[L-I] AP: Experts Urge U.N. on Milosevic Defense

The press conference hold on Tuesday, 17 August in the UN headquarters in
New York by Ramsey Clark, former US Attorney General and Tiphaine Dickson=
,
international criminal lawyer from Montreal on behalf of 90 lawyers and l=
aw
professors from 17 countries, demanding immediate end of the serious and
dangerous violation of International Law in the case of President Sloboda=
n
Milosevic (the press conference was hosted by New York historian Barry
Lituchy on behalf of the ICDSM-US) produced and is still producing lot of
public effect and among the international lawyers community in particular.
Below we reproduce the Associated Press story on the press conference, wh=
ich
was widely quoted in Western media, as well as the text of the petition,
together with 92 signatures it obtained until now.
While the Hague tribunal is still cooking its answer to the challenge by =
the
law and professional ethics, in the decisive days to come, ICDSM and Slob=
oda
urge all lawyers and all honest people to support our efforts to stop the
crime at the Hague and to help by all political, legal and financial mean=
s
the struggle of President Milosevic for truth, freedom of Serbian people =
and
sovereignty and equality of nations.
*****************************************************************
*****************************************************************
Experts Urge U.N. on Milosevic Defense
*******************************
Wednesday August 18, 2004
By EDITH M. LEDERER
Associated Press Writer

UNITED NATIONS (AP) - Ninety legal experts from 17 countries urged the
United Nations, in a petition drafted by a Canadian lawyer, to allow form=
er
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic to continue defending himself again=
st
war crimes charges, warning imposing a defence lawyer against Milosevic's
wishes would violate international law.

Canadian international lawyer Tiphaine Dickson, who drafted the petition,
said the UN tribunal prosecuting Milosevic is trying to impose a defence
counsel to strip him of a defence "that may be embarrassing" to the court.

Asked whether they should be making legal arguments on Milosevic's right =
to
defend himself, given their belief he is not guilty, Dickson insisted the=
 90
legal experts who signed the petition came "from every sort of political
persuasion" and "the vast majority" are not members of the International
Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic.

The jurists, law professors and international criminal lawyers -including
former U.S. attorney general Ramsey Clark and French lawyer Jacques
Verges -said in the petition to UN Secretary General Kofi Annan, the Gene=
ral
Assembly and the Security Council, even if Milosevic has heart trouble he
still has the right to defend himself.

"Illness does not destroy his right to defend himself in person," Clark t=
old
a news conference Tuesday at the UN Correspondents Association.

The petition calls for Milosevic's provisional release so he can receive
adequate medical treatment and warns having an outside lawyer take over h=
is
defence "will only increase his hypertension and place his life at risk."

Milosevic's trial at the UN tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, on 66 cou=
nts
of war crimes, including genocide, began in February 2002 and has stalled=
 at
the halfway point because of his heart problems.

When the trial resumes Aug. 31, the judges are expected to rule on two wa=
ys
to speed up proceedings -forcing Milosevic to accept a defence lawyer and
splitting the trial to separately cover conflicts in Croatia, Bosnia and =
the
Serbian province Kosovo during the breakup of Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Milosevic and UN prosecutors rejected the idea of breaking up the trial,
said court documents filed late last month. But prosecutors have long
advocated the idea of imposing a defence lawyer -a move Milosevic bitterl=
y
opposes.

In their four-page petition, the legal experts accused the UN tribunal of
compounding Milosevic's medical problems by refusing his right to
provisional release on grounds all defendants are presumed innocent until
proven guilty, by providing "unrealistically short preparation periods" f=
or
his defence and by introducing "an inordinate quantity of prosecution
evidence."

These three factors increased Milosevic's stress level, "the principal
trigger of his illness," the petition said.

Now that Milosevic's health is deteriorating, the tribunal is seeking to
impose legal counsel on him over his objections, "rather than granting hi=
m
provisional release in order to receive adequate and proper medical care,=
 a
reasonable measure reflected in domestic law and international practice,"=
 it
said.

