Macedonia's PM visits Johan Tarculovski at the Hague

Prime Minister Nikola Gruevski yesterday met with Johan Tarculovski in the Scheveningen detention unit within the Hague Criminal Tribunal.

Over the course of the meeting, the PM reiterated the Government's support, expressing assurance that the Government will do everything in its power to help the defence of Johan Tarculovski.

Furthermore, they discussed steps, which are due to be taken by Gruevski personally and by the Government, in order to help Tarculovski and his defence to prove the truth during the appeal procedure, Government's press service said in a statement.

Hague Cases Returned to Macedonia

Four cases brought before the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, were returned to the Macedonian judicial system last week, the ICTY Prosecutor’s Office has told Balkan Insight.

The cases involve alleged crimes committed by ethnic Albanian guerrillas during the 2001 armed conflict in Macedonia.

“The cases were transferred to the Macedonian authorities last week and that concludes our jurisdiction,” Prosecution spokesperson Olga Kavran said.

In late January Macedonia’s public prosecutor, Ljupco Svrgovski, told reporters he would re-examine the cases when they are returned to Macedonia’s jurisdiction.

When the Hague Prosecutor’s Office decided in February not to proceed with the four cases, ICTY President Fausto Pocar and Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz announced that they would be referred back to Macedonia.

In 2002 the ICTY took over jurisdiction of five cases from Macedonia.

However, the prosecution brought charges only in the case against former Macedonian Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski and one of his senior police officers, who are now being tried for allegedly ordering a brutal police attack on an Albanian-populated village.

Local politicians and experts in the past few years have expressed fears that the return of the four cases could revive inter-ethnic disputes from the past and distract Macedonia from its reform course towards the EU and NATO.

The conflict in Macedonia lasted for six months and ended with the signing of the Ohrid peace accord. Following the accord, former Albanian guerrilla leaders assumed a political role and now control the major Albanian opposition party in Macedonia, the Democratic Union for Integration.

Four cases transfered to Macedonia

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) intends to transfer four cases involving Albanian guerillas to Macedonia, according to the Birn agency.

This decision was announced on January 22 during a meeting between Macedonia's Prime Minister and the Tribunal's president and prosecutor in Skopje. The Macedonian chief prosecutor subsequently told the MIA agency that "This decision was expected." Of the five Macedonian cases before the ICTY, only one prosecution has been conducted by The Hague: former minister of the interior Ljube Boskovski and a senior police officer are currently on trial for their alleged involvement in the attack on an Albanian village. The other cases involve members of the opposition party, the Albanian guerilla forces. The Balkan information agency mentions fears expressed over the past few years by experts and members of the political class that these trials might revive ethnic tension. Up until one week before the visit of the ICTY president and prosecutor, the prosecutor general of Skopje was opposed to the return of these cases, in which no accusation had been formally brought by the ICTY.

Hague trial against Macedonia's Boskovski

Boskoski defense begins in The Hague

Trial of former Minister of Interior Ljube Boskoski on case "Ljuboten" began Wednesday in the Hague Tribunal with the introductory statement of defense lawyers.


Boskoski's lawyer Edina Rasidovic stressed he is not accused of doing or taking part in the execution of any type of crime act, but that he is indicted of "pure command responsibility".

"Our position is that evidence presented thus far do not prove such responsibility by Ljube Boskoski", said Rasidovic.

According to her, in a case where consequences are grave, the prosecutor could not hope that deficiencies in evidence could be compensated by facts, which have not been proven.

"We are convinced that the prosecutor did not call certain witnesses to take the stand, because he was aware they could jeopardize his case by their testimony. However, this cannot justify the prosecutor", emphasized Rasidovic.

She said that the defense presents evidence and summons witnesses not because it needs to present something new or provide additional explanations.

"The reason why we present defense evidence is neither to determine the absence of Boskoski's responsibility, because we claim that his alleged responsibility has not been determined during the presentation of the Prosecution's evidence", stated Rasidovic.

She stressed the defense believes that the Court Council could release Boskoski on the basis on presented evidence.

"We want to remove even the slightest doubt that the prosecutor has left standing regarding issues of importance for the case. We hope that our evidence will give a positive contribution in clearing up these vague things, thus giving the opportunity to the Court Council to pass the judgment without any doubt", said Rasidovic.

She stated that evidence would show that it is impossible to conclude that Boskoski did not undertake all possible reasonable measures in the given circumstances.

"We have faith that this Court will pass the only just decision - release of Ljube Boskoski", concluded defense lawyer Edina Rasidovic at the end of the introductory statement.

