No exoneration
I won’t pretend to have read the gigantesque judgment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) acquitting Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović, respectively head of the Serbian security service (DB) and one of its employees. They were accused of committing crimes between 1991 and 1995 against non-Serb civilians in Croatia and Bosnia. The crimes included persecution, murder, deportation, and forcible transfer, committed as participants in a joint criminal enterprise. Volumes 1 and 2 run to 888 pages.
But I couldn’t miss this:
The Trial Chamber notes that in many instances the evidence suggested a conclusion which seemed to be very likely. However, in keeping with the applicable standard of proof the Trial Chamber strictly examined whether such conclusion was the only reasonable one.
This is directly relevant to the judgment, which found that the standard of proof had not been met.
Some will see this as exonerating not only the two individuals but also the Serbian state and its security services.
Nothing could be further from the truth. As noted in the summary of the judgment, the Chamber found beyond a reasonable doubt, for example, that deportation as a crime against humanity had been committed by Yugoslav National Army forces, in cooperation with other security forces in Croatia and Bosnia that the accused directed and organized. The court also found that the accused were in “direct and frequent contact” with the Serb organizers (including with Slobodan Milosevic) of a joint criminal enterprise that aimed to forcibly and permanently remove the majority of non-Serbs from large areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
But it did not find that the accused provided channels of communication among the organizers of the joint criminal enterprise (who also talked directly with each other) and found insufficient evidence to demonstrate that they shared the intent of the joint criminal enterprise.
This is not what I call exoneration, either of the individuals or of the institutions involved.
The judgment can be appealed, and I suppose will be. But whatever the eventual outcome for Stanisic and Simatovic, it is starkly clear what was going on: the Belgrade authorities in the early 1990s planned and carried out an effort by the Yugoslav National Army and other security forces, including some it organized locally in Bosnia and Croatia, to violently and criminally remove people from their homes based on ethnic criteria. I repeat what I said when ICTY acquitted two Albanians six months ago:
“Not guilty” does not exonerate. It only finds that adequate evidence was not presented to prove the case.
Swedish foreign minister Carl Bildt tweeted yesterday:
It is becoming increasingly difficult to see the consistency or logic in the different judgements by the ICTY war crimes tribunal.
Those who would look for consistency and logic in convictions and acquittals are bound to be disappointed. Each case is decided on its own merits, not based on what was found in another case. The standards of proof are supposed to be the same, but the witnesses and other evidence vary. The system is designed to protect the rights of the accused, even at the risk of finding them not guilty in error. Justice doesn’t always mean convictions.
Share this, I'll really appreciate it:
18 thoughts on “No exoneration”
Comments are closed.
RSS - Posts
This verdict is similar to the recent case of Croatian generals Gotovina and Markač in the sense that accusations couldn’t have been proved beyond a reasonable doubt. So, you are absolutely right on this matter, just as you were then.
Nevertheless, the acquittal of Mr. Stanišić and Simatović will – and already does – serve to support the assertion of Serb nationalists and the dominant part of the local political elite that Serbia did not participate in the wars and therefore should not be accused of armed invasion against its neighbors.
Unfortunately, the result of the ICTY’s overall work is that most Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks, respectively, believe that the Court is speciffically against them and supportive of the other two ethnic sides.
This is, it seems so, far from truth. According to present situation, there are A LOT of people in Serbia very unhappy that those two persons are free. And it looks like that almost everybody just want to finish the story and live in peace. Maybe it could be possible if we ALL (including writer of the post and mr. Marinkovic) start talking about development of the region, peace and prosperity and not about the stupid war! Reconciliation and the peace are much more needed!
Unlike the two Croatian generals, Stanisic and Simatovic did not return to a heroes’ welcome, or even a small welcoming committee from the government. In fact, they snuck past a group of quote-hungry newsmen who had gone out to the airport to meet them. It seems to be accepted by the broad (non-nationalist) public in Serbia that they were actually responsible for the crimes they were accused of, even if it proved impossible to present documentary evidence of this in court. (Due to that agreement Carla del Ponte made with Belgrade not to use evidence impairing Serbia’s national interests?) Unlike the two Croatians, they certainly had not tried to prevent atrocities (Gotovina had required commanders to attend lessons on Geneva Convention provisions), and unlike the Croatians, they had not been transferred to another theater, preventing them from dealing with the aftermath of military actions by punishing what they couldn’t prevent.