Imposing a defence lawyer would violate Milosevic's rights under the stat=
ute
of the Yugoslav tribunal and also under the International Covenant for Ci=
vil
and Political Rights, they said.

"The United Nations should not tolerate these continuing violations of
international law in the name of expediency," it said.

"Using a detained person's inappropriately treated illness as an excuse t=
o
infringe upon his rights and silence him and embark upon a 'radical refor=
m'
of the proceedings -as the chamber is now considering, by changing the ru=
les
in mid-trial and to the defendant's detriment -is a perversion of both th=
e
letter and spirit of international law," the petition said.

"The man is innocent," Clark said.

"He should be able to prove his innocence."
**************************************************************

IMPOSITION OF COUNSEL ON SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC THREATENS THE FUTURE OF
INTERNATIONAL LAW AND THE LIFE OF THE DEFENDANT

H.E. Mr. KOFI ANNAN, Secretary General of the United Nations,
H.E. Mr. JULIAN ROBERT HUNTE, President of 58th Session of the UN General
Assembly
Russian Presidency of the UN Security Council,
To all members of the UN Security Council, to all members of the UN
Cc: International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

We the undersigned, jurists, law professors, and  international criminal
lawyers, hereby declare our alarm and concern that the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is preparing the
imposition of counsel upon an unwilling accused, Slobodan Milosevic.

This apparently punitive measure is contrary to international law,
incompatible with the adversarial system of criminal justice adopted by t=
he
Security Council in Resolution 808, and ignores the court's obligation to
provide adequate medical care and provisional release to the defendant. T=
he
ICTY, instead of taking appropriate measures to alleviate Slobodan
Milosevic's long-standing medical problems, has compounded them. The ICTY
has ignored repeated requests for provisional  release, to which everyone
presumed innocent is entitled, has imposed unrealistically short preparat=
ion
periods on the defence, and has permitted the introduction of an inordina=
te
quantity of Prosecution evidence, much of which was bereft of probative
value, thereby increasing Mr. Milosevic's level of stress, the principal
trigger of his illness.  Chamber III has been informed of this by their
chosen cardiologist. The defendant has been denied examination by his own
physician, a further violation of his rights.

Now, having brought about the very degradation of President Milosevic's
health of which it had been warned, the ICTY seeks to impose counsel upon
him over his objections, rather than  granting him provisional release in
order to receive adequate and proper medical care, a reasonable measure
reflected in domestic and international law and practice.  The envisaged
imposition of counsel constitutes an egregious violation of international=
ly
recognized judicial rights, and will serve only to aggravate Mr Milosevic=
's
life-threatening illness and further discredit these proceedings.

The right to defend oneself against criminal charges is central in both
international law and in the very structure of the adversarial system. Th=
e
fundamental, minimum rights provided to a defendant under the Rome Statut=
e
of the International Criminal Court, as well as the under the Statutes of
the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and Yugoslavia, include t=
he
right to defend oneself in person. The general economy of these provision=
s
all envisage the reality that rights are afforded to an accused,  not to =
a
lawyer. The right afforded is to represent oneself against charges brough=
t
by the Prosecution and subsidiary to this, to receive the assistance of
counsel, if an accused expresses the wish to receive such assistance.
However, if, as Slobodan Milosevic, a defendant unequivocally expresses h=
is
objection to representation by counsel, his right to represent himself
supercedes a court's or prosecutor's preference for assigning defence
counsel. As stated by the U.S. Supreme Court, with respect to the Sixth
Amendment of the Bill of Rights, which bears a striking similarity to
Article 21 of the ICTY Statute:

"It speaks of the 'assistance' of counsel, and an assistant, however expe=
rt,
is still an assistant. The language and spirit of the Sixth Amendment
contemplate that counsel, like the other defense tools guaranteed by the
Amendment, shall be an aid to a willing defendant - not an organ of the
State interposed between an unwilling defendant and his right to defend
himself personally. To thrust counsel upon the accused, against his
considered wish, thus violates the logic of the Amendment. In such a case=
,
counsel is not an assistant, but a master; and the right to make a defens=
e
is stripped of the personal character upon which the Amendment insists."
Faretta v.California, 422 U.S. 806 (1975)

