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In a message dated 12/04/02 14:54:01 Eastern Daylight Time, Kilibarda78 writes:
April 11, 2002
Milosevic cleared of blame for massacre
By Daniel McGrory
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-263772,00.html
;)
THE long-awaited investigation into the worst atrocity of the Bosnian War appeared yesterday to exonerate Slobodan Milosevic of ordering the murder of 7,500 boys and men at the United Nations haven in Srebrenica. The five-year inquiry commissioned by the Dutch Government also excused the UN and the Dutch peacekeeping troops who were supposed to protect the town. Families of some victims who had gathered in The Hague for the report’s publication howled their disapproval, threw the report on the floor and stamped on it. Even some of the Dutch soldiers who served with the 200-strong UN contingent in Srebrenica in July 1995 later described it as a whitewash. The 7,600-page report is sure to be seized on by lawyers helping the former Yugoslav President to defend a charge of genocide at Srebrenica before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. After a five-year investigation, The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation says it can find “no proof that orders for the slaughter came from Serb political leaders in Belgrade”. Investigators also say that they can find no direct link to Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who is also indicted by the tribunal. Instead, the report blames General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader, who is still on the run. The family representatives who had travelled to The Netherlands shouted their protests. Hassan Nuhanovic, a translator for the Dutch battalion, whose father and brother were among the dead, walked out while the investigators explained the findings. Munira Subesic, who lost her husband and son, said: “After all this wait we are told nobody is facing justice for mass murder. It pains our souls.” These survivors had come hoping to learn why the UN stood by and watched as they were separated from their loved ones at gunpoint. The women and children who were among 25,000 people seeking sanctuary inside the Dutch camp were herded on to buses and driven from their homes in what came to be known as “ethnic cleansing”. Their menfolk, including boys older than 14, were marched away by Bosnian Serb gunmen. Over that weekend an estimated 7,500 were shot, then buried in mass graves. The report concludes that the lightly armed Dutch contigent were sent on an impossible mission. It argues that the UN gave this ill equipped force muddled orders and says that Dutch commanders could not have predicted the slaughter that followed after they handed over the civilian population to General Mladic. Dutch politicians are criticised for trying to boost their international prestige by sending troops on such a hopeless task. British politicians and other European leaders are blamed for not having the will to order airstrikes to stop the havens from being over-run. The report says that if the Dutch troops had tried to fight, it would have provoked a bloodbath and that “concern about their own survival in this hell will have meant more to them than the fate of the Muslim men”. Few survivors have dared to return to their homes in Srebrenica, 45 miles northeast of the capital, Sarajevo. Among them is Azija Sehomerovic, 61, who lost her husband. She remains convinced that Dutch peacekeepers could have done more. “When we saw the peacekeepers running away from their positions, then we knew we had to run, too,” she said. “Right before the massacre, I saw one Dutch soldier sitting and crying. It seemed that he knew what would happen to us. But they failed.” Dutch commanders saw the bodies of some of the first to be murdered but did not intervene. Wim Dijkema, 53, who was with the UN contingent, said: “Believe me, what happened should never have been possible. It is a serious mistake.” The report’s harshest criticism is reserved for the UN high command for leaving their havens without proper protection. But General Bernard Janvier, the French commander, is cleared of the accusation that he made a secret deal with the Bosnian Serbs to halt airstrikes in exchange for their freeing UN soldiers taken hostage in May 1995. At the war crimes tribunal yesterday, in an unrelated decision, Richard May, the presiding judge, gave prosecutors a year to conclude their case against Mr Milosevic.
Nenad Banovic, one of twin Bosnian Serb brothers charged with beating prisoners to death at a Serb-run camp during the Bosnian war, will be released for lack of evidence, the Hague war crimes court said.
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CLANAK U LONDON TAJMSU:
April 11, 2002
Milosevic cleared of blame for massacre
By Daniel McGrory
http://www.thetimes.co.uk/printFriendly/0,,1-3-263772,00.html
THE long-awaited investigation into the worst atrocity of the Bosnian War appeared yesterday to exonerate Slobodan Milosevic of ordering the murder of 7,500 boys and men at the United Nations haven in Srebrenica. The five-year inquiry commissioned by the Dutch Government also excused the UN and the Dutch peacekeeping troops who were supposed to protect the town. Families of some victims who had gathered in The Hague for the report’s publication howled their disapproval, threw the report on the floor and stamped on it. Even some of the Dutch soldiers who served with the 200-strong UN contingent in Srebrenica in July 1995 later described it as a whitewash. The 7,600-page report is sure to be seized on by lawyers helping the former Yugoslav President to defend a charge of genocide at Srebrenica before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. After a five-year investigation, The Netherlands Institute for War Documentation says it can find “no proof that orders for the slaughter came from Serb political leaders in Belgrade”. Investigators also say that they can find no direct link to Radovan Karadzic, the wartime leader of the Bosnian Serbs, who is also indicted by the tribunal. Instead, the report blames General Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader, who is still on the run. The family representatives who had travelled to The Netherlands shouted their protests. Hassan Nuhanovic, a translator for the Dutch battalion, whose father and brother were among the dead, walked out while the investigators explained the findings. Munira Subesic, who lost her husband and son, said: “After all this wait we are told nobody is facing justice for mass murder. It pains our souls.” These survivors had come hoping to learn why the UN stood by and watched as they were separated from their loved ones at gunpoint. The women and children who were among 25,000 people seeking sanctuary inside the Dutch camp were herded on to buses and driven from their homes in what came to be known as “ethnic cleansing”. Their menfolk, including boys older than 14, were marched away by Bosnian Serb gunmen. Over that weekend an estimated 7,500 were shot, then buried in mass graves. The report concludes that the lightly armed Dutch contigent were sent on an impossible mission. It argues that the UN gave this ill equipped force muddled orders and says that Dutch commanders could not have predicted the slaughter that followed after they handed over the civilian population to General Mladic. Dutch politicians are criticised for trying to boost their international prestige by sending troops on such a hopeless task. British politicians and other European leaders are blamed for not having the will to order airstrikes to stop the havens from being over-run. The report says that if the Dutch troops had tried to fight, it would have provoked a bloodbath and that “concern about their own survival in this hell will have meant more to them than the fate of the Muslim men”. Few survivors have dared to return to their homes in Srebrenica, 45 miles northeast of the capital, Sarajevo. Among them is Azija Sehomerovic, 61, who lost her husband. She remains convinced that Dutch peacekeepers could have done more. “When we saw the peacekeepers running away from their positions, then we knew we had to run, too,” she said. “Right before the massacre, I saw one Dutch soldier sitting and crying. It seemed that he knew what would happen to us. But they failed.” Dutch commanders saw the bodies of some of the first to be murdered but did not intervene. Wim Dijkema, 53, who was with the UN contingent, said: “Believe me, what happened should never have been possible. It is a serious mistake.” The report’s harshest criticism is reserved for the UN high command for leaving their havens without proper protection. But General Bernard Janvier, the French commander, is cleared of the accusation that he made a secret deal with the Bosnian Serbs to halt airstrikes in exchange for their freeing UN soldiers taken hostage in May 1995. At the war crimes tribunal yesterday, in an unrelated decision, Richard May, the presiding judge, gave prosecutors a year to conclude their case against Mr Milosevic.
Nenad Banovic, one of twin Bosnian Serb brothers charged with beating prisoners to death at a Serb-run camp during the Bosnian war, will be released for lack of evidence, the Hague war crimes court said.
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