THE COURT WHERE YOU MUST NOT MENTION THE CRIME -
a modern play from real life -
CAST OF CHARACTERS:PRESIDENT SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC – four times democratically elected head of Serbian and Yugoslav state; leader of Serbian people and its resistance against the aggression of the worst tyranny in the history of humankind (US/NATO); abducted from his own country, kept in illegal detention for more than two years and put on trial by NATO illegal tribunal GENERAL SIR RUPERT SMITH – NATO military commander, man who ordered bombing of Bosnian Serbs and who took part in the bombing of Yugoslavia JUDGE RICHARD MAY – failed politician from a NATO country promoted into a judge; selected and paid by NATO to play a role of presiding judge in the show-trial PROSECUTOR GEOFFREY NICE – unscrupulous barrister from the same NATO country, selected and paid by NATO to fabricate charges against President Milosevic JUDGE O-GON KWON – a judge from a country occupied by NATO, selected and paid by NATO to play a minor role
The Hague,
Thursday, 9 October 2003, the "court room" [Open
session] [The accused
entered court] --- Upon
commencing at 9.06 a.m. JUDGE RICHARD
MAY: Yes, Mr. Nice. Yes. PROSECUTOR
GEOFFREY NICE: Your Honour, the next witness is General Sir Rupert Smith.
(…) GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: I solemnly declare that I will speak the truth, the whole truth,
and nothing but the truth. PROSECUTOR
GEOFFREY NICE: Your full name, please. GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: Rupert Anthony Smith. PROSECUTOR
GEOFFREY NICE: Retired general of the British army, with a service history from
1964 covering experience in many theatres around the world, serving in the Gulf
War, and involving yourself in the Balkans as early as late 1992 and early 1993
when you were in London at a desk position which gave you an overall view of the
Balkans. Did you take command of the United Nations Protection Force in
Bosnia-Herzegovina in January 1995, holding that position until December of
1995? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: Yes. (…) PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: That, unfortunately, was discovered subsequently. But you
believe that Mladic, at the time when he was negotiating with you, knew that
somebody had killed those people [in Srebrenica]? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: Yes. PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: On what grounds, General? Do you believe -- you met Mladic.
I assume you knew -- came to know him quite well. You had a large number of
meetings with him, didn't you? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: I met him. I don't believe I know him well. PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Do you have any, any knowledge to the effect that General
Mladic could have ordered such a dishonourable act? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: I have no evidence that he ordered the act, but he was,
nevertheless, the commander, and I believe he knew what was happening in his
command. PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: General Smith, you were deputy NATO commander when
Yugoslavia was bombed; isn't that right? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: Yes. PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Do you know that NATO planes bombed refugee columns, that
they bombed the Chinese Embassy, that they bombed buses and
trains? JUDGE
RICHARD MAY: Just wait a minute. We'll deal with one thing at a time. The
witness can only give evidence about the time when he was in Sarajevo. During
that time, General, were, to your knowledge, any refugee columns
bombed? GENERAL SIR
RUPERT SMITH: When I was in Sarajevo, no. JUDGE
RICHARD MAY: The other -- no. Look, what happened later, what happened later,
which we've heard very much about in this trial, is not for this witness. We
have other witnesses who will give evidence about what happened then. We're
talking about events in 1999. PRESIDENT
SLOBODAN MILOSEVIC: Mr. May, the
witness said that Mladic must have known because he was in command. Now, I'm
asking the witness since he was in command in 1999, whether he knew or should
have known, must have known that columns of civilians were being bombed, buses,
hospitals, the Chinese Embassy, Radio-Television Serbia, et
cetera. JUDGE
RICHARD MAY: It's
all totally irrelevant.
He has dealt with the matter concerning General Mladic. I in fact let him do so,
although it's doubtful if it was a question which was properly directed at him.
It's a matter that we're going to have to determine as to how much Mladic knew
about what was going on, whether he ordered it or did not. Now, those are all
matters for us. Now, peripheral issues of that sort are not
relevant. JUDGE O-GON
KWON: General, I noticed -- just a moment. I notice that you have not answered
to the question when the accused asked you what is your base in believing Mr.
Mladic should have known what had happened in Srebrenica. Could you help us with
that. GENERAL SIR RUPERT SMITH: He was there and he was the commander of that army.
to be continued
FOR
FREEDOM, TRUTH AND JUSTICE
TO SAVE LIFE OF PRESIDENT MILOSEVICINTERNATIONAL DEMOS OF SERBIAN DIASPORA AND ALL PROGRESSIVE PEOPLE THE HAGUE,
8 NOVEMBER 2003
14:00 – 15:00 Protest Rally at The Plein (City Center) 15:00 – 16:00 Protest March from The Plein to the Scheveningen Prison 16:00 – 17:00 Protest Rally in front of the Scheveningen Prison
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.wpc-in.org/ (world peace council) http://www.geocities.com/b_antinato/ (Balkan antiNATO center) |
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