The ICTY Statute (as well as ICTR and ICC Statutes) similarly grant "defe=
nce
tools," such as the right to be represented by counsel, or the right for
counsel to be provided free of charge, if the accused is indigent. The
essence of the right to represent oneself is  defeated when the right to
counsel  becomes an obligation. As stated in Farretta, supra:

"An unwanted counsel 'represents' the defendant only through a tenuous an=
d
unacceptable legal fiction. Unless the accused has acquiesced in such
representation, the defense presented is not the defense guaranteed him b=
y
the Constitution, for, in a very real sense, it is not his defense."
Id.

Nor would the defence of Slobodan Milosevic be the defence guaranteed him
under international law, were he to have counsel imposed upon him against
his will.
The ICTY's general structure is that of an adversarial system of criminal
justice. Other legal influences have been integrated to the Rules of
Procedure and Evidence, but the nature of the proceedings, which involve =
a
prosecutor and defendant, as parties, presenting evidence before a panel
whose function is that of arbiter, is unquestionably of an adversarial
nature. In the adversarial system, history has eloquently illustrated tha=
t
imposition of counsel on an unwilling accused is the practice of politica=
l
courts, and does not have its place in a democratic system of justice, mu=
ch
less before an institution that will generate precedent for a truly
legitimate international criminal jurisdiction, whose establishment has b=
een
the fruit of half a century of struggle:

"In the long history of British criminal jurisprudence, there was only on=
e
tribunal that ever adopted a practice of forcing counsel upon an unwillin=
g
defendant in a criminal proceeding. The tribunal was the Star Chamber. Th=
at
curious institution, which flourished in the late 16th and early 17th
centuries, was of mixed executive and judicial character, and
characteristically departed from common-law traditions. For those reasons=
,
and because it specialized in trying 'political' offenses, the Star Chamb=
er
has for centuries symbolized disregard of basic individual rights."
Faretta, Id.

Recently, the ICTY has ordered  the Prosecutor, and only the Prosecutor, =
to
provide an opinion with respect to the imposition of counsel in the absen=
ce
of instructions or cooperation from Mr. Milosevic. The Chamber has
repeatedly referred to its obligation to carry out a fair trial, and held=
,
when it acknowledged the right to self-representation in April 2003, that=
 it
"has indeed an obligation to ensure that a trial is fair and expeditious;
moreover, where the health of the Accused is in issue, that obligation ta=
kes
on special significance." Article 21 of the ICTY's Statute  states that t=
he
Chamber must exercise this obligation "with full respect for the rights o=
f
the accused." However,  expediency has become,  as the defendant is set t=
o
present essential and potentially embarrassing evidence, the Chamber's
apparently overwhelming concern.

Imposition of counsel, even "standby counsel", as appears to be presently
envisaged by the ICTY, will not alleviate any of the difficulties facing =
the
process: it will not treat, much less cure, Slobodan Milosevic's malignan=
t
hypertension; it will not provide the defendant with the time and conditi=
ons
to prepare his case; it will not redress the gross imbalance in the
resources accorded the Prosecutor and the defence, a redress required by =
the
principle of equality of arms, which the Court professes to recognize.  I=
f
counsel is imposed, Slobodan Milosevic's basic right to represent himself
will be violated, and he will still have only 150 days to present his
defence, only half of the time allotted to the Prosecution.

It is presently unclear what role an imposed counsel would play. Whatever=
 it
may be, it is certain that there is no benefit to be gained from going
forward with this unprecedented measure. The ICTY Statute provides the
minimum right to be present for one's trial. If Slobodan Milosevic's medi=
cal
condition does not permit him to attend the proceedings, and he does not
waive his right to be present, the ICTY does not have the jurisdiction to
hold hearings in his absence. Adjournments will continue as long as measu=
res
are not taken to treat Mr. Milosevic's malignant hypertension, a conditio=
n
that cannot be treated by further violating his rights, threatening to
remove him from the process, or by transferring his defence to a complete
stranger.

