimes of these leaders of the great powers to the world. For this the peoples of the Balkans and of the world will be indebted to him.

Sara Flounders,
Co-coordinator, International Action Center
March 11, 2006

President Milosevic opening statement as the Trial opened is printed in full in the IAC book Hidden Agenda: The U.S./NATO Takeover of Yugoslavia. His statement to the court 2 years later as the defense finally began its rebuttal is printed in full in the IAC book The Defense Speaks – For History and the Future. Both books can be ordered directly from Leftbooks.com

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March 8, 2006, Letter to the 15 Members of the UN Security Council on Slobodan Miloševic

US/NATO Charged with Criminal Negligence in Death of Pres. Slobodan Milosevic