The trial will resume with the hearing of the first of 15 defense witnesses. Four of them will testify on the spot, while 11 have provided written statements.

The trial of Boskoski and Tarculovski began on April 16, 2007, with the hearing of about 50 witnesses summoned by the prosecutors.

Former Minister of Interior Ljube Boskoski and police inspector Johan Tarculovski are charged with violation of laws and customs of war regarding the Ljuboten case. Boskoski is charged with "command responsibility" i.e. he approved Tarculovski to form and lead a police unit, which in August 2001 carried out an operation in Ljuboten when seven residents of Albanian nationality were killed.

Despite guaranties provided by the Macedonian Government, the Tribunal did not grant provisional release to Boskoski and Tarculovski.

Manevski:Macedonia prepared for The Hague cases

Macedonia is prepared to take the five cases from The Hague Tribunal, but the accent is put on preparation of personnel and the ability to ensure implementation of international standards.

Macedonian Minister of Justice Mihajlo Manevski said this on Thursday while answering a journalist's question, emphasizing that the state organizes preparation of personnel and undertakes other material procedures for the purpose of returning the cases from The Hague Tribunal.

He added that there is already prepared an appropriate courtroom, according to The Hague standards, in the Suto Orizari prison.

According to Manevski, the international community and the Ministry of Justice have prepared a joint programme for education of personnel, where two groups of judges and prosecutors have already went for training to The Hague and Sarajevo. Also, there is permanent training for the humanitary law, and there also obligations pending on education of court police, translators and expert workers.

The Minister of Justice denied the information that The Hague prosecutioner Carla Del Ponte said that Macedonian courts are not ready yet for returning of the cases.

Bumpy Start for Macedonian Trial

Some observers wonder whether this case should have been brought to the tribunal in the first place.

By Sara Goodman in The Hague (TU No 498, 20-Apr-07)

The case against Macedonia’s former interior minister and his ex-bodyguard began in The Hague this week amid claims that the tribunal is prosecuting only one side of this controversial and complex conflict between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels

Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski are accused of “murder, wanton destruction of cities, towns or villages and cruel treatment” during an attack on the predominately ethnic Albanian community of Ljuboten in August 2001.

They were the last two men to be indicted by the tribunal over war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and this is the only case from the Macedonian conflict before the tribunal.

Four other Macedonian cases investigated by prosecutors – all involving crimes allegedly committed by Albanians – were sent back to Macedonia to be tried in national courts.

Jordan Apostolski, case manager for the Tarculovski team, told IWPR in an interview this week that that was a “huge distortion of justice” that has led to a mistrust of the tribunal in Macedonia.

“The mission of the Hague tribunal is to try all suspected crimes against humanity committed in the former Yugoslavia,” he said. “That this is the only case being tried here has created the impression in Macedonia that the tribunal isn’t serving the ideals of international justice but has some other hidden agenda.”

A spokesperson for the Office of the Prosecutor, OTP, said the tribunal’s mandate is to focus on those most responsible for crimes in the former Yugoslavia, and only the case against Boskoski and Tarculovski fit that criteria. Olga Kavran also cited the tribunal’s UN-ordered completion strategy which says all trials must be finished by 2008 and all appeals by 2010.

“It’s the best we can do within the mandate we were given,” said Kavran, adding it is important for this case to be before the court because the two men are indicted for serious crimes.

Tribunal observers told IWPR that the Boskoski/Tarculovski trial is a landmark case in several ways.

Of particular significance, they said, is the fact it is the only case before the tribunal in which a high-ranking government official is charged with one act that took place at a specific location and time.

In other high profile tribunal cases - such as the trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic - the indictments were broader and more complex, and the prosecution was charged with proving a whole range of allegations. The Milosevic trial lasted for years because prosecutors had to prove a campaign against another political entity and the intent to commit genocide.

In the Boskoski/Tarculovski case, however, the indictment is rather straightforward. Boskoski is accused of knowing about the attack on Ljuboten and, as a superior, failing to make the appropriate response and punish the perpetrators.

Tarculovski is charged with leading the attack on the village, which ended with the murder of seven Albanian men, the destruction of at least 14 houses and the abuse of more than 100 villagers.

The attack on Ljuboten seems to have been in response to a landmine explosion that killed eight Macedonian soldiers the day before.

It came at a time when Macedonia was embroiled in a near civil war, pitting ethnic Macedonians against the ethnic Albanian minority, who constitute approximately one-third of the country’s two million people.

Although Macedonia avoided the bloody conflict that consumed the rest of the Balkans following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the Nineties, fighting began in early 2001 when ethnic Albanian rebels seized control of villages in the north and demanded greater rights for the ethnic Albanian minority.