The ICTY assigned three counsel to act as amicus curiae, and whose stated
role is to ensure, inter alia, a fair trial. It is doubtful an imposed
counsel, even a "standby counsel" could provide any additional assistance=
,
without hijacking President Milosevic's defence, or simply silencing him.
Furthermore, any reference to precedent with respect to the imposition of
standby counsel is inapposite. In the case of Dr Seselj, "standby counsel=
"
has been imposed, before the beginning of a trial, and to prevent
"disruption" of the proceedings.

President Slobodan Milosevic does not recognize the ICTY.  He asserts his
innocence, and steadfastly criticizes the ICTY and NATO. He is innocent
until proven otherwise, and has every right to oppose the legitimacy of t=
his
institution. By imposing counsel, the ICTY would not only violate his rig=
ht
to self-representation, but his right to present relevant evidence
demonstrating the repeated violations of Yugoslavia's sovereignty over a
decade. These violations led to NATO's illegal war of aggression against =
and
bombing of Yugoslavia - at  the very height of which an indictment agains=
t
Slobodan Milosevic was confirmed by the ICTY - in a transparent bid to
deprive the Yugoslav people of a voice to negotiate peace and in order to
justify the continuation of that war of aggression.

The trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the ICTY has been adjourned until
August 31st, 2004. The Prosecutor has presented 295 witnesses in as many
days, all of which have been cross-examined by the defendant in person, a=
s
he does not recognize the ICTY as a judicial body, and signals this
non-recognition by refusing to assign counsel. Slobodan Milosevic is a la=
w
school graduate, was three times elected to the highest state offices of
Serbia and Yugoslavia, and has by all accounts ably contested the
Prosecution's case. There is no question as to his mental fitness and
ability to waive his right to counsel.  The ICTY may not enjoy President
Milosevic's criticism. Nonetheless, the public benefits of respecting his
right to self-representation far outweigh whatever embarrassment might be
visited upon the ICTY. Justice demands that Slobodan Milosevic be given t=
he
right to demonstrate that the Security Council institution detaining him =
is
a political weapon against the sovereignty and self-determination of the
people of Serbia and all the peoples of Yugoslavia.

Nelson Mandela represented himself during the infamous Rivonia trials of =
the
1960s. Mandela mounted a political defence against apartheid, yet even th=
e
South African judiciary did not impose counsel to silence him. The ICTY i=
s
poised to threaten the future of international law by doing what even
apartheid-era judges dared not do - gag a defendant and impair his abilit=
y
to respond to a case.  A case, we note, made unwieldy, unintelligible and
inexplicably lengthy by the Prosecutor, with the Chamber's assent, and no=
t
by Slobodan Milosevic. Indeed, most observers of the process have noted t=
hat
the Prosecutor failed to present compelling evidence to support any of th=
eir
charges; rather than stay the proceedings, the ICTY permitted the Prosecu=
tor
to present additional witnesses, in apparent desperation to make somethin=
g
stick.

The right to defend oneself in person is at the heart of the Internationa=
l
Covenant for Civil and Political Rights. The United Nations should not
tolerate these continuing violations of international law in the name of
expediency. Using a detained person's inappropriately treated illness as =
an
excuse to infringe upon his rights and silence him, and embark upon a
"radical reform" of the proceedings-- as the Chamber is now considering, =
by
changing the rules in mid-trial, and to the defendant's detriment-- is a
perversion of both the letter and spirit of international law.

As  jurists, we are deeply concerned that the planned imposition of couns=
el
constitutes an irrevocable precedent, and potentially deprives any accuse=
d
person of the right to present a meaningful defence in the future. In the
case of Slobodan Milosevic, this measure will only increase his hypertens=
ion
and place his life at risk.

The ICTY and Security Council will be held responsible for the tragically
predictable consequences of their actions.

