The Balkan Conflicts Research Team is continuously producing superb, hard-hitting and intellectually provocative Twitters about Srebrenica and the Hague Tribunal. We highly recommend them to our readers who may follow them by visiting their Twitter account at: Balkan Conflicts Research Team@ResearchTeam
The tweet False Assumptions is their latest production.
What are the false assumptions held about the ICTY?
1. That it was a legally-established court. It wasnʼt. The founding nations deliberately excluded from the UN Charter (the international Treaty that created the United Nations) any power to set up a criminal court.
2. That its Statute for operation reflected the principles set down by the UN Security Council. It didnʼt adhere to any of the Security Councilʼs instructions – not even the strict instruction to enforce only existing international law.
3. That it should maintain the highest standards of impartialitya objectivity and fairness towards all the warring parties. Controlled and run by the USAa the ICTY put the gathering of crucial scientific evidence in the hands of Bosnian muslims. When NATO illegally bombed Serbia for 78 days without UN authorisationa the ICTY refused even to investigate.
4. That it should meet or exceed best international practice in its judicial procedures. It made no attempt to do so. It allowed hundreds of anonymous ‘eye witnessesʼ to give hours of uncorroborated evidence. It admitted summarised findings of scientific evidence as established fact though the primary evidence had been deliberately withheld from defence teams and the ICTY itself.
5. That the rights of all accused persons should be fully respected. Abuses of best practice included the issuing of indictments before any evidence had been gathereda the regular re-writing of indictments to fit the evidencea the creation of newa nonsensical crimes such as ‘Joint Criminal Enterpriseʼa and the admission of transcripts unsupported by original recordings.
Madeleine Albright, then American Ambassador to the UN, gave this assurance to the UN when the ICTY was created:
“A few months ago I said ʼThis will be no victorsʼ Tribunalʼ. The only victor that will prevail in this endeavour is the truth.”
Fine words – but no truth