The conflict, which lasted approximately six months, came to an end with a negotiated peace agreement led by the international community that gave ethnic Albanians greater local autonomy.

Proving that at the time of the attack on Ljuboten Macedonia was in a state of armed conflict will form the backbone of the prosecution case, with prosecutor Daniel Saxon claiming in his opening remarks this week that there was sufficient organisation and structure on both sides to allow for military operations.

He also said the intensity of the fighting led to a violation of international law.

The defence argues there was no war in Macedonia at the time, so war crimes charges are not legitimate.

Slagana Dimiskova, Skopje correspondent for Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, told IWPR that because there was never a formal declaration of war in Macedonia debate about what actually happened still continues.

“We [in Macedonia] don’t know what happened in 2001,” she said. “Some people say it was a bloody war, and others say it was nothing serious. It’s a problem in Macedonia, because we didn’t talk about it. Now it’s up to the courts to decide.”

In the past, she said some Macedonians felt it was best not to look back and preferred not to discuss what happened. That has changed since the beginning of the trial with the public reacting strongly to what they have seen reported about the case.

“People feel the case is against Macedonia, not just against Boskoski,” said Dimiskova. “The longer it goes on in The Hague, the more people are becoming aware of what happened, and they are angry that there is only this one proceeding at The Hague. They see this as a political trial.”

Balkans expert Spyros Economides from the London School of Economics agrees the case will be carefully watched within Macedonia.

“You can be guaranteed there is an audience in Macedonia that is following this trial very closely,” said Economides. “It remains to be seen what the reaction will be, but [whatever the outcome], it will resonate within the country.”

The case has now been adjourned until May 7 when the prosecution will present its first witnesses. Prosecutors estimate they will need about 11 weeks to present their arguments.

Macedonia readies to send protest note to Carla Del Ponte

Macedonia will hand over a note of protest if The Hague Tribunal's prosecution, led by chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte, used the term "Macedonian speaking Slavic majority", government's spokesman said.

At today's press conference in Skopje, government's spokesman Ivica Bocevski commented the reports that the insulting term had been allegedly used at the launch of the trial of Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski in The Hague Tribunal.

Bocevski said the Macedonian foreign ministry took all necessary activities to check the transcript of the opening statement by tribunal's prosecution.

If we establish authenticity of the term used "Macedonian speaking Slavic Majority", Macedonian embassy in The Hague will hand over a note of protest to tribunal's prosecution, Bocevski said.

He added that the Macedonian government won't comment the indictment against two Macedonian citizens Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski, which was read out last Monday.

First appearance of the trial against Boskoski and Tarculovski ended

The first appearance of the trial against Ljube Boskoski and Johan Tarculovski ended Monday at the Hague Tribunal. As it was agreed at the pre-trial conference on April 12, the Prosecution presented the opening statements and the trial is adjourned and will resume on Monday 7 May 2007 aimed at carrying out all necessary preparations for conducting efficient trial.

The Prosecution Monday presented the indictment against Boskoski and Tarculovski for violation of laws or customs of war in relation to Ljuboten case. Boskoski is charged with "commanding responsibility" i.e. as Minister of Interior approved Tarculovski to form and led police unit which conducted the action in Ljuboten in August 2001 where seven citizens of Albanian nationality were killed.

The Prosecution before the Trial Chamber reconstructed the events in Ljuboten, which happened from 10th to 12th of August 2001. According to the prosecutors, the goal of the police action was to conduct illegal attack on civilians and civilian houses in the village of Ljuboten, which was not justified by military necessity.

The Prosecution considered that Ljube Boskoski is responsible for the criminal acts of his subordinates if he knew or had reason to know that his subordinates were about to commit such acts or had done so, and the superior failed to take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent such acts or to punish the perpetrators. Ljube Boskoski in his capacity as Minister of Interior exercised de jure and de facto command and control over the police forces that participated in the crimes alleged in this indictment.

Johan Tarculovski is also individually criminally responsible for ordering, planning and instigating the crimes charged in the indictment by virtue of his participation in the attack on Ljuboten. He directly intended that these crimes be committed or at least he had the awareness of the substantial likelihood that the crimes would be committed in the execution of his orders, plans and instigation.