Signed:

Tiphaine Dickson, Lawyer, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Christopher Black, Lawyer, Toronto, Canada

Professor Smilja Avramov (Former President, International Law Association=
),
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Milena Arezina, Judge (Former President, Comercial Court), Belgrade, Serb=
ia
and Montenegro

Sergei Baburin, Doctor of Law, Professor, (Vice-President, State Duma of =
the
Federal Assembly of the Russian Federation), Moscow, Russian Federation

Dragoslava Backovic, Legal Representative, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegr=
o

Professor Paolo Bargiacchi, Law of the European Union, University of
Palermo, Italy

Nicole Bergevin, Lawyer, Montreal, Quebec

Professor Aldo Bernardini, International Law, University of Teramo, Italy

Gen. Dr Nikolai Bezborodov, (Deputy President, Commission for Defense of =
the
State Duma), Moscow, Russian Federation

Pierre de Boucherville, Lawyer, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Professor Erich Buchholz, Lawyer, Berlin, Germany

Dr Milan Bulajic, International Law, (President, Fund for Genocide
Research), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Raffaele Cadin, University Researcher, University "La Sapienza", Rome, It=
aly

Professor Kosta Cavoski, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro

Professor Panayotis G. Charitos, LLD, International Law, Supreme Court
Attorney, Greece

Professor Gian Luigi Cecchini, International Law, University of Trieste,
Italy

Ramsey Clark, Former US Attorney General, New York, USA

Professor Ivan Cukalovic, International Law, University of Kragujevac,
Serbia and Montenegro

Goran Cvetic, Lawyer, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Trendafil Danailov, Lawyer, (Former President, Sofia District Court), Sof=
ia,
Bulgaria

Jean-Marie Dermagne, Lawyer, Rochefort-Louvain-la-Neuve, Belgium

Professor Stevan Djordjevic, International Law, Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro

Bj=F8rn Elmquist, Lawyer, (Former MP), Copenhagen, Denmark

Professor Peter Erlinder, (past-President, National Lawyers Guild, NYC),
William Mitchell College of Law, St. Paul, MN, USA

Armin Fiand, Lawyer, Hamburg, Germany

Jeff Frazier, Lawyer, Houston, Texas, USA

Dr Mikhail Fomichenko, (Head, Center for Human Rights and Legal Protectio=
n),
Moscow, Russian Federation

Paolo Gemelli, Lawyer, Italy

Sergei Glotov, Doctor of Law, Professor, (Deputy President, Commission on
Administrative and Organizational Issues of the State Duma), Moscow, Russ=
ian
Federation

Piera Graffer Ljubibratic, Italy

Gerry Grainger, Lawyer, Ireland

Veljko Guberina, Lawyer, (Former President, Lawyers Chamber of Yugoslavia=
,
Lawyers Chamber of Serbia), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Maria Paola Guidace, Lawyer, Italy

Dr Heinrich Hannover, Lawyer, Worpswede, Germany

Professor Yuri Ilyin, Lawyer, Moscow, Russian Federation

Viktor Ilyuchin, State Counselor of Justice of II Order, (Deputy Presiden=
t,
Commission for Security of the State Duma), Moscow, Russian Federation

David Jacobs, Lawyer, Toronto, Canada

Vladislav Jovanovic, (Former Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of FR
Yugoslavia), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Zivadin Jovanovic, (Former Federal Minister of Foreign Affairs of FR
Yugoslavia), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Strahinja Kastratovic, Lawyer, (Former President, Lawyers' Chamber of
Belgrade), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Professor Mikhail Kuznecov, Lawyer, (President, Tribunal for NATO Crimes =
in
Yugoslavia), Moscow, Russian Federation

Nada Lazarevic-Jovovic, Podgorica, Serbia and Montenegro

Mark Littman, Q.C., London, UK

Dr Djordje Lopicic, International Law, Ambassador, Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro

Jennie Lusk, J.D., Lawyer, Albuquerque, New Mexico, USA

Mikhail Menev, Lawyer, (Former President, Sofia City Court), Sofia, Bulga=
ria

Dr Alexander Mezyaev, International Law, (Deputy Head, Department of
Constitutional and International Law, Academy of Busyness, Kazan'; Member=
,
Russian International Law Association; Member, Experts' Council of the
Ombudsman of the Republic of Tatarstan), Kazan', Tatarstan, Russian
Federation

