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Dear Jeffrey St. Clair,
You wanted to know about our charges against NATO leaders before the Hague tribunal. I am attaching the complaint we couriered to Judge Arbour yesterday along with the following letter. Copies have been sent to the accused. I am also enclosing our press release which is being released tomorrow morning in Geneva and Toronto. Please post anything you want.
Yours truly, Michael Mandel
**** Dear Madam Justice Arbour:Re: the attached complaintEnclosed please
find a complaint against certain named individuals forcrimes within your
jurisdiction.
I trust that you will take all the necessary steps to see that these
crimesare investigated and indictments prepared against those
responsible.I am sure that I need not impress upon you the urgency of the
situation.I would be grateful if your office kept us abreast of the
progress of yourinvestigations and, in that regard, I am authorized by all
of thecomplainants to advise you that all correspondence may be sent to me
onbehalf of them.
Yours very truly,Michael Mandel, Professor **** PRESS RELEASE MAY 7,
1999LAWYERS CHARGE NATO LEADERS BEFORE WAR CRIMES TRIBUNALA group lawyers
>from several countries has laid a formal complaint with theInternational
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia against all of theindividual
leaders of the NATO countries and officials of NATO itself. Thecomplaint
was initiated by professors from Osgoode Hall Law School of
YorkUniversity in Toronto -- where Tribunal prosecutor Louise Arbour was
also aprofessor before becoming a judge. The group has charged Bill
Clinton,Madeleine Albright, Javier Solana, Jamie Shea, Jean Chretien, Art
Eggleton,Lloyd Axworthy and 60 other heads of state and government,
foreignministers, defence ministers and NATO officials, with war crimes
committedin NATOs six-week old bombing campaign against Yugoslavia.
The list of crimes includes "wilful killing, wilfully causing
greatsuffering or serious injury to body or health, extensive destruction
ofproperty, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully
andwantonly, employment of poisonous weapons or other weapons to
causeunnecessary suffering, wanton destruction of cities, towns or
villages, ordevastation not justified by military necessity, attack, or
bombardment, bywhatever means, of undefended towns, villages, dwellings,
or buildings,destruction or wilful damage done to institutions dedicated
to religion,charity and education, the arts and sciences, historic
monuments and worksof art and science."
The complaint also alleges "open violation" of the United Nations
Charter,the NATO treaty itself, the Geneva Conventions and the Principles
ofInternational Law Recognized by the Nüremberg Tribunal (the latter of
whichmakes "planning, preparation, initiation or waging of a war of
aggression ora war in violation of international treaties, agreements or
assurances" acrime).
Under the Statute "a person who planned, instigated, ordered, committed
orotherwise aided and abetted in the planning, preparation or execution of
acrime shall be individually responsible for the crime" and "the
officialposition of any accused person, whether as Head of State or
Government or asa responsible Government official, shall not relieve such
person of criminalresponsibility or mitigate punishment."
The complaint points to the bombing of civilian targets and alleges
thatNATO leaders "have admitted publicly to having agreed upon and ordered
theseactions, being fully aware of their nature and effects" and that
"there isample evidence in the public statements of NATO leaders that
these attackson civilian targets are part of a deliberate attempt to
terrorize thepopulation to turn it against its leadership;"
The complaint cites a recent statement of the President of the
Tribunal,Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald, urging that: "All States and
organisations inpossession of information pertaining to the alleged
commission of crimeswithin the jurisdiction of the Tribunal should make
such informationavailable without delay to the Prosecutor."
The complaint also cites a statement of United Nations High Commissioner
forHuman Rights Mary Robinson in which she says that "large numbers
ofcivilians have incontestably been killed, civilian installations
targeted onthe grounds that they are or could be of military application
and NATOremains sole judge of what is or is not acceptable to bomb¼In
thissituation, the principle of proportionality must be adhered to by
thosecarrying out the bombing campaign. It surely must be right to ask
thosecarrying out the bombing campaign to weigh the consequences of
theircampaign for civilians in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."
Under the Statue, the Prosecutor is bound to "initiate
investigationsex-officio or on the basis of information obtained from any
source,particularly from Governments, United Nations organs,
intergovernmental andnon-governmental organizations" and to "assess the
information received orobtained and decide whether there is sufficient
basis to proceed. Upon adetermination that a case exists, the Prosecutor
is bound to "prepare anindictment containing a concise statement of the
facts and the crime orcrimes with which the accused is charged under the
Statute and transmit itto a judge of the Trial Chamber."
The complaint asks Judge Arbour to "immediately investigate and indict
forserious crimes against international humanitarian law" the 67 named
leadersand whoever else shall be determined by the Prosecutors
investigations tohave committed crimes in the NATO attack on Yugoslavia
commencing March 24,1999."
Copies of the charges have been sent to the accused.
Participating in the action are 15 lawyers and law professors as well as
theAmerican Association Jurists, a pan American organization of
lawyer's,judges, law professors and students, with membership in all
countries of theAmerican Continent from Tierra del Fuego to Canada, an NGO
with consultativestatus before the Social and Economic Council of the
United Nations.Professor Michael Mandel said in Toronto today: "The
bombing of civilians isnot only immoral, it is criminal and punishable
under the laws governing theTribunal. You cannot kill a woman and child in
Belgrade on the theoreticalpossibility that it might save a woman and
child in Pristina. Even in alegal war you cannot kill civilians and
destroy an entire country as amilitary strategy. But this is an illegal war
and the NATO leaders areacting like outlaws. So far they have risked
nothing by sending others to dotheir killing and destroying. We believe
that if they are held individuallyresponsible, as the law requires, they
wont feel so free to spill otherpeoples blood."
For further information, please contactin Toronto: Professor Michael
Mandel (telephone 416-736-5039; e-mailmmandel at yorku.ca) or David Jacobs
(telephone 416-539-; emaildavid at ShellJacobs.com in Geneva: Alejandro
Teitelbaum, (telephone France: 33-4-78-30-87-78; e-mai Assamjur at aol.com
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