Representative of the Prosecution at the opening statement pointed out that in 2001 a conflict erupted between the government of Macedonia, Army of the Republic of Macedonia and police on one side and NLA on the other. NLA assumed control over 20% of the territory of Macedonia. The conflict ended on August 13 when Framework Agreement was signed which preceded the disarmament and disbanding of NLA and acceptance of constitutional amendments for promotion of the rights of the Albanian minority. Macedonian Army consisted of 10.000 soldiers and 20.000 reservists, 100 tanks, guns, armour vehicles, helicopters, planes which were deployed in crisis regions. Interior Ministry consisted of 9.750 members and acted together with the army. Also police reservists around of 10.100 members were mobilised. Police forces were under effective control of Ljube Boskoski as Minister of Internal Affairs, representative of the Prosecution explained.

NLA, which opposed the Macedonian security forces according to the Prosecution, had the basis in Kosovo, Macedonia and Western Europe. - NLA consisted of 6.000 armed members and unarmed reservists. It was composed of four components, supreme command, general staff, armed members, and external organisation for political activities and collection of resources. The most famous representatives were Ali Ahmeti, Gzim Ostreni, Fazli Veliu. NLA acted as armed force with command structures. It had infantry weapons, antitank mines, mortars and other weapons. It was not conventional army but it had all elements of armed force. It issued communiqués and had contacts with political representatives of the Albanians, who participated at the developments of the Framework Agreement, the representative of the Prosecution underlined.

The NLA attacked Macedonian police stations and police patrols, planted mines, and engaged units of the Macedonian army. As the conflict spread out from the areas bordering on Kosovo towards Tetovo and Skopje, the NLA established control over a number of villages. In May another front in Kumanovo opened. NLA expanded the conflict to only 10 kilometres from Skopje and controlled the village of Aracinovo. The fight was waged in Tetovo as well.

Sixty-nine members of the Macedonian security forces were killed, 16 civilians and 211 Macedonian Army members were injured. Large material damage was caused, the losses for economy were estimated at a half a billion Euro, 86.000 people were displaced, 80.000 left Macedonia, over 40 religious facilities were damaged, the representative of the Hague Prosecution said.

Also photographs of the armed clashes during the conflict were presented before the Trial Chamber.

Ljube Boskovski was extradited from Zagreb on March 24 2005. Boskovski until his departure to Hague, was detained for several months in pretrial confinement in Pula, Croatia. The Croatian police arrested him upon the request of the Macedonian authorities since he was charged considering the Rastanski Lozja case. The primary Court Skopje 2 and the Appellate Court have acquitted him from the charges. The Macedonian Justice Ministry announced to withdraw the case from Croatia.

Tarculovski was extradited on March 16 2005.

Both had pleaded not guilty on all charges at the first hearing before the Judicial Council of the Hague Tribunal.

Hague judges rejected twice Boskovski and Traculovski lawyers' request to defend themselves while on bail, even though the Macedonian Government provided guarantees for their availability to the Tribunal at any time.

Hague investigators in 2002 began an inquiry on five cases related to the 2001 conflict. Only one formal procedure regarding the Ljuboten case was brought before the Hague Tribunal.

The remaining four cases which were an interest of investigation - closing of the Lipkovo dam, abusing construction workers, the mass grave in Neprosteno and NLA high commanders - are to be returned to Macedonian authorities.

Macedonia leader 'watched attack'

Macedonia's interior minister watched as police entered a village and killed seven ethnic Albanian men in 2001, UN prosecutors have said.

Video footage showed what prosecutors said was Ljube Boskovski witnessing the attack from behind a wall that overlooked the village.

Mr Boskovski is on trial in The Hague, with police official Johan Tarculovski.

It is the first trial of men suspected of committing war crimes in Macedonia. Both men deny the charges.

The August 2001 attack on the farming village of Ljuboten occurred during a six-month insurgency in the Former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia during which the country's nationalist government fought to suppress ethnic Albanian militias.

'Criminally responsible'

Mr Boskovski, 46, was alleged to have effective command and control over the forces from his position as interior minister.

"Due to his failure to take necessary and reasonable measures to punish the perpetrators of the crimes committed in the village of Ljuboten, the prosecution will ask you to find Ljube Boskovski criminally responsible as a superior," prosecutor Dan Saxon said.

Prosecutors say Mr Tarculovski, 32, ran a private security unit loyal to Mr Boskovski and led the attack on the village.

"The police unit led by the accused Tarculovski deliberately chose unarmed civilians, wantonly burned and destroyed many homes without justification and cruelly treated a group of residents, seven of whom were killed," another prosecutor said.

Footage showing smoke rising from homes in the village was also shown to the court.

According to charges presented by the court, the attack on Ljuboten was launched as a retaliation for an attack which killed eight Macedonian soldiers.

Lawyers for both defendants declined to make opening statements.

But a lawyer for Mr Boskovski told the Associated Press news agency that the interior minister had been responding to "terrorist" actions and "took all necessary and responsible measures".