Professor Dimitar Mikhailov, Criminal Law, (Former Vice President, UN
Committee Against Torture), Sofia, Bulgaria

Oksana Mikhalkina, Lawyer (President, Moscow Lawyers' Association), Mosco=
w,
Russian Federation

Ilija Milanovic, M.A., (Former Consul and Deputy District Prosecutor),
Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Oleg Mironov, Doctor of Law, Professor, (Director, Institute for Human
Rights), Moscow, Russian Federation

Dr Miodrag Mitic, International Law (Member, Legal Council of the Ministr=
y
of Foreign Affairs of Serbia and Montenegro), Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro

Professor Claudio Moffa, Ordinario, University of Teramo, Italy

Dr Elvia Muscoli, Jurisprudence, Italy

E. Olof, Lawyer, Zeist, Netherlands

Professor Norman Paech, University for Econonomy and Politics, Hamburg,
Germany

Giuseppe Pelazza, Lawyer, Milan, Italy

Vidosava Petkovic, Legal Adviser, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Dmitrij Potockij, Lawyer, Moscow, Russian Federation

Miljenko Reljic, Lawyer, Australia

Antonio Ricca, Italy

Professor Franco Sabatini, Labor Law, University of Chieti-Pescara, Italy

Edoarda Sanci, Lawyer, Italy

Professor Enyo Savov, International Law, Sofia, Bulgaria

Professor Schirmer, International Law, Woltersdorf, Germany

H.E. Schmitt-Lermann, Lawyer, Munich, Germany

Dr Heinz Juergen Schneider, Lawyer, Hamburg, Germany

Elena Semenovna, Lawyer, Moscow, Russian Federation

David K. Sergi, Lawyer, San Marcos, Texas, USA

Jitendra Sharma, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India (President,
International Association of Democratic Lawyers)

Dr Taras Shamba, Moscow, Russian Federation

Sergei Shtin, Lawyer, Moscow, Russian Federation

Valentina Shtraus, Lawyer, Rostov, Russian Federation

Professor Augusto Sinagra, Law of the European Union, University "La
Sapienza", Rome, Italy

Cristiano Sinagra, Lawyer, Italy

Professor Bhim Singh, Advocate, Supreme Court of India (President, Nation=
al
Panthers Party)

N.M.P. Steijnen, Lawyer, Zeist, Netherlands

L.P.H. Stibru, Lawyer, Zeist, Netherlands

Professor Zoran Stojanovic, University of Belgrade, Belgrade, Serbia and
Montenegro

Dr Milan Tepavac, International Law, Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Professor Andre Tremblay, Lawyer, Montreal, Quebec, Canada

Jakob Tr=FCmpy, Lawyer, Switzerland

Professor Velko Valkanov, (President, Bulgarian Committee for Human Right=
s,
Former MP), Sofia, Bulgaria

Anna Lucia Valvo, Lawyer, Italy

Jacques Verges, Advocate at the Court of Appeal, Paris, France

Sava Vidanovic, Canada

Pasquale Vilardo, Lawyer, Association of the Democratic Jurists, Rome, It=
aly

Milan Vujin, Lawyer, (Former President, Lawyers Chamber of Yugoslavia,
Lawyers Chamber of Serbia), Belgrade, Serbia and Montenegro

Dr Friedrich Wolff, Lawyer, Berlin, Germany

Professor Ivan Yatsenko (Vice-President, European Peace Forum), Moscow,
Russian Federation

Professor Claudio Zangh=EC, International Law, University "La Sapienza", =
Rome,
Italy

**********************************************************
Artists' Appeal for Milosevic

For over two years now, Slobodan Milosevic has been on trial before the
International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia - a Security Counci=
l
institution of dubious legality - charged with 66 counts of war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide. Over 500,000 pages of documents and
5000 videocassettes have been filed as evidence by the Prosecution. There
have been some 300 trial days. More than 300 witnesses have testified. Th=
e
trial transcript is near 33,000 pages. Yet after all this time and effort=
,
the Prosecution has failed to present significant or compelling evidence =
of
any criminal act or intention of President Milosevic.

