The Rather Complex Deliverer of Human Bads

[Ivo Skoric]

Since Le Pen might not be allowed to run in France because of a legal 
technicality, Serbian Radical Party may remain the only fascist 
political group effectively holding the majority in a parliament of 
any European country. Reasonably, Kostunica, who now may be the 
Serbia's next prime minister, is nervous about showing willingness to 
co-operate with ICTY. This letter is to remind him that as a 
statesman he needs to put the international legal obligations above 
the temporary political concerns.
ivo

Date: Mon, 23 Feb 2004 20:47:51 +0200
From: "Youth Initiative"
Molerova 78/4
Tel: +381 11/ 344 59 47, 344 59 48
e-mail: office at yi.org.yu
Subject: 	Open Letter on Prime Minister's Stand on the Hague Tribunal
Addressee: 	Vojislav Kostunica, President of the DSS and Prime 
Minister Designate of the new Government of Serbia 
Sender: 	Andrej Nosov, Executive
Director of the Youth Initiative


Dear Mr. Kostunica,

I direct this letter to your attention, prompted by a recent 
statement of yours expressed in the latest interview to the American 
Agency AP. As mentioned in the interview, cooperation with the Hague 
Tribunal will not be a top priority of the new government, which is 
to say that "military and police generals indicted by this Tribunal 
will not be extradited". AP also quotes your remark about Serbia 
refusing to be "a simple deliverer of human goods to the Hague 
Tribunal", as well as your statement that arrest and extraditions of 
the Hague indictees would only "strengthen the ultranationalist 
Serbian Radical Party, consequently contributing to deterioration of 
situation in the whole region."

Such a statement, announcing the future course and decisions on the 
part of the new government, of which you are presently the Prime 
Minister Designate, clearly expresses this government's tendency 
toward violations of the law and international obligations previously 
accepted by our country. Allow me to remind you that your public 
appearances, always solemnly dedicated to the rule of law and the 
respect of the law, seriously collide with the mentioned statement, 
which in essence announces a clear breach of the Law on Cooperation 
with the ICTY, along with numerous other international obligations. 
Your statement is an insult to the human dignity of those citizens in 
the region, who had suffered the most horrible experiences, murders, 
torture and expulsions. Above all, your statement is a slap in the 
face to the victims of gravest crimes currently processed before the 
Hague Tribunal.

As the future Prime Minister of Serbia you are obliged to ensure that
international obligations undertaken by this country are duly 
respected.
On the other hand, you must show an unambiguous willingness to create
discontinuity with the previous political period filled with the 
horrors of war. It is your duty to work in line with the Statute of 
the Hague Tribunal and the present Law on Cooperation with the ICTY, 
ensuring that all the indictees residing on the territory of our 
country are immediately extradited. Only through such decisions and 
actions will you be able to demonstrate that your political agenda is 
indeed different from the one enacted by your predecessors.

One of the top priorities of the new government of Serbia must be the
prosecution of all those responsible for committing the criminal acts
described in domestic criminal laws as grave violation of 
international humanitarian law. It is not rationally possible to 
advocate for the rule of law and legalism, and at the same time to 
challenge the Hague Tribunal.

With regard to your remark that Serbia should not act as "a deliverer 
of human goods", it should perhaps be noted that this statement 
expresses an irresponsible stand of a political leader. Serbia must 
be fully committed to punishing all those responsible for mass 
violations of human rights, regardless of where the crime took place. 
This is the only road to restoring dignity on victims and to 
establishing the rule of law.

You must know that Serbian Radical Party (SRS) will not be 
additionally strenghtened by the extradition of the Hague indictees, 
but by your reluctance to bring to justice the members of the SRS who 
had been involved in the persecutions, forced expulsions and killings 
of civilian population, or by your hesitation to create the 
neccessary conditions for the domestic judiciary to independently 
prosecute those responsible for committing criminal acts.

Should the new government and you as the future Prime Minister refuse 
to cooperate with the Hague Tribunal, certain explanations must be 
given to the citizens of this country. You and all the members of 
your cabinet will be held accountable for the consequences of this 
stand. Above all, it will be your duty to explain when will justice 
be done in this ocuntry and who will be the one pursuing 
accountability for all violations of the law and international 
standards.

Immediately after assuming the role of the Serbian Prime Minister, as 
a leader advocating for cooperation in the region, you are expected 
to do all you can to ensure that persons responsible for committing 
war crimes and other criminal acts in the past are duly prosecuted. 
However, these obligations should not be confined to domestic 
judiciary. Together with Montenegro, Serbia is a member of the United 
Nations. Apart from many privileges, this membership entails a very 
clear obligation of every member-state to cooperate with the United 
Nations insitutions and bodies.
In this sense, the government of Serbia is obliged to fully cooperate 
with the Hague Tribunal.


Andrej Nosov
Youth Initiative
Executive Director

---------------------------------------------------------
Ivo Skoric
19 Baxter Street
Rutland VT 05701
802.775.7257
ivo at balkansnet.org
balkansnet.org