"Adherence to principle of justice" in Kosovo case

Source: Tanjug, Večernje novosti

BELGRADE -- Serbia's War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević says he expect the UN Security Council to "adhere to the principle of justice".

Vukčević spoke after Serbia officially sent its proposal regarding a future Kosovo organ trafficking investigation, urging the council to organize the probe under the auspices of the UN.

Council of Europe Rapporteur Dick Marty's report, published in late December, named leaders of the ethnic Albanian KLA as perpetrators of atrocities committed in 1999 and 2000, that included kidnappings of Serb and other civilians and harvesting of their vital organs for sale in the black market.

Vučković told Belgrade Večernje Novosti newspaper today that he expected the Security Council "to be outside of the influence of politics".

"Everything else are details that are easy to agree on, once there is a decision on which body will carry out the investigation," the prosecutor was quoted as saying.

"Taking into account that there is a good basis in UNMIK's report - which had been covered up for a long time - I expect that the investigation will be carried out efficiently and that it will bring to justice the persons for whom there are serious indications and evidence of involvement in human organ trafficking, which was only one of the activities conducted by criminal groups in Kosovo," he stressed.

Vukčević said that, before the Security Council decides whether to entrust one of its bodies with the investigation, Brussels, as well as some of the world powers such as Germany, France, Great Britain and the U.S., voiced opinions that EULEX - EU's mission in Kosovo - is capable of carrying out the investigation on its own.

"The investigation has not started yet because there is no agreement among them, and they do not support Russia's, China's and South Africa's initiative to overcome EULEX's problems in the field. By problems, I mean witness protection, leaking of information, and pressures caused by political influence," Vukčević pointed out.

He said that EULEX works in an environment which is unfavorable for such a delicate case.

"I emphasize that the crucial job is the adequate witness protection. EULEX is carrying out, as they say, a preliminary investigation, and that is as far as I have heard. The evidence will not get to the office on their own, someone has to try and collect them. In any case, we are ready to cooperate with our colleagues from EULEX,” Vukčević pointed out.

The Serbian prosecutor also said he had high expectations from UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's upcoming visit to Russia. Moscow last week said it supported Serbia's UN initiative.

"I believe this topic will be discussed there as well and that Russian's great influence and good will to have this investigated will bring us closer to a solution," Vukčević was quoted.

According to him, the organ trafficking case is a huge challenge, but the international community has the strength to respond to it.

"The are two scenarios. One would be to give the mandate to an independent investigator who would be based outside of Kosovo and Metohija. The other is to give EULEX the mandate, and that is something that the United States and Brussels are insisting on," the war crimes prosecutor explained.

But Vukčević noted that "beside the financial problems", he "could not see the reason why an international investigation was persistently being avoided".

"An international investigation is guarantee that truth will be determined, and I hope that is everyone's goal. If important international subjects get involved in daily politics, this phenomenon, at the heart of Europe, will be covered up," Vukčević said of the organ trafficking case.

Milos Simovic: Legija showed me Curuvija’s assassin in discotheque

Source: Blic

Belgrade - ‘Milorad Ulemek was talking to a man in a discotheque and then he told me: ‘This man killed Curuvija’. Later I saw Miki Kurak, member of the State Security in photographs and recognized him as the man from the discotheque’, Zemun gang member Milos Simovic said.

Miroslav Miki Kurak named by Milos Simovic as a man who killed journalist
Slavko Curuvija has been living in Tanzania for several years ‘Blic’ learns. His main occupation is safari hunting.




Milos Simovic, member of the Zemun gang arrested in June last year said in pre-
criminal proceedings for assassination of Curuvija that he did not have direct
knowledge over the crime committed on the Easter Day in 1999.



‘A month after Curuvija’s murder, I was in a discotheque with Milorad Ulemek
Legija. He was then approached by a man whom I saw for the first time. I did not
know who he was. They talked for several minutes, had a glass of drink and the man left. Legija turned to me and said: He killed Curuvija’’, Simovic testified.



He further said that Legija had not told him the man’s name. ‘Later I saw Miki
Kurak’s photographs in newspapers and recognized him’, Simovic testified.

However, Simovic’s testifying has not led to crucial progress in the investigation
revealing who ordered, who organized and who committed assassination of Slavko Curuvija. Simovic’s knowledge over the murder is indirect and can be of use only if some other witness would confirm or substantiate it by evidence.