Rasim Ljajic has recently said (right before the judgement in this case came out) that the Hague court has not served any of the purposes it was set up for – certainly not reconciliation. What it has done is at least to provide a record of who did what to whom for the historians to deal with. How much satisfaction this will provide the victims remains uncertain, unfortunately. It won’t be only the victims who find see finding Tudjman guilty (in this trial) and Milosevic not guilty of involvement in a criminal enterprise objectionable. On the other hand, the results of the Kosovo trials stand and will be enough – especially with Djordjevic’s final confession – to prevent Milosevic’s rehabilitation in the future.
As for the historians, the Scholar’s Initiative has come out with a second edition of Confronting the Yugoslav Controversies (non-English versions expected by the end of the year) http://www.glasamerike.net/content/charles-ingrao-interview-yugoslavia-revision/1672963.html. Already revisions are being made – for example, that the mass atrocities Milosevic’s troops committed, especially in BiH, were intentional, not incidental, as he claimed. The Initiative may need at least a third edition, once the Hague court has closed, to deal with the final judgements, although that certainly won’t be the end of attempts to deal with what happened and who was responsible.
Amer, you should find out first who was stopping and obstructing the investigation against Gotovina and others, before making ridiculous claims about Geneva convention.
Interesting article, unfortunately in Finnish language http://tinyurl.com/nxhy2j2
One person who according to this article was obstructing investigation of Croatian atrocities committed in “Oluja” is the same person who was appointed to investigate Kosovo organ harvesting case. Surprise, surprise!
So far, nobody from Serbia proper has been convicted to belong to criminal enterprise which was involved in persecution, expulsion and murder of citizens of other republics from former Yugoslavia.
However, that is not the case with former Croatian leaders.
Croatian Generals got jubilant welcome in Croatia (Haradinaj also in Kosovo), but nobody was waiting for Stanisic and Simatovic. Is that indicator of something?
What you forgot to mention is that Charles Ingrao in interview for Voice of America also questions the acquittal of Croatian generals, which brings in light question about neutrality of Hague Tribunal.
Without establishing what has happened, the reconciliation is not possible.
Ok, I did my best with the Finnish article. (It turns out Finnish isn’t nearly as similar to Hungarian as I had been led to expect – except for alla = alatt (under) nothing looked obviously related).
The article was a rather detailed account of the events of the war with a fair amount of insinuation about the U.S.’s ability to swing the course of investigations and judgements. I hadn’t heard before that Merton wanted del Ponte out of there – he is obviously a man of intelligence. The clash between del Ponte and the Americans on the prosecutor’s staff is nothing new, or the part the Americans played in training and equipping the Croatians for Oluja. The American officers said immediately after the brief operation that it had been “clean” – it was up to the Croatian civilian forces to prevent post-action atrocities, which they didn’t, very well. If US military men believed del Ponte was on a witchhunt in order to prove an equal number of all ethnicities guilty, it was only fair of them to try to persuade her that in this particular case she was wrong.
Del Ponte seems to confuse military action with crime. In a crime, there is a criminal and a victim. It’s a little more complicated in a war, where by definition bad things are going to happen, and trying to treat everyone involved as a criminal misses the point.
I didn’t see any mention in the article of the Serbs being told to evacuate by their own leaders, and that while the Croats left a corridor open for them to escape the fighting it was not a forced expulsion as seen, for example, in Kosovo.
Brammerz says he is going to appeal the acquittal of S & S. After studying the verdict he may find a way to convince a new panel that these two obviously had command responsibility at the very least.
As to “ridiculous claims about the Geneva Conventions” –
http://inavukic.com/2012/11/22/3180/
“Indeed, Gotovina and Markac forced all subordinates to undergo classes on the Laws of Land Warfare and Geneva Conventions before al Operations, including Storm.
