MILOSEVIC 'TRIAL' BLOWS UP IN HAGUE PROSECUTOR'S FACE!

Saturday July 27, 2002 12:40

by Sichst

Ex-Security Chief Testifies he was Tortured to Lie

As Ex-Security Chief Testifies he was Tortured to Lie -
MILOSEVIC "TRIAL" BLOWS UP IN HAGUE PROSECUTOR'S FACE!
By Jared Israel & Nico Varkevisser (at The Hague)
(The authors are Vice-chairpersons, ICDSM)
[Posted 27 July 2002]
=======================================

Today, as we prepared to post an article about the utter hypocrisy of The Hague "tribunal's" concern for Slobodan Milosevic's health, this "trial of the century" exploded and died.

Now the question is, will it linger in death?

The "tribunal" passed away during the testimony of Rade Markovic, former head of the Department of State Security of the Serbian Ministry of the Interior (the Serbian Secret Service). Markovic (pronounced MARK-oh-vich) was cross-examined today, 26 July, by Slobodan Milosevic.

Mind you, the prosecution called Mr. Markovic to testify. He was "their" witness. That is, for some reason they expected him to testify in their favor. And yet, he testified against them...

1) Mr. Markovic testified that the Milosevic government did *not* try to drive ethnic Albanians out of Kosovo during the NATO bombing. Quite the contrary:

"'I told (local officials) that presidential orders are that the flow of refugees must be stopped,' Markovic said during cross-examination by Milosevic..." (AP, 26 July 2002)

2) Mr. Markovic testified that Milosevic came down hard on anti-Albanian hate crime:

"'More than 200 criminal charges were filed against members of the police, and I think a similar figure stands for the army,' said Markovic..." (AP, Ibid)

Some news wire services reported the above points while trying to downplay their significance.

Earlier, Mr. Markovic had testified that starting in 1997 Mr. Milosevic did not exercise direct, daily control of security police. This testimony was misreported in the press. We shall clarify that when we publish the transcripts of Mr. Markovic's testimony, which will be soon.

But no wire service reported the most shocking revelation.

Prior to being brought to The Hague, Rade Markovic was held in a Belgrade jail for the past 17 months.

Today at The Hague, Mr. Markovic testified that he was tortured in that jail to force him to agree to give false testimony against Slobodan Milosevic.

He also testified that the current Belgrade security police, who work in closest cooperation with "tribunal" prosecutors, offered him and his family a change of identity and a comfortable new life in a foreign land if he would lie against Slobodan Milosevic.

Mr. Markovic said that, at one point, pro-NATO Serbian Interior Minister Mihailovic and his Secret Police chief, Goran Petrovic, showed up at the jail with a squad of secret police. Mr. Markovic said they removed him from the facility - itself a violation of Serbian law - and took him to a private dinner where they made him the offer of a new identity with a luxury life - and no more torture - in exchange for false testimony.

The torture and the bribes would explain why the Prosecution had reason to believe Mr. Markovic was "their" witness.

Stunned to see Markovic defy him, Prosecutor Jeffrey Nice (sic!) asked so-called judge Richard May to do something to stop it. And May did try, interrupting the cross-examination to argue that since "We are talking about Kosovo," the issue of Markovic being tortured to give false testimony (about Milosevic's role in Kosovo) was irrelevant.

As of this writing, not one English-language wire service has reported Markovic's shattering accusations or the amazing response of "judge" May.

Why not?

Could it be because there is no way for them to spin these charges in favor of the "tribunal" ...And thus the charges can't be mentioned.

Doesn't this support our own charge, that the Western media has been the agent of a massive anti-Yugoslav disinformation campaign? Is there any other way to explain their not mentioning that the head of Milosevic's secret service was called to testify against Milosevic and instead testified that he had been tortured to lie?

WHO IS CREDIBLE AND WHO IS NOT

What we find in the wire services is negative spin about Markovic, a blackout regarding his torture, and lies.

Dick Dicker from Human Rights Watch - which, from our direct observation at The Hague, virtually runs the "tribunal" - told Agence France Presse that Markovic's testimony "lacked credibility."

Ahh, is that so, Mr. Dicker?

If Rade Markovic so lacks credibility, why did your "tribunal" call him as a prosecution witness? Indeed, why did they call him as the last prosecution witness before the summer break?

Didn't your side call him because they thought he was theirs? Now, why would they think such a thing, Mr. Dicker?

Rade Markovic was never Slobodan Milosevic's political opponent.

So why was your "tribunal" so confident? Why was Mr. Nice so surprised?

