GUILTY!
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.
Ben Dupuy, former ambassador at large during the Aristide
Administration in Haiti, the Rev. Kiyul Chung of Korea, and auto
worker Martha Grevatt, who heads the AFL-CIOs official
constituency group Pride at Work, read the three parts of the verdict
(included below).
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. (A list of all the judges, and the
witnesses and their topics is included below.)
Many of these witnesses have in the past 15 months presented to
audiences worldwide a complete picture of the war NATO waged
against Yugoslavia. For the tribunal, however, all limited themselves
to a single area of expertise that made up a single part of the
evidence against the political and military leaders of the United States
and the other NATO countries.
Taken together, the judges decided, each single part contributed to
construct a proof that beyond a reasonable doubt proved the guilt of
the accused, just as the proper placing of single tiles can build a
mosaic.
The witnesses described how NATO forces used the media to spread
lies to demonize the Serbs and their leadership in order to prepare
public opinion to prepare for war. Then they showed the real
economic and geopolitical interests of the imperialist powers--the U.S.
and Western Europein seizing economic control of the area from
the Balkans to the oil-rich Caspian Sea.
Finally they demonstrated how Washington rigged the Racak
massacre and then used the so-called Rambouillet accordin reality
an ultimatum demanding NATO's military control of all of Yugoslavia-
-to provoke the war. Taken together this all proved a crime against
peace.
They also showed the use of illegal weapons, the purposeful choice of
civilian targets and the destruction of the environment and the civilian
infrastructure that add up to war crimes. And the expulsion of
hundreds of thousands of people from Kosovo and Metohija that
prove crimes against humanity.
The witnesses presentations were accompanied in many cases by
slides and videos displayed on a large screen on the stage of the
auditorium at Martin Luther King Jr. High School in Manhattan. This
screen was easily visible both to the judges, who sat on the stage, and
to the hundreds in the audience, many of whom stayed throughout the
nine-hour day.
In addition, pictures and videos were on display in the hall outside the
auditorium, and documentary evidence was offered in books or in
research papers.
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.
In addition to the witnesses, there were also important guest
presentations from representatives of the governments Yugoslavia
and Cuba. In addition, Ismael Guadalupe from Vieques, Puerto Rico
showed in a powerful speech how the practice runs against his small
island laid the basis for U.S./NATO aggression around the world.
According to the IAC organizers, total registration, including justices,
witnesses and staff was 511. Invited speakers, witnesses and judges
came from Haiti, Spain, Turkey, Korea, Puerto Rico, India, Germany,
United States, Canada, Italy, Yugoslavia, Russia, Britain, Belgium,
Iraq, Greece, Austria, France, and Portugal. The U.S. government
refused visas to four people from Ukraine, whose message was read
from the stage.
There were also representatives of the Roma peopleoften referred
to by the derisive term "gypsy." Shani Rifati, a Roma witness who
was born in Pristina, capital of Kosovo, told how NATO occupation
has led to the expulsion of 100,000 Romas. He pointed out that the
verdict condemned the persecution of Roma people, the first time this
has happened in any international tribunal.
Five different television crews taped the entire proceedings, including
Serbian television and a three-camera crew from Australia, as well as
alternate media sources in the U.S. like the Peoples Video Network.
FINAL JUDGEMENT OF THE COMMISSION OF INQUIRY TO
INVESTIGATE U.S./NATO WAR CRIMES AGAINST THE
PEOPLE OF YUGOSLAVIA
Final Judgement
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 DAlema, 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
judgement 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 Peoples 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