In fact, it has been revealed that some prosecution witnesses have been
coerced to lie under oath, others have committed perjury. Former NATO
commander Wesley Clark, was allowed, in violation of the principle of an
open trial, to give testimony in private, with Washington able to apply f=
or
removal of any parts of his evidence from the public record they deemed t=
o
be against US interests.

President Milosevic was indicted during the 78 day continuous bombardment=
 of
Yugoslavia by US-led NATO forces, which used cluster bombs and depleted
uranium, attempted to assassinate Milosevic by bombing his residence, kil=
led
thousands of civilians and caused billions of dollars of damage to the
country's infrastructure. This illegal act of undeclared war is in clear
violation of the NATO Charter, the UN Charter, and International Law. Yet
neither Wesley Clark, nor the leaders of NATO countries have been indicte=
d
for the crimes of which Slobodan Milosevic is accused.

The proceedings of the ICTY against Slobodan Milosevic, as a large and
growing number of international jurists has publicly stated, respect neit=
her
the principles nor even the appearance of justice. According to Ramsey
Clark, the former Attorney-General of the United States, "the spectacle o=
f
this huge onslaught by an enormous prosecution support team with vast
resources pitted against a single man, defending himself, cut off from al=
l
effective assistance, his supporters under attack everywhere and his heal=
th
slipping away from the constant strain, portrays the essence of unfairnes=
s,
of persecution". And now that presiding judge Richard May has resigned hi=
s
position for unspecified health reasons, it appears inevitable, the issue
prejudged, that the trial will nevertheless continue, in spite of the
virtual impossibility that a new judge will be able to come to grips with
the mountain of evidence presented so far.

If justice is not just, if prosecution is persecution, if international l=
aw
is flouted in order to "enforce international law", we are indeed now liv=
ing
in the dystopian world of George Orwell's 1984. The neighborhood bully ha=
s
decided the world is his back yard. The implications of this egregious us=
e
of "power politics" go beyond the unjust trial of Slobodan Milosevic: the
"new world order" now being implemented is simply inhuman and intolerable.
What can be done to change this cruel and criminal state of affairs?

Let us remember that it was not long ago that 15 million people marched o=
n
the same day in a gesture of international solidarity to say no to the Bu=
sh
junta's illegal war on Iraq. Now is the time for another such gesture. Fo=
r
if this trial continues, the only triumphs will be those of travesty over
justice, power over principle, disinformation over truth. And many feel t=
hat
the sum total of these acts constitutes state terrorism perpetrated on a
virtually defenseless country and its legally elected president.

As artists, our work is to broaden our horizons, to become more human and=
 to
share that humanity. And to create. Destruction is intolerable to us. It =
is
intolerable that courts be used to justify the killing of civilians, the
destruction of a sovereign nation, and the demonization and imprisonment =
of
that nation's leader. Let us now create a massive demonstration of our
humanity. Now is the time to make ourselves heard loud and clear, once
again, by publicly denouncing this injustice. We urge you to join your
efforts to those of the International Committee for the Defense of Slobod=
an
Milosevic.

Robert Dickson, poet (winner of the Governor General's award for French
poetry 2002), Canada

Harold Pinter, playwright, UK

Peter Handke, writer, Austria/France

Alexander Zinoviev, writer, philosopher, Russian Federation

Valeri Ganichev, writer (President of the Writers' Union of Russia), Russ=
ian
Federation

Vyacheslav Klykov, sculptor (President of the International Fund for
Slavonic Literacy and Culture), Russian Federation