In addition to Gotovina threatening his Generals at a meeting that he was going to break them down to the rank of private and send them to the front lines if they did not reign in the, as he put it, “barbarians” that were shaming the nation and proud and honorable Croatian military and police uniform(s) (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4nyXhLHDgHI)[unfortunately, removed], during and in the weeks immediately after Storm, there were over 1,000 civilian trials and courts martials, including 741 convictions – to date there have been 2,380 convictions for crimes committed by Croats (civilians or troops) during and after (mostly after, as 98% of illegal incidents took place when Gotovina and Markac were in Western Bosnia crushing Mladic’s forces) Storm.”
The Prosecution argued, as I remember, that Gotovina really hadn’t been serious and his statements could he ignored. Apparently a different panel of judges decided that when Frenki talked about “exterminating them all [the Muslims],” he wasn’t being serious, either. If these judges are able to read minds, why bother with all the bother of taking testimony?
You have again pointed out to unreliable sources such as Ivana Vukic, Croatian lobbyist. And source which writes about Gotovina telling his generals to follow Geneva conventions is coming from another questionable source somebody with user name guest-iwlnjlo and who commented on Economist website. Everybody can write this kind of information including yourself (Fadil H was very often commenting on Economist website).
Reference I have put is to respectful Finnish journalists who did good piece of investigative journalism. And coming from Finland, country which was anti Serbian all these years (Finns hate Rusia and therefore everything associated with Russia including Serbia, especially Ahtisaari which is only half Finn).
Regarding Finnish and Hungarian language similarities, there are few other similar words, my wife’s mother tongue is Hungarian and her grandparents were originally from Dohany utca in Budapest.
Next time I would recommend that you have more credible sources. Likes of Liam Hoare, Ivana Vukic and Marko Atilla Hoare are well known lobbyist against Serbia. Marko Atilla Hoare being half Croatian and Ivana Vukic Croatian.
You have tendency to write something which is backed by unreliable sources.
Micha,
“Kosovo organ harvesting case” is fairy tale story cooked from Russian intelligent service (very obviously) in order to blacken Kosovo and NATO, which “created monster state”. If one had doubts on this just check what “witness” of Serbian prosecution said and every surgeon would say the same – this story is indeed fairy tale.
Have you seen the recent New Yorker story by the investigative journalist Nicholas Schmidle? (Search on “Adrian.”) (http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2013/05/06/130506fa_fact_schmidle?currentPage=7)
The wrier spent time in the region working on the organ story, talking to both sides, and got an interview with the supposed battlefield heart-transplant surgeon the Serbs’ are placing all their hopes on. Schmidle believes it’s the same guy whose testimony formed the basis for Haradinaj’s retrial (because he had been unwilling to testify in court during the original trial). Haradinaj was found innocent essentially because this Witness 81 was so unbelievable. The Belgrade papers commented on the New Yorker story, but they left out the part about their star witness already having had testimony thrown out at the Hague as being unreliable.
Prosecutor Vukcevic says he has binders of evidence about people murdered for their organs, but (as Schmidle doesn’t mention) Marty says he couldn’t use any of it and did not suggest anybody look at it further, so this supposed eye-witness that even the Serbs say is a liar – about everything except this story – may be all they’ve got.
It is possible that is witness 81, I don’t deny that. However appointment of the prosecutor who supposed to investigate those allegations,is something which bothers me, especially after I read this article written by Finnish journalists.
However one of the most interesting parts in New Yorker is what prime minister says about those “witness” “Thaci appeared on an Albanian television program and threatened to expose every Kosovar and Albanian who had assisted Marty, saying, “These individuals will be disgraced.”
Another story in New Yorker from the same author, written little bit later http://tinyurl.com/ctfgbyr
And another one after that http://tinyurl.com/kpqfwnj about story of witness 81 and mentioning the name of former health adviser to Thaci which is under investigation by Eulex. Wasn’t he (former health adviser) the same person which Dick MArty mentioned in his report? Surprise, Surprise!
Fadil, I did not know that Dick MArty is Russian secret agent, I thought that he was respectful layer from Swiss.