Serbian Attorney General Zagorka Dolovac said for ‘Blic’ yesterday that Milos
Simovic had been questioned, that certain progress had been made, that a huge
number of proofs had been provided and that more than a hundred witnesses
had been heard. Among those witnesses there are also former members of the 9th Administration of the State Security. According to Dolovac’s words ‘there are
indications that the secret service has been responsible for the crime’ and that ‘in spite of omissions made at the crime scene, Curuvija’s murder shall not remain unsolved’.



Miroslav Kurak was arrested over Curuvija’s murder in the ‘Sward’ police action but was released two months later without a single account of charge which would bring him in connection with the crime.



It was Vojislav Seselj, the SRS leader who first brought Kurak in connection with
Curuvija’s murder. During investigation some witnesses claimed to have seen Kurak and his colleague from the State Security Ratko Romic in the vicinity of the crime scene shortly before the assassination. Later analyses proved those claims to be true. Earlier investigation failed.



According to then plan by the Special Prosecution Kurak and Romic should have been suspected as accomplices in Curuvija’s murder. As those who ordered and helped his murder be carried out, the investigation should have included Mirjana Markovic, Radomir Markovic (former chief of the State Security) and Milan Radonjic (former chief of Belgrade State Security). However, launching of investigation was given up. In the meantime Mirjana Markovic got asylum in Russia, Radomir Markovic is servicing 40-year prison sentence while Radonjic, Kurak and Romic are free citizens.

EULEX “can handle investigation on its own”

Source: Tanjug, Večernje novosti

BRUSSELS, BELGRADE -- Brussels stands by the position that the UN does not need to get involved in investigation of Council of Europe Rapporteur Dick Marty’s organ trade allegations.

"EULEX is fully capable and in the best position to carry out an investigation into the organ trafficking," EU High Representative for Foreign Affairs and Security Policy Catherine Ashton’s Spokeswoman Maja Kocijančić told daily Večernje novosti.

Tanjug got confirmation late Wednesday from the UN Secretariat that that it has received Serbia's proposal for an investigation into Marty's claims.

We can confirm that we received Serbia's proposal and that it will soon be published as a UN Security Council document, Tanjug was told.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon received Belgrade's proposal from the Serbian mission to the UN.

According to procedure, the UN Secretariat will translate the document into all official languages of the world organization and publish it as an official document.

Serbia's Foreign Minister Vuk Jeremić said Wednesday that the main element of the proposal was that the mandate for the investigation of Marty's allegations must come from the UNSC.

He pointed out that the UN secretary general would send the proposal to UN Security Council member countries, so that the presiding member, right now Columbia, and next month France, could start official consultations upon Serbia's request.

"All war crimes committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia were investigated under a UN Security Council mandate, and the investigators were obligated to report to the UN Security Council. The same must be ensured now, I see no reason why the victims from Kosovo, if the allegations are proven true, should be treated as less important," Jeremić said after a meeting with Norwegian Foreign Minister Jonas Gahr Stoere.

A regular UN Security Council session on Kosovo is set for May 12, when UNMIK will report on the situation in the southern Serbian province and this could be the ideal opportunity to put the Serbian proposal on the agenda.

In order to get the green light from the UNSC, the Serbian proposal needs to receive support from a majority of the nine members, and avoid a veto from any of its permanent members - Russia, the U.S., China, France and Great Britain, the daily stressed.

Serbia remembers victims of WW2 Croatia genocide

Source: B92, Tanjug

BELGRADE -- Serbia today marks NDH Genocide Remembrance Day, to commemorate mass killings of Serbs, Jews and Roma in the entity's death camps.

The pro-Nazi Independent State of Croatia (NDH) existed during the Second World War.

The remembrance day was chosen to commemorate the breakthrough of prisoners from the Jasenovac death camp in April 1945.

President Boris Tadić said that Serbia is a democratic country built on anti-fascist traditions, and that it finds any ethnic or religious intolerance to be unacceptable.

Memories of anti-fascist struggle and sacrifices are still strong in Serbia, said Tadić, "and it is this memory that gives rise to hope death camps will never happen again," said his press service.

"We will always remember the tragic suffering of Serbs, Jews and Roma in Jasenovac and Donja Gradina," Tadić said of camps in Croatia, and also mentioned the victims -Serbia's Jews - of the Old Fairground camp set up in Belgrade by the occupying Nazi German forces.

The Serbian president urged that remembering of the victims of the Holocaust and their suffering should provide guarantee that there would be "no revisionism of history".

Commission sheds light on fate of Gen. Mihailović

BELGRADE -- A state commission has determined that World War II Yugoslav Army General Dragoljub Draža Mihailović was killed and buried at a river island in Belgrade.

