'JoeSettler,' the blogger who penned this entry, points out that “there seems to be a lot of confirmation that this story is true, and it doesn’t say much for Goldstone's credibility as an investigator of war crimes.”
In 1995, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) prosecutor’s office listed a certain Serb named Gruban as a serious war criminal. Very serious. They had a lot of details of his war crimes.
But it seems that the Prosecutor’s office had mistakenly identified the criminal involved. The person linked to this case of mistaken identy was none other than head prosecutor himself; Richard Goldstone.
From 1994 until 1996 Goldstone was the head Prosecutor at the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in the UN, and here is a link to the text of his indictment against Gruban. The ICTY's PDF is extracted here:
THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA
THE PROSECUTOR OF THE TRIBUNAL
AGAINSTZELJKO MEAKIC, MIROSLAV KVOCKA, DRAGOLJUB PRCAC, MLADEN RADIC a.k.a. "KRKAN," MILOJICA KOS a.k.a. "KRLE," MOMCILO GRUBAN a.k.a. "CKALJA," ZDRAVKO GOVEDARICA, GRUBAN
INDICTMENT
Richard J. Goldstone, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, pursuant to his authority under Article 18 of the Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia ("The Statute of the Tribunal"), charges...
But in 1998 the ICTY dropped all charges against the above-named Gruban:CC/PIU/314-E
The Hague, 8 May 1998
STATEMENT BY THE PROSECUTOR FOLLOWING THE WITHDRAWAL OF THE CHARGES AGAINST 14 ACCUSED
On 5 May and 8 May respectively, Judge Vohrah and Judge Riad granted the leave requested by the Office of the Prosecutor to withdraw the charges against 14 accused in the Omarska and Keraterm indictments:
The charges against the following 11 accused in the Omarska indictment are withdrawn: Zdravko GOVEDARICA, GRUBAN, Predrag KOSTIC, Nedeljko PASPALJ, Milan PAVLIC, Milutin POPOVIC, Drazenko PREDOJEVIC, Zeljko SAVIC, Mirko BABIC, Nikica JANJIC and Dragomir SAPONJA
(Note that this Gruban is not to be confused with Momcilo Gruban who was imprisoned in 2002 and is also mentioned in that first document and indictment. The charges are maintained against 5 accused who are still at large, namely:
Zeljko MEAKIC (alleged Omarska camp commander, charged with genocide), Dragoljub PRCAC (one of the two alleged deputy commanders), Milojica KOS, Momcilo GRUBAN (one the three alleged guards shift commanders) and Du{an KNEZEVIC (one of the five persons who allegedly visited the camp to commit atrocities).
There are two Grubans here and this Gruban is obviously a different Gruban entirely than the one who had the charges against him dropped. So who was this “Gruban” who turned out to be completely innocent?
Gruban Malić, given his full name, is a very well known character in Serbia. And a character he is; Gruban Malić is a fictional character in the book “Hero on a Donkey” written by Miodrag Bulatović'.
Not to comment at all on that war, but Goldstone fell for a joke someone pulled on him and his court. All the Serbs were laughing at how stupid he and his court was. It certainly destroyed any credibility they might have had for the court.
Sound familiar? Is this any different then what happened in Gaza?
The Gazans of Pallywood told Goldstone stories which he willingly and unquestioning swallowed up whole, and spit back at us. Like in Serbia, the Gazans are laughing at him while Goldstone uses their lies to attack Israel.
What is more interesting is that besides in Serbia, in the office of the ICTY this embarrassing mistake was apparently well known, and of course it wasn't publicized outward, instead they tried to basically cover up Goldstone's mistake by "dropping the charges".
That's a shame about the cover-up, because certainly everyone should remember to associate Richard Goldstone's name with the Serbian war criminal Gruban Malic' - and his donkey.
Now, is it any wonder why Goldstone was sent to Gaza to investigate Israel for war crimes?
-------------------------------------------
(Source: M'kor Rishon online newspaper)
Posts
No comments:
Post a Comment