COMMENTARY NOTES HAGUE'S
"UNEQUAL TREATMENT" OF MACEDONIAN WAR CRIME CASES
BBC Monitoring International Reports - March 18, 2005
Text of commentary by Emil Sterjevski: "Ahmeti is not Ljube", published by
Macedonian newspaper Vecer on 17 March
If someone has deliberately blindfolded the goddess of justice this must have
been a Macedonian. He must have done this not to prevent her from rolling her
eyes, but to have an excuse before his people that the goddess does not see
anything around her. The collateral damage in Macedonia for the court with a
limited validity, that is, the Hague tribunal (International Criminal Tribunal
for Former Yugoslavia - ICTY), are Johan Tarculovski, former police inspector
and the late Macedonian president's bodyguard, and former Interior Minister
Ljube Boskovski. They are both indicted for three crimes: murder, inconsiderate
demolition of civil objects and harsh behaviour, as well as acting as
accomplices in a joint, direct, and illegal attack on civilians and civil
facilities in the village of Ljuboten. Tribunal officials have confirmed that
Brother Ljube is the last in (ICTY Chief Prosecutor) Carla Del Ponte's pack of
cards. The Macedonian public was living in uncertainty for a long period about
whether or not Boskovski would go to The Hague. Tarculovski was a surprise in
this case, just like Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj, who unexpectedly
went to The Hague.
While two Macedonians are to be imprisoned by the court that is invented for the
former Yugoslavia, Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Ante Gotovina (leaders of
Bosnian Serbs and Croats accused of war crimes) are still free. However, let us
not stray farther from our yard. We do not intend to defend someone if he has
really committed a crime, but the court's inadequate, that is, unequal treatment
of Macedonian cases triggers the worm of doubt that is slowly, but persistently
eating us from the inside. Two Macedonians will go to The Hague for the Ljuboten
case. However, the people accused in the Vejce case (massacre of Macedonian
soldiers in 2001), the Brioni case (murder of Macedonian civilians), the case of
the kidnapped Macedonians, and the case of (harassed) Mavrovo civil construction
workers will not go to The Hague. How can the Hague prosecutors, led by "ardent"
Del Ponte, not know that there are always two warring sides in an armed
conflict? Boskovski is indicted for violating the rules of war, although Ali
Ahmeti (leader of the Democratic Union for Integration, DUI - BDI in Albanian)
and his company took off their camouflage uniforms and immediately put on suits
with a democratic pattern, whereas Ahmeti's comrades-in-arms entered the
government's offices only after having a haircut. But Ljube is not Ahmeti. The
vanity of given ruling politicians has proven to be very strong and efficient.
Those who were preoccupied with "democratic transformation" and failed to obtain
some positions that could be a good alibi for their "military activities" are
still walking uniformed and armed in the Tetovo, Kumanovo, and Skopje regions in
front of their sponsors, that is, the international community, and are
cheerfully shooting during weddings.
We once again have an absurd case. Croatia will be sending Boskovski to The
Hague, thus most probably trying to "gain an advantage" from the tribunal, by
saying "we are cooperating with The Hague, because Boskovski is a Croatian
national who committed crimes against civilians somewhere in Macedonia. We are
sending you Ljube, so forget about Ante." The way in which our relevant
authorities are behaving regarding the entire case, including Tarculovski's
arrest and handover, is very strange. This is all happening according to the
principle of I am not here, so ask someone else. Not so long ago President
(Branko) Crvenkovski and Prime Minister (Vlado) Buckovski also stated that every
decision for the prosecution of only one side would be partial and may even
change Macedonia's history. Yesterday they had no comments on the departure of
the two defendants to The Hague, apart from Buckovski stating that he expected
The Hague to hand over the remaining four cases to the Macedonian judiciary and
that the government would continue to cooperate with the tribunal. This was as
if (former US Ambassador Lawrence) Butler were speaking prior to his departure
from Macedonia.
Source: Vecer, Skopje, in Macedonian 17 Mar 03 p 19
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