Members of the commission in charge of revealing the truth about Mihailović’s death have announced that the Ravna Gora Movement leader was buried near a location on Ada Ciganlija where a prison once stood. Commission President Slobodan Radovanović said that, according to the information obtained by the commission, Mihailović had been executed in the early morning hours of July 17, 1946 near the former old prison. The commission pointed out that this was a primary gravesite from where Mihailović’s body had probably been moved to another location. The commission members stressed that they had not found any direct data about the place and time of the murder, pointing out that they did not find a “written record“ about who, when and where executed Mihailović and added that they had drawn their conclusion based on numerous documents and testimonies of witnesses who had heard it from somebody else. Commission member Slobodan Homen has stated that there are indications that Mihailović’s remains were moved to a secondary location and according to Radovanović, chances of ever revealing it are slim. Historian and Secret Graves Commission President Slobodan Marković says that the location believed to be the primary grave should be scanned. The commission members could not say when exactly the area could be searched. According to Marković, the Secret Graves Commission has so far obtained a list of 24,000 people who were executed since September 12, 1944. “Mihailović’s grave is one of those graves,” he pointed out, adding that it is unacceptable that families of the people executed “without any trial” did not know where and how their loved ones had been killed. Data and documents that the commission had obtained will shed some light on history and they will play an important role in Mihailović’s rehabilitation process. After Nazi Germany occupied the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in April 1941, then Colonel Mihailović founded on May 13, 1941 the Ravna Gora Movement, which remained loyal to the king’s government in exile. Mihailović’s men fought against the Germans and Croat pro-Nazi Ustasha movement in the beginning but they ideologically opposed the communist Partisan movement, and engaged in a civil war with them. The Western allies denied support to the movement in 1943 due to their cooperation with the Axis powers and progress that partisans had made. After the liberation, Mihailović was arrested on March 13, 1946 and was charged with high treason on July 15. He was killed two days later. Mihailović’s grandson Vuk and many others have filed a request before the Higher Court in Belgrade to overturn the verdict, rehabilitate the general and reinstate his civil rights.

Source: Beta, Tanjug

Hague jails two, acquits one Croat general

THE HAGUE -- The Hague Tribunal has sentenced ex-Croat General Ante Gotovina to 24 years in prison and General Mladen Markač to 18. Ivan Čermak was acquitted.

The three generals were accused of persecution of Croatia's ethnic Serb population during and after the police and military Operation Storm in the summer and fall of 1995.

The court also found that former Croatian president Franjo Tuđman was a key member of a joint criminal enterprize to cleanse some parts of Croatia of the Serb population.

The prosecution requested earlier that Gotovina be sentenced to 27 years in prison, Markač to 23 and Čermak to 17 years. The defense called for the court to set their clients free.

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor stated earlier that she “just like all of Croatia", expected just decisions "from all courts, including the Hague Tribunal”.

Members of special police units, guard units, volunteers and victims of the war gathered last night in Zagreb in support of the generals.

Gotovina was on the run until December 7, 2005 when he was arrested in the Canary Islands. The indictment against him was raised in 2001 and it was amended in March 2004.

He was accused of war crimes committed during and after Operation Storm which was carried out by Croatia from August 4 until November 15, 1995.

According to the indictment, as a Split Operative Zone commander and chief commander of the Operation Storm, Gotovina was a part of a joint criminal enterprise together with Croatian Army General Čermak, police General Markač and ex-Croat President Franjo Tuđman.

Their goal was to forcefully and permanently remove Serbs from Croata's Serb-controled area, the Republic of Serb Krajina, it is added in the indictment.

During onslaught, the Croatian Army attacked towns and villages in the municipalities of Benkovac, Donji Lapac, Drniš, Gospić, Gračac, Knin, Korenica, Obrovac, Šibenik, Sinj and Zadar.

By robbing and destroying Serb property, the Croatian Army tried to prevent their return.

According to the indictment, the Croatian forces killed at least 150 Krajina Serbs and drove “tens of thousands“ from Croatia.

However, Croatian Helsinki Committee NGO believes that Gotovina is responsible for the death of at least 700 Serb civilians. It is estimated that more than 20,000 homes of the Krajina Serbs were destroyed during the operation.

The trial of the three Croat generals began on March 1, 2008, the anniversary of Slobodan Milošević's death, which Croatian media commented as the “Hague irony“.

The trial ended on September 1, 2010. The prosecution called 81 witnesses and the defense 57, while judges called seven more witnesses.

Source: B92, Tanjug