DANGER OF JUDICIAL MURDER STILL ACUTE

Press statement issued by the German Section of the International Committee to Defend Slobodan Milosevic, 18/12/2002

On 18.12.2002, the last day of the "trial" of Slobodan Milosevic this year, it was announced that "administrative questions" would be dealt with.  In plain language, the issue was Slobodan Milosevic's state of health and the possibility of him surviving the trial. The treatment of this matter by the "court" was fully in line with what one would expect from the cold-blooded bureaucratic reduction of a matter of life and death to an "administrative issue".  "Judge" May dealt with the matter in less than three minutes.

Firstly he stated that that the Chamber had received medical reports and petitions from "the sides".  May, certainly not for reasons of time, withheld the information that these included submissions from the International and National Committees for the Defence of Slobodan Milosevic, appeals from US intellectuals and German doctors and a unanimous resolution from the Russian Duma [parliament].

He permitted no discussion of the issues but pronounced three points as a final decision:  maintenance of the previously established schedule "with monitoring" of the health of the "accused", no imposition of a defence lawyer - which Carla del Ponte had asked for - since this would be incompatible with the rules of the "Court", and, thirdly, no temporary release of Slobodan Milosevic to allow him specialist treatment by his long-standing doctors.

Thus, despite repeated warnings, notably from medical specialists, we see the acceptance of severe damage to the health and a threat to the life of Slobodan Milosevic.  All those who have assumed that, given the disaster of the trial so far from the legal point of view, the forces behind the "Tribunal" view the termination of the trial through death as an option which is at least worthy of consideration, now feel confirmed in that supposition.

The state of Slobodan Milosevic's health - he suffers from exceptionally high blood pressure, weak heart muscles, hypertrophy of the left ventricle and angina pectoris carrying the risk of sudden death through heart failure - has swiftly deteriorated in recent months because of the intolerable conditions of detention and trial.  The first examination by a Dutch cardiologist on 15.11. 02 predicted an 11% reduction in the risk of death given appropriate medication.  On 23.11.02 newspapers and press agencies reported that Milosevic had over a long period not only not been receiving effective or ineffective drugs, but had in fact been given contra-indicated drugs which actually increased his blood pressure.

A group of practising doctors and therapists from Germany, including members of  "International Physicians for the Prevention of Nuclear War" in their two petitions to the "Tribunal" have pointed out inter alia that:

"This attitude, which can only be described as irresponsible, towards a person whose health and life are in your care with all the consequences flowing from that, raises serious questions as regards motives.  At the very least it is totally at odds with various UN documents and resolutions concerning the treatment of prisoners which responsible persons claiming to be representatives of a UN institution ought of all people fully to uphold. 

The necessary outcome of this situation, for which the ICTY carries full responsibility, is that Slobodan Milosevic be immediately released from this health- and life-threatening situation and set free so that he can receive in Belgrade the long overdue treatment from the doctors who have treated him for many years."

By his decision today, Judge May has done more than just ignore such expert advice.  The "Tribunal" is also thereby blatantly flouting UN General Assembly resolutions and documents relating to the health of persons in custody, in particular:

*  the provisions of UN General Assembly Resolution no. 37/194 of December 1982, which stipulates that "health personnel, particularly physicians, charged with the medical care of prisoners and detainees, have a duty to provide them with protection of their physical and mental health and treatment of disease of the same quality and standard as is afforded to those who are not imprisoned or detained".

* Article 6 of the Code of Conduct for Law Enforcement Officials adopted by the UN General Assembly on 17 December 1979 which obliges all courts to "ensure the full protection of the health of persons in their custody".

Moreover, the "Tribunal" is violating its own rules, specifically article 21 point 4b, which stipulates that every defendant shall have "adequate time and facilities for the preparation of his defence".

In the view of the International Committee for the Defence of Slobodan Milosevic, all the above indicates that the trial is nothing more than an organised attempt to kill Slobodan Milosevic.

Immediately after this "potential death sentence", representatives of the International Committee announced that they were considering legal steps against "Judge" May.  In the next few days, they want the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights in Geneva to intervene so that UN decisions are at last applied in "Del Ponte's Circus".

Klaus Hartmann

Vice-President ICDSM (International Committee for the Defence of Slobodan Milosevic) mailto:vorstand@freidenker.de

ICDSM   http://www.icdsm.org/

ICDSM - German Section   http://www.free-slobo.de/