Amer@Micha
I have read article from “The New Yorker” and although I was previously convinced fully about this fairy tale story, the story from investigative journalist Nicholas Schmidle convinced me even more. Just to quote part of the story: “Prem Shekar, a cardiac-transplant surgeon at Harvard Medical School, told me that Adrian’s tale was medically implausible, starting with the rubbing-alcohol detail. A heart transplant requires a truly sterile environment, he said: “If you take a heart that is harvested in a contaminated scenario, the recipient will get a terrible infection.”
The “witness” 81, or Adrian in the story, told prosecutors that he used bayonet of AK47 to remove the heart!!! We can just imagine how “sterile” can be such tool. To be more interesting the “witness” 81 was able conducting so complex procedures with just 3 weeks of training!!!!
If it were true why the world needs Universities, faculties of medicine?? Why we need years and years of study and practice in surgery and, for instance, in Prishtina we don’t have yet surgeon able to transplant human organ!!! Including PhD’s in medicine!
If I had Mr. Marty in front of me I would ask him for this. Secondly. If human organ is so easy to transport by regular planes why not transporting narcotics and have much more profit?? There is documentary on BBC, about events on 1999, about Moldovians going in Istanbul (Turkey) to sell their kidneys for just 3,000$ (three thousand U.S. dollars). So Mr. Marty wants to convince us about all of this!!!! All of these complex and costly procedures for just 3,000$!!!!! No, No. There is absolutely no sense on it.
I am not saying Mr. Marty is “Russian secret agent”. He is just telling to public their story. Why Mr. Marty did that?? I hope one day we will understand that. What is known in public is the fact that he is strongly against Kosovo and its independence. He said this very openly.
“A heart transplant requires a truly sterile environment, he said: “If you take a heart that is harvested in a contaminated scenario, the recipient will get a terrible infection.””
The recipient does not know if the heart ready for the transplant was taken in contaminated scenario. And nothing is guaranteed in those clinics what are used for transplantation (such as Medicus or those in Turkey) so recipient takes the organ on his own responsibility.
What Nicholas Schmidle writes in his last article http://tinyurl.com/kpqfwnj last paragraph “Monday’s conviction of three doctors in Kosovo on charges of organized crime and human trafficking, related to their role in an illegal organ-transplant clinic, gives weight to claims that, years earlier, the K.L.A. might have been involved in similar schemes.”
So now Nicholas Schmidle is not sure either (as he was in his first article written few months back) that those allegations about organ harvesting are true or not.
But as I said appointment of the lead prosecutor who was mentioned in Finnish article about Gotovina bothers me a lot. It is in interest of big powers and Kosovo to conclude that this never happened. And they might get little help from lead prosecutor. I just wonder, are there any not competent prosecutors from Europe who could lead the case, so they have to employ those from North America? EULEX suppose to be deployment of European Union (EU) police and civilian resources to Kosovo.
Micha,
There should bi distinction between organ trafficking, as it happens throughout the world, and organ harvesting from dead people or who would die once the organ is removed. The case of Mr. Marry is totally different with situation in which a live man goes to Istanbul from Moldova (no suspicious at all) and sells his kidney to Istanbul clinic for 3,000$, which is then transplanted to a rich man/women who paid $160,000 to $250,000 (based on BBC documentary – link provided).
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/3046217.stm
The same case as with these Moldovians happened in clinic Medicus in Prishtina. This is absolutely possible and no doubt on that. Apparently that was real organ trafficking as it happens in Serbia, Croatia, Italy, Spain, Greece (according to Mr. Williamson) and elsewhere in the world such as India, Brazil, China etc.
Russia, Serbia, Mr. Marty. Mrs Del Pone, want to convince us, however, in something totally different and close to SciFi imagination. Of course the reason totally known – presenting Kosovo as a monster state.
“Devil is in details” so let see some facts.
A cardiac-transplant surgeon at Harvard Medical School, Prem Shekar says that the removed heart (by all necessary procedures) would be useful only for 4-5 hours. After four hours, the heart, as organ for transplantation, is simply useless. Just live the procedure aside and imagine whether somebody from northern part of Albania would be able transporting a container with heart in it in four hours driving!!!! Knowing in what kind of condition were roads in Albania in 1999 (minimum 7 hours driving to Tirana) plus transport to destination airport (Istanbul or elsewhere in Europe as Mr. Marty said) then clinic in which transplantation is done, everybody could conclude that it was impossible and hence this is fairy tale story.