Dimitri Analis, poet, Greece/France

Valentin Rasputin, novelist, Russian Federation

Fulvio Grimaldi, filmmaker, journalist, Italy

Vladimir Kostrov, poet (winner of Tyutchev and Bunin awards), Russian
Federation

Nadja Tesich, novelist, Yugoslavia/US

Rolf Becker, actor, Germany

Milos Raickovich, composer, Yugoslavia/US

Alan Mandell, theatre artist, US

Mick Collins, theatre artist, US/France

John Steppling, screenwriter, playwright, US/Poland

Joseph Goodrich, playwright, US

Godfred Louis-Jensen, architect, Denmark

David Morgan, poet, Canada

Larissa Kritskaya, composer, journalist, Russia/USA

Katarina Kostic, poet, writer, Canada

Paolo Teobaldelli, writer, philosopher, Italy

C=E9d=E9ric  Michaud, photographe,  Nouvel-Ontario, Canada

Nikolai Petev, writer (President of the Writers' Union of Bulgaria),
Bulgaria

Luchezar Elenkov, writer, Bulgaria

Rashko Stoikov, writer, Bulgaria

Elena Alekova, writer, Bulgaria

Natasha Manolova, writer, Bulgaria

Dimitar Tochev, writer, Bulgaria

Dimitar Bezhanski, writer, Bulgaria

Borislav Peichev, writer, Bulgaria

Anzhel Vagenstein, screenwriter, Bulgaria

Benzhamen Varon, writer, philosopher, Bulgaria

Luna Davidova, actor, Bulgaria

Venceslav Kisov, actor, Bulgaria

Snezhana Barova, pianist, Bulgaria

Antoinette Martens, painter, puppeteer, Canada

Pil Lenau, writer, Denmark

March-April 2004
Montreal-New York-Moscow-Paris

**************************************************************
IMPORTANT NOTICE: BOTH APPEALS CAN STILL BE CO-SIGNED
BY WRITING TO
[email protected]

*************************************************************
INTERNATIONAL COMMITTEE TO DEFEND SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC
www.icdsm.org
[email protected]
**************************************************************
In the struggle US/NATO vs. People which is going on at The Hague, US/NAT=
O
is represented by 1300 employees fed every year with 100.000 $ per person.
People is represented by Slobodan Milosevic alone, armed only with truth =
and
with your support!
NOW is the last moment for full mobilization of all our political,
intellectual and financial potentials to prevent the worse and to decisiv=
ely
help People and Slobodan Milosevic to win the battle for truth.
ICDSM has to set up an effective information center at The Hague to preve=
nt
criminal injustices and to promote, in closest interaction with President
Milosevic
and with the small team of his assistants, his struggle for truth, to bri=
ng
his numerous
important witnesses before the press and to show the mass people's suppor=
t.

SO - ACT NOW - DON'T LET THE TRUTH BE SILENCED!

Vladimir Krsljanin,
Secretary of ICDSM,
Foreign Relations Assistant to President Milosevic
*************************************************************
Please send us your donations and engage in organizing fundraising.
*************************************************************
You can find detailed instructions at:
http://www.icdsm.org/battle.htm
(please also follow the links therein) or
*************************************************************
You can make transfers to ICDSM accounts in Europe:

Peter Betscher
Stadt- und Kreissparkasse Darmstadt, Germany
IBAN: DE 21 5085 0150 0102 1441 63
SWIFT-BIC: HELADEF1DAS

or

Vereinigung f=FCr Internationale Solidarit=E4t (VIS)
4000 Basel, Switzerland
PC 40-493646-5
*************************************************************

*************************************************************
THE ILLEGAL HAGUE PROCESS MUST END.
Statement by the President of the World Peace Council Orlando Fundora (Cu=
ba)
http://www.icdsm.org/more/fundora.htm
*************************************************************
*************************************************************

VIDOVDAN PEOPLE'S RALLY IN BELGRADE ORGANIZED BY SLOBODA
to mark the third anniversary of kidnapping of President Milosevic
http://www.icdsm.org/more/galery2806.htm
**************************************************************

SLOBODA urgently needs your donation.
Please find the detailed instructions at:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/pomoc.htm

To join or help this struggle, visit:
http://www.sloboda.org.yu/ (Sloboda/Freedom association)
http://www.icdsm.org/ (the international committee to defend Slobodan
Milosevic)
http://www.free-slobo.de/ (German section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsm-us.org/ (US section of ICDSM)
http://www.icdsmireland.org/ (ICDSM Ireland)
http://www.pasti.org/milodif.htm (ICDSM Italy)
http://www.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council)
http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center)



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