Hague Tribunal illegal

At the opening of his "trial" in The Hague court, Slobadan Milosevic 
once again denounced the illegality of the court.

"You know full well that all international and national documents and rules 
and regulations determine the fact that a court can be there to judge only 
if it has been established on the basis of law and I have broached the 
question of the legality of this tribunal. You did not provide me with a 
response", said Milosevic.

"The [UN] Security Council [which set up The Hague Tribunal — Ed] could 
not transfer the right that it does not have to this tribunal and, 
therefore, this tribunal does not have the competence to try.

"I expect you to respond to those legal facts. I had expected you [to] seek 
the advice of the International Court of Justice, which you failed to do.

"I consider that this is a question of prime importance. It is of principle 
importance, both for international law and for justice in general and it 
will have to be resolved. 

"The second point I wish to raise is that ... of my illegal arrest. It took 
place in Belgrade. It violated the constitution of Serbia and the 
constitution of Yugoslavia and the Federal Government tabled its 
resignation because of that and criminal law suits have been the result in 
Yugoslavia. I do know that every court is duty bound to deal with the 
habeas corpus question before the start of trials.

"You failed to take that into account nor did you schedule a hearing in 
that respect which rule you were duty bound to do based on the rules and 
regulations.

"Those questions are regulated by all human rights and political rights 
declarations — universal ones and European, American and others — and you 
as men of the law are well acquainted with that ... and you have been 
discussing the question of unlawful arrest in other cases

"So this has been a great omission on your part. I was brought here on the 
basis of a crime having been committed. A crime which is not only treated 
in the laws of my own country but it is an issue treated in the laws of all 
states and is present in all international conventions.

"Furthermore, I also wish to question [something] which you also did not 
wish to resolve. I said that we cannot speak of a fair trial ... here 
especially an unbiased stand on the part of the prosecution.

"From everything that we have heard here so far, we have become more than 
convinced that not only is it partial but your prosecutor has proclaimed my 
sentence and judgement and the prosecution has orchestrated a media 
campaign that has been waged and organised.

"It is a parallel trial through the media which, along with this unlawful 
tribunal, are there to play the role of a parallel lynch process".

Judge May: I'm going to interrupt you. What do you mean by saying that the 
prosecutor has proclaimed your sentence and judgement?

Slobodan Milosevic: In public the previous prosecutor at a meeting with 
Albright said — they both said — that they were engaged in the same 
business and the indictment itself was raised on the basis of the 
constructions of the British intelligence service during the war against 
Yugoslavia. We know full well that intelligence services only give out 
selective information and details — those that they are able to rig and 
not those which are not to their advantage".

Judge May in response claimed that the matters being raised by Slobadan 
Milosevic had already been ruled on by the Tribunal.

"The matters, therefore, have all been dealt with and your views about the 
tribunal are now completely irrelevant", said Judge May. He then closed the 
Tribunal hearing.

Destruction of legal principles

Under the headline, "This is not justice, the London Guardian 
journalist John Laughland writes: "Because its legal basis is so dubious, 
the international criminal tribunal's [attempt] to present itself as the 
successor to the international military tribunal which tried the Nazi 
leaders at Nuremberg in 1946 ... has as little right to set up [as] a court 
as it does to raise taxes.

"Its defenders probably think that a quick reference to Hitler can settle 
the matter. However, The Hague does not embody the legal principles 
established and consolidated at Nuremberg. It embodies instead their 
complete destruction".