Second. Do you think people who pay $200,000 are stupid ones?? Serbian surgeon Dr. Goran Kronja (who conducted more than 250 organ transplantation) explains that prior to transplantation the recipient must be de imunized so even a few microbes would kill the patient. Of course since immune system of recipient is switched off. That’s why removing of human organ must be done in totally sterile environment. According to “witness” this was not the case. So people are stupid and pay @200,000, get infected and die!!!! No, this is not the case at all.
Third. Knowing that Istanbul clinics had offer of $3,000 (or even less by some reports) for a kidney of live donor the question is why these clinics would pay more for kidney without origin???!!! So tell me one thing: why the KLA people would take the risk, complex and costly procedures for just 3,000$?? I India the kidney can be found for even $1,000. Where is the benefit here??
Fourth. If a container with kidney or heart, with 30 to 40 kilograms of sterile ice, can be transported so easy by planes, we can just imagine that tonnes of narcotics would be transported in such way. It would by extremely more profitable and much less risky. Everybody knows that this is not true.
I know that some people simply want to believe in that fairy tale story but there is no logic nor benefit on it. That’s why Mr. Marty, Mrs. Del Ponte and Serbian prosecutors intentionally confuse people speaking for very high prices and hiding very crucial detail. Yes, human organ transplantation is very costly, complex and risky but such high prices of 200K U.S dollars and so is paid to clinic, not to traffickers. So if one wanted to say that KLA members got rich by organ trafficking of Serbs than by all facts that was not true. Of course, the whole story is not true.
“So tell me one thing: why the KLA people would take the risk, complex and costly procedures for just 3,000$??
What was the risk they were taking? They did not take any risk.
Or maybe they were doing it for the “fun”?
“The surgery that Adrian described, Shekar said, would suffice only as “an extremely primitive form of torture.”
Micha,
Apparently you lack some basic information on the situation in Kosovo in year 1999. Try to imagine this scenario: Kosovo with more than 50,000 KFOR troops and willing to arrest everyone that presented threat to them or dealing with illegal activity. Armed people would have had even worst fate. Mrs. Del Ponte and Mr. Marty want to say that in such situation some guys from KLA, kidnapped more than 300 Serbs in Kosovo and transported them to Albania, specifically to the place called Burrel (northern Albania) and close the so called “yellow house”. Don’t you think this as a risk being caught from KFOR?? What would happen if these guys were caught from KFOR???
Second: Keeping these people for a period of time would mean feeding them, doing many tests and costly examinations. This had a cost. Forget “wittiness” 81 tale about removing human organ for transplantation and packing it properly in container with chemicals and sterile ice, from non professional people. This, very costly procedure, could be done only by professionals who would ask huge sums of money. Serbian surgeon, Dr. Kronja says that sterile ice was produced only in Belgrade. Hearing “witness” 81, one may realize that he is a functional illiterate person. Believing that such people can remove human organ for transplantation and pack it properly is just as believing he is able constructing Space Shuttle.
In other side, who is that surgeon, professional one, that would remove human organ, from civilian, knowing that after the removal the civilian would die??? Even if such surgeon forgot humanity what would be the cost of his engagement in such activity??
Third: Mrs. Del Ponte and Mr. Marty said that such container with human organ was transported to Tirana airport. This has a cost as well.
Fourth: The container was loaded in planes according to Mrs. Del Ponte and Mr. Marty. I would ask the question: were personnel in airport Tirana stupid allowing a container so easy, without knowledge on what is inside, or they were bribed with huge amount of money?? What happened in other side, Istanbul airport?? Was the personnel there stupid as well or allowed container to leave airport in exchange of huge money??
Fifth: Why clinic in Istanbul would pay for organ without origin while having offer from Moldovians who offered their kidney for $3,000 or less?? Or, if transport by planes is so easy why not having kidneys from India with the cost of $1,000 (much cheaper than Moldovians)??
