Russian academic Yelena Guskova told SRNA that the Hague Tribunal was in agony and that “the judges are no longer concealing their true faces and bias, nor their enmity towards the Serbs.”

 

On the occasion of the appointment of Ramush Haradinaj’s lawyer, Ben Emerson, as a judge of the Residual Mechanism – the successor to the ICTY –, Guskova said that the court was formed illegally with the aim of trying only one side in the conflict, the Serbs, for which purpose appropriate judges were selected.

“The majority of them are executors of a foreign will, who have sullied their honour, are Srbophobes far removed from justice, objectivity and impartiality. It is, therefore, natural to expect, when a body to finish the remaining cases is being constituted, the same people to remain to finish the job,” stressed Guskova.

She notes that their disregard of the material evidence and the incontrovertible evidence of the accused are daily evident in the Tribunal, while the twisting of facts, concealment of documents and preparation of false witnesses “are wholeheartedly applauded by the prosecutors and, especially, the judges.”

According to Guskova, they also have “permanent witnesses, who jump from one case to another and keep repeating only those facts favoured by the judges.”

“The Tribunal is in agony. Its time is running out. The legal bureaucracy is in a rush to ‘successfully conclude’ all remaining cases. The judges are no longer concealing their true faces and bias, nor their enmity towards the Serbs,” stressed Guskova.

She said the Mladic case furnishes further proof that the Tribunal’s violation of international law has assumed a systematic character, this including violation of the International Pact on Civil and Political Rights and the European Convention on Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms.

“The exoneration of Haradinaj reveals the true face of the supposed court,” notes Guskova, adding that Moscow hold a very low opinion of the activities of the Tribunal.

She recollected that a task force met in the Russian Duma on December 19, at the initiative of Russian politicians, public figures and scientists, with the aim of forming a committee to defend General Ratko Mladic.

Duma member Pavel Dorohim was elected chairman of the committee, relates Guskova, adding that attending the meeting were Mladic’s son, Darko, and the lawyers Branko Lukic and Milos Saljic.

“The committee concluded that the Tribunal’s bias was obvious and must come under consideration by international organisations, the UN Security Council and other UN bodies, for otherwise, once the Tribunal closes, dozens of innocent men will find themselves in various European gaols,” said Guskova, who is a member of the Republika Srpska Senate.

Ben Emerson, defence lawyer of the former terrorist KLA commander Ramush Haradinaj, was appointed a judge of the so-called Residual Mechanism, which on July 1 will take over from the ICTY.

For the time being it is not known in which cases Haradinaj’s defence lawyer will act as judge, but it is known that all the appeals against Serbs, which will not be completed in the first half of next year, will be at his disposal.

 

Source : SRNA