Doesn't it make sense that the "court" expected Rade Markovic to cooperate because, "It is understood that he has had certain experiences in jail and he knows what is in store for him - for the rest of his life - if he defies us." Perhaps the flunkies in Belgrade exaggerated the extent of their success persuading Markovic to cooperate. Flunkies will do that to impress the home office.

Is that why your associates trusted him to cooperate? And is that why you and they were stunned when he didn't, so now you must sputter about Markovic not being credible - and him your own witness!

Speaking of credibility, why wasn't Rade Markovic's stunning charge broadcast on TV in the West?

Why doesn't the media report that Rade Markovic named the two US/West European agents - Mihailovic and Petrovic - who oversaw his torture?

Why doesn't the media broadcast the news - the scoop! - that instead of ordering an immediate investigation and putting Mr. Markovic under protection, instead of taking these minimal steps in accord with most basic justice, instead "judge" May told Markovic to stop wasting time with irrelevancies?

Doesn't "judge" May's reaction testify eloquently to the credibility of what Rade Markovic said?

And as for your own credibility, Mr. Dicker, why don't you demand an investigation of this charge of torture in this "trial of the century"? Aren't you Human *Rights* Watch? And if you don't demand an investigation because you *know* he's lying, why don't you share with the rest of us how it is that you know?

In the same dispatch as Dicker's "non-credible" remark, Agence France Presse reported that:

"Markovic has been temporarily released from prison in Serbia in order to testify at the trial." (AFP, 16 July 2002)

This is called lying by half-truth. AFP left out the fact that Mr. Markovic is now being held in Scheveningen, where the Nazis tortured leading members of the Dutch Resistance during World War Two.

So tonight Rade Markovic is at the mercy of those whom he defied.

As we shall document in a forthcoming article about the unbelievable "suicide" of Slavko Dokmanovic, Serbian leaders have died under suspicious circumstances while incarcerated at The Hague. In giving this testimony, Rade Markovic has risked torture and death.

And what did he gain? A nice job with Milosevic? Good treatment for his family in a Belgrade now controlled by NATO and the Western secret services? Rade Markovic had nothing whatsoever to gain in making these charges and he had everything to lose.

His action today went beyond mere credibility. It was magnificent.

GANGSTERISM

But what of the New World Order?

On 28 June 2001, Slobodan Milosevic was kidnapped from Belgrade.

The Yugoslav Constitutional Court had forbidden his extradition: it would violate the Yugoslav constitution. Nevertheless the "tribunal" and its Belgrade stooges kidnapped him. National constitutions don't count under the New Order. (1)

Mr. Milosevic has been abused in the former Nazi jail at Scheveningen. At times he has been tortured with lights on him, 24 hours a day. He has been denied the basic right to meet advisers of his choice.

One of the authors of this article, Nico Varkevisser, was denied permission to see President Milosevic just this month, despite being the Dutch coordinator for Mr. Milosevic's defense.

Chris Black, head of Milosevic's legal defense group, was banned from visiting Mr. Milosevic by the "tribunal", one of whose officials suggested at a press conference last year that the criterion for deciding whether a lawyer could see Mr. Milosevic was whether the "tribunal" believed he or she would have a "good effect" on the prisoner.

President Milosevic is forbidden access to the Internet or a library. His research tool is a pay telephone near his cell.

For five months we have seen an endless parade of blatantly disreputable "witnesses." Some are officials of NATO governments or organizations associated with NATO. It was NATO that bombed Yugoslavia including Kosovo. And NATO spokesperson, Jamie Shea, once boasted that NATO runs the "tribunal." (2)

Other "witnesses" have been Kosovo Liberation Army terrorists, or members of their front groups. That's whom the Milosevic government was fighting on the ground while NATO bombed from the air...

And now we have this case, the abuse of Rade Markovic.

Really, is there a greater disgrace, morally or professionally, than to be part of this "tribunal" or to defend it in the media or through some phony human rights group that fawns and scurries to serve the gangster bullies?

Slobodan Milosevic and Rade Markovic are imprisoned in Scheveningen. On a stone in that former Nazi prison a member of the Dutch Resistance engraved the following words:

"In deze bajes zit geen gajes, maar Hollands glorie, potjandorie."

which means:

"In this prison there are no criminals, but only the glory of Holland."

Let the NATO masters be careful how they treat Slobodan Milosevic and Rade Markovic.

- Jared Israel & Nico Varkevisser, Vice Chairpersons, International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic

***

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MILOSEVIC 'TRIAL' BLOWS UP IN HAGUE PROSECUTOR'S FACE!