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President Slobodan Milosevic in The
Hague 'Court'
Opening Statement: February 13,
2002
Part One of four parts
[Posted 27 March 2002]
Editor's Note: The following translation has been approved by the Socialist Party of Serbia, which is Slobodan Milosevic's political party. It is truer to the original Serbo-Croatian than the translation posted by The Hague 'Tribunal.'
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Richard May: Mr. Milosevic, it’s now your opportunity to address the Chamber. Before you do so, I should tell you this about your right to silence in this trial: You have a right of silence during the trial. You’re not obliged to give evidence, to question witnesses, or to make submissions.
However, you may make a statement now. You may not be asked questions about the content of the statement, but the statement will be made under the control of the Trial Chamber, and the Trial Chamber will decide on the probative value, if any, to be attached to the statement.
You may give evidence on your own behalf at the appropriate time, in which case you will be subject to cross-examination.
Other than when giving evidence, you’re not obliged to answer any questions about the facts of the case but should be aware that if you make statements about the facts during submissions to the Court, such statements may be part of the material considered by the Trial Chamber in reaching its decision on the case.
This ruling does not apply to questions on procedural and administrative matters. This statement will be put into writing and given to the accused.
Finally this: You may sit or stand to address the Court, whichever you prefer.
President Milosevic: Will you adjourn today at four?
Richard May: We stop at 4.00. So if you’d like to make a start now, we will adjourn then and you can go on tomorrow.
President Milosevic: I do not want to be interrupted after only half an hour, since I’ve had to listen to the prosecution’s speeches for two days.
Richard May: Are you asking to start tomorrow morning? Is that what you want?
President Milosevic: Last time at the status hearing, you told me I would have the right to speak. If I understood correctly, you are giving me that right now. But I think it logical to begin when I would not be interrupted after just – now less than – half an hour.
Still, I could use....
Richard May: [interrupts]: Very well. You can address us tomorrow. But what is it you would like to add?
President Milosevic: Before I begin my statement, I wanted to use the opportunity to say this. As you know, on several occasions I have brought up certain legal issues – which I do not intend to address in my actual statement – to which you have not responded. Namely, you know that all international and national documents and rules specify that only legally established courts can render judgment. I’ve raised the issue of the court’s legality before, and you did not respond. Rather, you interpreted it as an issue of jurisdiction, even though this is not the same as legality. Jurisdiction concerns the institutions of the 'court,' while I disputed its legality based on the fact that this 'tribunal' was not established lawfully, that the Security Council could not transfer onto this 'tribunal' powers it did not have itself, and that this 'tribunal', therefore, cannot legally render judgment.
I expected the 'tribunal', or more specifically you, to address these legal facts. I also expected you to seek a ruling from the International Court of Justice, as one of the amici curiae had suggested, which you also have not done.
I consider that this issue of principle is of great importance for international law and justice in general, and that it needs to be resolved. I think I’ve explained it sufficiently when, in lieu of an oral explanation, I turned in a fairly detailed document describing the related arguments point by point.
There is another issue I wish to clarify beforehand.
At the status conference, I raised the issue of my illegal arrest, in which an agent of this 'tribunal' took part, which was conducted in Belgrade in violation of the Serbian and Yugoslav Constitutions, causing the federal government to resign and resulting in criminal charges [against the participants].
I know that every court is obligated to clarify the issue of habeas corpus before trial. You did not take that into consideration, nor did you schedule a hearing regarding this issue, though you are required by regulations to do so. This issue is regulated by the declarations of judicial and political rights, universal, European and American – which you as jurists should be acquainted with – and your own practice, since you have discussed the issue of illegal arrest here in several occasions. Therefore, I warn you of a gross oversight in this matter, since you were required to schedule a hearing regarding the illegal arrest. The fact is, I was brought here by a criminal act, considered as such not only by my country’s legal system, but the legal systems of all nations, as well as all international treaties and conventions.
Further, I argued many times – and this you did not want to address either – that we cannot speak of a fair and equitable trial here, let alone prosecutorial objectivity.
You know that the United Nations adopted an instruction for UN prosecutors in 1990, demanding that they be impartial. In this case, based on everything we’ve heard here, it is more than apparent that the prosecutors are not only not impartial, but that they have already proclaimed my judgment and sentence!
The prosecution is orchestrating a media campaign, a sort of parallel trial in the media. In addition to this illegal 'tribunal,' the media have been given the task of conducting a lynching, in advance, without any regard to the facts proving....
Richard May: [interrupts]: I’m going to interrupt you. What do you mean by saying that the Prosecutor has proclaimed your sentence and judgment?
President Milosevic: The previous prosecutor [Louise Arbour], meeting with [US Secretary of State Madeleine] Albright] said – they made a joint statement – that they had the same task, and Albright certainly represented a party to the conflict. The indictment itself is based on reports provided by British intelligence during the war against Yugoslavia, and it is known that intelligence agencies provide only information that can be manipulated, while omitting facts that do not fit their purpose, and so on.
I think there are many arguments that can be made about this. In any case, I am pointing out that you did not address this, nor did you reach a decision on this issue. You did not seek a ruling from the International Court of Justice regarding the legality of this 'tribunal;' you did not hold the required hearing regarding habeas corpus and regarding the fact that your agent participated in the commission of a criminal offense.
Richard May: [interrupts]: Mr. Milosevic, you indicated earlier that you wanted to make your submissions tomorrow. That’s apparently not the case because you want to address us today. But the matters on which you are choosing to address us are matters upon which we have already ruled, as you would know if you’d taken the trouble to read our decisions. You had the right of appeal. You did not take it. The matters, therefore, have all been dealt with, and your views about the tribunal are now completely irrelevant as far as these proceedings are concerned. All the matters you raised you’ve argued before and we have ruled upon, and there is no need for them to be raised again in these proceedings.
We will hear the rest of your arguments and submissions tomorrow morning.
[End of Testimony, 13 February 2002]
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