Last Saturday, a year after the end of the Yugoslav war, a citizens’ war crimes tribunal headed by Ramsey Clark found the U.S. and NATO guilty of war crimes during the 78-day bombing campaign and subsequent occupation. As expected, the U.S. press completely ignored tribunal. Following is an excerpt from a longer report about the meeting and verdict distributed by the International Action Center.
Jack Smith, Highland, NY
INDEPENDENT TRIBUNAL FINDS U.S. AND NATO GUILTY OF WAR CRIMES IN YUGOSLAVIA
On Saturday, June 10, 2000, the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia found U.S. and NATO political and military leaders guilty of war crimes. At this people's tribunal meeting in New York, held before over 500 people, a panel of 16 judges from 11 countries rendered this verdict regarding the March 24-June 10, 1999 U.S./NATO assault on Yugoslavia.
Former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark, the lead prosecutor at the International Tribunal on U.S./NATO War Crimes Against Yugoslavia, urged those present and those they represented from the 21 countries participating to carry out a sentence of organizing a campaign to abolish the NATO military pact....
Participants taking the witness stand included eyewitnesses, researchers who visited Yugoslavia, renowned political and economics analysts, historians, physicists, biologists, military experts, journalists and lay researchers.....
The International Action Center, founded by Clark in 1992, organized this final session of the tribunal. There was also participation by those who had organized similar tribunal hearings in Germany, Italy, Austria, Russia, Ukraine, Yugoslavia and Greece, where thousands declared U.S. President Clinton a war criminal last November in Athens....
FINAL JUDGMENT OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY TO INVESTIGATE U.S./NATO WAR CRIMES AGAINST THE PEOPLE OF YUGOSLAVIA
Final Judgment
The Members of the Independent Commission of Inquiry to Investigate U.S./NATO War Crimes Against the People of Yugoslavia, meeting in New York, having considered the Initial Charges and Complaint of the Commission dated July 31, 1999, against President William J. Clinton, Gen. Wesley Clark, Secretary of State Madeleine Albright, Prime Minister Tony Blair, Chancellor Gerhard Schroder, President Jacques Chirac, Prime Minister Massimo D’Alema, Prime Minister Jose Maria Azmar, the Governments of the United States and the other NATO member states, former Secretary General Javier Solana and other NATO leaders, and Others with nineteen separate Crimes Against Peace, War Crimes and Crimes Against Humanity in violation of the Charter of the United Nations, the 1949 Geneva Conventions, other international agreements and customary international law;
Having the right and obligation as citizens of the world to sit in judgment regarding violations of international humanitarian law;
Having heard the testimony from Commissions of Inquiry and Tribunals held within their own countries during the past year and having received reports from numerous other Commission hearings which recite the evidence there gathered;
Having been provided with documentary evidence, eyewitness statements, photos, videotapes, special reports, expert analyses and summaries of evidence available to the Commission;
Having access to all evidence, knowledge and expert opinion in the Commission files or available to the Commission staff;
Having been provided by the Commission, or otherwise obtained, various books, articles and other written materials on various aspects of events and conditions in Yugoslavia and other countries in the Balkans, and in the military and arms establishments;
Having considered newspaper coverage, magazine and periodical reports, special publications, TV, radio and other media coverage and public statements by the accused, other public officials and public materials;
Having heard the presentations of the Commission of Inquiry in public hearing on June 10, 2000, and the testimony, evidence and summaries there presented;
And having met, considered and deliberated with each other and with Commission staff and having considered all the evidence that is relevant to the nineteen charges of criminal conduct alleged in the Initial Complaint, make the following findings:
FINDINGS
The Members of the International War Crimes Tribunal find the accused Guilty on the basis of the evidence against them and that each of the nineteen separate crimes alleged in the Initial Complaint has been established to have been committed beyond a reasonable doubt. These are:
1. Planning and Executing the Dismemberment, Segregation and Impoverishment of Yugoslavia. 2. Inflicting, Inciting and Enhancing Violence Between and Among Muslims and Slavs. 3. Disrupting Efforts to Maintain Unity, Peace and Stability in Yugoslavia. 4. Destroying the Peace-Making Role of the United Nations. 5. Using NATO for Military Aggression Against, and Occupation of, Non-Compliant Poor Countries. 6. Killing and Injuring a Defenseless Population throughout Yugoslavia. 7. Planning, Announcing and Executing Attacks Intended to Assassinate the Head of Government, Other Government Leaders and Selected Civilians in Yugoslavia. 8. Destroying and Damaging Economic, Social, Cultural, Medical, Diplomatic -- including the Embassy of the People’s Republic of China and other embassies -- and Religious Resources, Properties and Facilities throughout Yugoslavia. 9 Attacking Objects Indispensable to the Survival of the Population of Yugoslavia. 10. Attacking Facilities Containing Dangerous Substances and Forces. 11. Using Depleted Uranium, Cluster Bombs and Other Prohibited Weapons. 12. Waging War on the Environment. 13. Imposing Sanctions through the United Nations that are a Genocidal Crime Against Humanity. 14. Creating an Illegal Ad-Hoc Criminal Tribunal to Destroy and Demonize the Serbian Leadership. The Illegitimacy of this Tribunal is Further Demonstrated by its Failure to Bring Any Case Regarding the Oppression of the Romani People, Who Have Suffered the Highest Rate of Casualties of Any People in the Region. 15. Using Controlled International Media to Create and Maintain Support for the U.S. Assault and to Demonize Yugoslavia, Slavs, Serbs and Muslims as Genocidal Murderers. 16. Establishing the Long-Term Military Occupation of Strategic Parts of Yugoslavia by NATO Forces. 17. Attempting to Destroy the Sovereignty, Right to Self- Determination, Democracy and Culture of the Slavic, Muslim, Roma and Other Peoples of Yugoslavia. 18. Seeking to Establish U.S. Domination and Control of Yugoslavia and to Exploit Its People and Resources. 19. Using the Means of Military Force and Economic Coercion in Order to Achieve U.S. Domination.
The Members hold NATO, the NATO states and their leaders accountable for their criminal acts and condemn those found guilty in the strongest possible terms. The Members condemn the NATO bombardments, denounce the international crimes and violations of international humanitarian law committed by the armed attack and through other means such as economic sanctions. NATO has acted lawlessly and has attempted to abolish international law.
RECOMMENDATIONS
The Members urge the immediate revocation of all embargoes, sanctions and penalties against Yugoslavia because they constitute a continuing crime against humanity. The Members call for the immediate end to the NATO occupation of all Yugoslav territory, the removal of all NATO and U.S. bases and forces from the Balkans region, and the cessation of overt and covert operations, including the “International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia” in the Hague, aimed at overthrowing the government of Yugoslavia.
The Members further call for full reparations to be paid to the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia for death, injury, economic and environmental damage resulting from the NATO bombing, economic sanctions and blockades. Further, other states in the region which have suffered economic and environmental damage due to the NATO bombing and economic sanctions on Yugoslavia must also be awarded reparations. The Members condemn the threat or use of military technology against life, both civilian and military, as was used by the NATO powers against the people of Yugoslavia.
The Members urge public action and mobilization to stop new and continued sanctions and aggressions by the U.S. and other NATO powers against Iraq, Cuba, North Korea, the countries of Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union, Puerto Rico, Asia, Sudan, Colombia and other countries. We ask for the immediate cessation of overt/covert activities by the U.S. and NATO in such countries.
The Members believe that the interests of peace, justice and human progress require the abolition of NATO, which has proved itself beyond any doubt to be an instrument of aggression for the dominant, colonizing powers, particularly the United States. The Pentagon, the central and key element of NATO and the greatest single threat to the people of the world, must be disbanded.
The Members urge the Commission to provide for the permanent preservation of the reports, evidence and materials gathered to make them available to others, and to seek ways to provide the widest possible distribution of the truth about the U.S./NATO war on Yugoslavia.
We urge all people of the world to act on recommendations developed by the Commission to hold power accountable and to secure social justice on which lasting peace must be based.
Done in New York this 10th day of June, 2000....
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