The men could face life sentences if convicted. The trial was adjourned until 7 May.

Mr Tarculovski and Mr Boskovski were the last two men to be indicted by the war crimes tribunal in The Hague over alleged atrocities committed in the former Yugoslavia.

The BBC's Geraldine Coughlan, in The Hague, says while they are the first to face charges over events in Macedonia, more could arrive before the tribunal winds down in 2010.

Trial Opens in 2001 Macedonia Killings

Residents of this close-knit, predominantly ethnic Albanian community still remember the day when they say police stormed their village tucked between green fields and snow-covered mountains, killing seven men.

On Monday, Macedonia's former interior minister and a senior police official go before the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, on charges of murder, wanton destruction and cruel treatment in the operation.

Prosecutors say they will be the only people to be tried there on charges stemming from Macedonia's 2001 conflict between government forces and ethnic Albanian rebels.

The trial, which is expected to hear opening statements Monday before adjourning until May 7, may test the reconciliation between the Macedonian Slavic majority and the ethnic Albanian minority.

"I want to ask them why they attacked Ljuboten. Did they see signs of fighters? None were here, no one had a uniform on and no one fought," said Elmaz Isufi, whose son was killed in the operation.

According to the U.N. indictment, seven civilians were killed in house-to-house police searches on Aug. 12, 2001, and officers gutted 14 homes with hand grenades or fire and destroyed other buildings with shelling. Villagers who fled were stopped at checkpoints and beaten.

The indictment says the action was "organized, systematic and pervasive."

The operation was apparently launched in retaliation after eight Macedonian soldiers were killed when their truck hit a land mine.

The indictment says former Interior Minister Ljube Boskovski had "superior responsibility" for the actions of police and failed to punish his subordinates for the killings. The senior police official, Johan Tarculovsky, was part of a joint criminal enterprise to direct "an unlawful attack on civilians," it says.

Both men have pleaded not guilty. Boskovski's lawyer, Edina Residovic, argued in a pretrial brief that there was no war in Macedonia at the time and it was impossible for the men to have committed war crimes. The brief added that none of the alleged killers had been under Boskovski's control at the time.

The defendants face a possible punishment of life imprisonment. The policemen who allegedly carried out the killings are not on trial.

Macedonia, a landlocked country of 2.1 million people, split from Yugoslavia in 1991 with Croatia and Slovenia. Macedonia remained at peace as a brief armed attempt to prevent Slovenia's secession failed and fighting in Croatia killed up to 10,000 people.

In 1999, hundreds of thousands of ethnic Albanians poured into northern Macedonia from neighboring Kosovo to flee former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic's troops. Two years later, Macedonia's ethnic Albanians launched their insurgency to fight for more rights for their minority, which comprises about a quarter of the population. A Western-brokered peace deal ended the fighting after six months.

But in the village of Ljuboten, residents say that hate still runs deep between the two groups. Many ethnic Albanians remain outraged over the 2001 police operation.

Isufi is expected to travel to The Hague to testify in the case, despite the fact he is paralyzed and frail. He said he hopes to see Boskovski and Tarculovsky punished.

His son, Rami Isufi, a 33-year-old father of four, had stayed in Ljuboten despite a buildup of forces around the village, which is in a predominantly Macedonian area of the country. Isufi said his son believed a peace deal that was about to be signed that would end the fighting.

The next day, Rami was hit by a string of bullets allegedly fired by police officers who had forced their way into the family's yard. According to the indictment, he was unarmed and was shot at close range in the stomach.

"We saw him dying," said Isufi, 64, tears running down his cheeks.

"It will never satisfy me," he said of the possible punishment of the defendants. "It will lessen my pain a bit, because at least it will be known who is the guilty one, so that this crime is not covered up."

Sadik Qaili, whose cousin Atullah died of injuries from beatings he received during the raid, said reconciliation between the village's ethnic Albanians and Macedonians was difficult to imagine.

"We're waiting day and night to see how The Hague tribunal will decide," he said. "We were empty-handed and they were bent on ethnically cleansing us."

Many Macedonians regard Boskovski and Tarculovsky as heroes. On Sunday, hundreds of supporters attended a nationally broadcast service outside the main cathedral in the capital, Skopje, and demanded a fair trial.

Vera Gluvceva, an 83-year-old Macedonian, said she believed the charges had been invented. "I think they want only Macedonians to be blamed for the conflict," she said.

Macedonia's government said Sunday it expected a "fair, transparent and objective" trial and pledged to continue giving moral and financial support to the two men and their families, according to a statement.