Travesty: The Trial of Slobodan Milosevic and the Corruption (Paperback)

~ (Author), Ramsey Clark (Author)
Key Phrases: international judicial intervention, joint criminal enterprise, former supreme commander, Trial Chamber, Appeals Chamber, Security Council (more...)

Editorial Reviews

Product Description

In 2006, Slobodan Milosevic died in prison in the Hague during a four-year marathon trial for war crimes. John Laughland was one of the last Western journalists to meet with him. Laughland had followed the trial from its beginning and wrote extensively on it in the Guardian and the Spectator, challenging the legitimacy of the Yugoslav Tribunal and the hypocrisy of "international justice."

In this short book, Laughland gives a full account of the trial---the longest trial in history---from the moment the indictment was issued at the height of NATO's attack on Yugoslavia to the day of Milosevic's mysterious death in custody. "International justice" is supposed to hold war criminals to account, but---as the trials of both Milosevic and Saddam Hussein show---the indictments are politically motivated and the judicial procedures are irredeemably corrupt. Laughland argues that international justice is an impossible dream and that such show trials are little more than propaganda exercises designed to distract attention from the war crimes committed by Western states.

About the Author

John Laughland is the author of three previous books: The Death of Politics (1994), The Tainted Source (1997) and Le tribunal penal international (2003). He is currently working on A History of Political Trials from Charles I to Saddam Hussein and on a book about the 19th century German philosopher, Schelling, while his Israel on Israel (co-edited with Michel Korinman) is due out this autumn. He is a regular contributor to the Spectator, the Guardian and the Mail on Sunday.

Product Details

• Paperback: 232 pages
• Publisher: Pluto Press (December 20, 2006)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 0745326358
• ISBN-13: 978-0745326351
• Product Dimensions: 8.4 x 5.3 x 0.8 inches
• Shipping Weight: 10.6 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.4 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (7 customer reviews)
• Amazon.com Sales Rank: #463,667 in Books (See Bestsellers in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

36 of 42 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Fascinating account of NATO's show trial of Milosevic, August 7, 2007

By	William Podmore (London United Kingdom) - See all my reviews (TOP 500 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

John Laughland, author of The tainted source: undemocratic origins of the European Union, has written a brilliant denunciation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

After the counter-revolutions in the Soviet Union and Eastern European, Yugoslavia stayed independent and unwilling to join NATO or the EU. So the USA, Britain and Germany acted to carve Yugoslavia into easily controlled devolved regional statelets. The Yugoslav leadership tried to keep their country independent and united, and to defeat the terrorist secessionists.

So the NATO powers demonised the Yugoslav leadership: Blair lied about Serbian `racial genocide' of Kosovans, but after the war the Chief Prosecutor of the ICTY reported that 2,108 bodies had been found, not enough to constitute genocide.

The NATO powers made the UN Security Council set up the ICTY "for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia" (Resolution 827, 25 May 1993). Not `allegedly responsible', but `responsible', assuming all defendants' guilt. Laughland notes that the United Nations Charter grants no power to the Security Council to create a criminal court.

On 24 March 1999, US and British forces started bombing Yugoslavia, without UN authorisation, an illegal aggression. At the height of NATO's assault, on 27 May 1999, the ICTY issued its indictment of Slobodan Miloseviæ for war crimes and crimes against humanity. In February 2002, it started the first criminal trial by an international tribunal of a head of state. The Court's rules and procedures were stacked against the defendant. The four-year trial, the longest criminal trial in history, paraded hundreds of prosecution witnesses, in an unavailing effort to prove Miloseviæ guilty.

During the trial, Miloseviæ became ill. Sick men are not usually tried, but the Court continued the trial and refused Miloseviæ suitable medical treatment, the Prosecution alleging that he was feigning illness. Instead, the Court used his illness as an excuse to take the unprecedented, and therefore illegal, decision to impose a defence lawyer on Miloseviæ, stopping him from defending himself. The trial ended when he died prematurely on 11 March 2006, aged only 64. Did he feign his death too?

NATO claims the right to intervene to `defend human rights' and to respond to `threats', including `ethnic and religious rivalries, territorial disputes, inadequate or failed efforts at reform ... the dissolution of state ... acts of terrorism ... the disruption of the flow of vital resources'. Of course, all these claims are illegal under international law, whose cornerstone is national sovereignty.

The NATO powers, not Slobodan Miloseviæ, committed a war crime by attacking a sovereign country. NATO and its creature Court held a show trial to cover their guilt.

33 of 41 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Travesty in Hague, February 22, 2007

By	Andre Pascal (California) - See all my reviews

This book is definately the best yet to come out on Milosevic's trial in Hague. Although it is short (208 pages for such a long trial), this book is all about facts and substance. It is full of quotes, links and footnotes-it shows the trial, how it went, what was done and all irregularites and bias that was involved ( as i said all this is constantly supported by lots of evidence mostly from trial itself). It also uncovers The Tribunal itself, explains who are the judges, how court was established, who funds it and why....Great, great stuff all together! Oh and yes, the foreword by Ramsey Clark, the Ex-attorney General of USA is extraordinary- it explains in brief the reasons for break up of Yugoslavia, how Germany and later USA did this and it goes all the way to Milosevic's trial and his misterious death in Hague. If you are a lawyer, proffessor, student or just somebody genuinely interested in this topic, do not miss this book...It is a must read!!!

9 of 11 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars An important analysis, February 19, 2008

By	Seth J. Frantzman (Jerusalem, Israel) - See all my reviews (TOP 100 REVIEWER)    (REAL NAME)

In this important book the tragedy of international justice is brought to light. With a forward by Ramsey Clark this book points out just how much 'justice' was hijacked. The book shows how the media and the international community was able to tar and feather Serbia as the 'bad guys' in a war in which all were to blame. 500,000 Serbs were ethnically cleansed from Bosnia and Croatia but in the end only Serbs were charged with war crimes. After Milosevic, who was a tyrant, was driven from power he was handed over the the international criminal court. This was a travesty in itself. A court derived its power from the people, from the consent of the governed but in this case a court which is accountable to no one was established to put on trial only one side at the behest of Nato and Europe.

The book examines how the court was biased and how it exceeded its jurisdiction and even violated international law. Eventually it was unable to get a conviction and kept Milosevic in prison until he died. Unlike nuremburg it did not actually prove anything but simply waited for the accused to die so that it could say 'we convicted him.' A very fascinating book that dares to show the other side to the Balkan wars.

Seth J. Frantzman