So the logic is very clear. If KLA members would hope in profit, there was NOT profit at all. Repeating again, people who are willing to pay huge amounts of money do it to clinics not to traffickers or brokers.
To make the conclusion – yes I agree with saying: “The surgery that Adrian described, Shekar said, would suffice only as “an extremely primitive form of torture.”
The same said Serbian professor Dr. Goran Kronja. But although this would present terrible crime against humanity, its not, however, close to the story of human organ trafficking.
The story about human organ trafficking in the way is presented is invented because the reaction in the world is much stronger.
“In other side, who is that surgeon, professional one, that would remove human organ, from civilian, knowing that after the removal the civilian would die??? Even if such surgeon forgot humanity what would be the cost of his engagement in such activity??”
I don’t see this as valid argument. I am sure there are plenty of those surgeons who would not care about Hippocratic Oath.
You should check what K. Albanians were telling about Carla Del Ponte (all in superlative) up to the point when she mentioned those cases. Suddenly she became the number one enemy of Kosovo.
Whatever the purpose was, for the victims is irrelevant, the suffering inflicted on them was enormous. All those who were responsible should be brought to justice regardless of their nationality.
Do not jump to the conclusions so quickly. I doubt they will find anything, it is in interest of Kosovo and big powers not to find anything. Even they find something evidence will be destroyed.
More evidence about cover up of atrocities in operation Storm from US side http://tinyurl.com/msck86w.
Luka Misetic (https://twitter.com/MiseticLaw) the lawyer of Gotovina describes that Pentagon knew about operation storm and they gave green light to Croatian for the start of operation Storm.
Another familiar name comes up here, our “Lead prosecutor” now working for Eulex. “Lead prosecutor” was arguing that shelling of Knin was a “minor incident”, and the Pentagon had told him that Knin was a legitimate military target… The [Tribunal’s] review concluded by voting not to include the shelling of Knin in any indictment, a conclusion that stunned and angered many at the tribunal”.
That much about lead prosecutor and his neutrality? What do you think why he was appointed as lead prosecutor to EULEX? Because of his competence? Yeah right.
Micha,
Investigators will not find anything relevant because there is nothing relevant in the story of Mr. Marty. I am not jumping into the conclusions so quickly. I am just presenting facts. I am making very clear distinction between the real organ trafficking (case Medicus in Pristina and elsewhere) and Marty’s story. There is no contradiction at all in case Medicus. There is no doubt at all that case Medicus and organ trafficking with live donors happened. Look at what Mrs Del Ponte and Mr. Marty (followed by Serbian prosecutors) say. Hundreds of contradictory and absolutely not reliable sources or facts and some up to fantastic imagination.
You took just one of my statement but clearly you did not understand my point. I did not speak for humanity of surgeons removing the organ. I spoke about the price such surgeons would be paid for the removal of human organ plus having in their soul guiltiness of killing innocent people. A surgeon in my town asked me 600 euros for very simple surgery intervention in my nose. What do you think how much would ask such surgeons removing organ and killing innocent civilian??? It would, for sure, overpass the price Moldovians offered ($3,000) to Istanbul clinics or poor Indians ($1,000). Just for surgeons but where is the cost of feeding, complex medical examinations and tests, special container, chemicals, 30-40 kilograms of sterile ice, bribery in airports (Tirana and Istanbul) etc. You want to say that all this could be done for just $3,000???!!! No, I don’t believe at all.
What is my point here is comparing expenses of such enterprise vs profit. Having all facts, one may easily conclude – there was not absolutely any profit at all. That’s why Mrs. Del Ponte and Mr. Marty confuse the opinion very intentionally hiding crucial detail – high prices of kidney transplantation in hundreds of thousands of dollars/euros receive clinics and surgeons doing transplantation, NOT traffickers or live donors (whether voluntarily or being paid).
Since there was not profit, such an activity is clearly invention of some people to blacken Kosovo.
Finally, yes, those Serbs were clearly killed. Maybe in terrible way, as described, which is huge crime. The wrong part of this story is, however, that some people want to benefit from these deaths and misuse them to attack the newest state – Kosovo. This is a second killing of these people and second crime against them.