Visit our website: HTTP://WWW.STOPNATO.ORG.UK --------------------------------------------- The Guardian (Australia) August 22, 2001 The real face of NATO When Slobodan Milosevic was kidnapped from Belgrade and arraigned before The Hague War Crimes Tribunal he was assured by Judge Richard May: "You will be accorded the full rights of the accused, according to international law." The Hague is supposed to be a UN Tribunal but those implementing charges, convictions and court procedures are violating international law in many ways. President Milosevic has been held in solitary confinement for weeks despite his protest and the official UN position which says: "Efforts addressed to the abolition of solitary confinement as a punishment, or to the restriction of its use, should be undertaken and encouraged." Then there is the right to sleep. During the first days, the lights of his cell were never turned off. In addition, video cameras are trained on Milosevic at all times, thus providing no right to any privacy. Then there is the right to engage legal representation of one's choice. After weeks of haggling one of Milosevic's Yugoslav attorneys was finally allowed to see him. However, the Dutch Government, acting, it says, under instructions from the Tribunal' has denied another Yugoslav attorney a visa. The right to receive visitors. Mr Milosevic's wife has been treated like a criminal since coming to Holland. She has been confined to a hotel room when not visiting her husband from whom she is separated by a pane of glass. Yet the UN says, "All prisoners shall be treated with the respect due to their inherent dignity and value as human beings." So, it is in this way that NATO brings its claimed "humanitarian values" to the world, and flagrantly violates the principles that the UN has itself laid down. Is this treatment any surprise? This is the treatment meted out to anyone who has the courage to stand up to NATO and defy the NATO warmongers and aggressors. Is it an accident that Slobodan Milosevic is imprisoned in the Tribunal's jail located in Schevenieng, Holland, the very same village where the German Nazis detained members of the Dutch Resistance before shooting them during WW 2. For years the media demonised Milosevic and the whole Serb nation with tales of horror and ethnic cleansing yet it is those who make such allegations who were responsible for the illegal bombing of Serbia, who have armed, trained and financed the fascists of the Kosovo Liberation Army and are using these forces to dismember the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It is NATO bombing and support of separatists that has caused tens of thousands of refugees. It is NATO forces that are responsible for using depleted uranium artillery shells in Serbia and Kosovo, turning both territories into a radioactive dump? Why are they not being charged with war crimes at The Hague? By refusing to bow before the NATO criminals, Milosevic has done the world an incalculable service. Letters of support and solidarity can be sent to Slobodan Milosevic addressed to: President Slobodan Milosevic Huis van Bewaring Pompstationsweg 46a 2597GX Den Haag The Netherlands. * * * Acknowledgement to Emperor's Clothes __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Make international calls for as low as $.04/minute with Yahoo! Messenger http://phonecard.yahoo.com/ ------------------------------------------------- This Discussion List is the follow-up for the old stopnato @listbot.com that has been shut down ==^================================================================ EASY UNSUBSCRIBE click here: http://topica.com/u/?a84x2u.a9spWA Or send an email To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] This email was sent to: archive@jab.org T O P I C A -- Register now to manage your mail! http://www.topica.com/partner/tag02/register ==^================================================================