{"id":1025,"date":"2019-07-20T14:47:41","date_gmt":"2019-07-20T13:47:41","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/?page_id=1025"},"modified":"2019-07-31T10:38:31","modified_gmt":"2019-07-31T09:38:31","slug":"putting-the-record-straight","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/putting-the-record-straight\/","title":{"rendered":"Putting the record straight"},"content":{"rendered":"

As we show in our video, reports of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s invariably\u00a0 claimed huge though quite unsubstantiated death tolls and casualty figures.\u00a0 Most spectacular was the very widely reported figure of 250,000 deaths in the first 6 months of the Bosnian war.<\/span><\/p>\n

However, by 2002 even the ICTY had scaled back by half its original estimate of 200,000 for conflict fatalities between 1992 \u2013 2000 to just over 100,000. \u00a0But even this revised figure was based on fewer than 20,000\u00a0 bodies actually recovered-\u00a0 the other\u00a0 80,000 deaths being added simply by the imprecise process of extrapolation.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

The International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP) consistently showed a\u00a0 marked lack of interest in obtaining justice for all the victims or in recovering the bodies of all those killed during the conflict. Its role was tainted by partiality. Its primary purpose appears to have been finding evidence to convict predominantly Serbian defendants. The ICMP was not in reality an international body dedicated to obtaining justice for missing persons and championing victims. In practice its actions simply reflected the prejudices and interests of its founders and financial backers – the United States with its pro -Moslem agenda.<\/span><\/p>\n

Despite a complete failure to legally establish the necessary intent to prove the crime of genocide and the absence of sufficient bodies, the western media displayed a marked reluctance to revise any of the inflated estimates it had reported in such detail during the Bosnian and Kosovo wars. \u00a0Many broadcast and newspaper reports continued to quote a figure of 200,000 or 250,000 deaths in Bosnia for many years after the ICTY had formally and publicly halved its estimate.<\/span><\/p>\n

In 2007 the BBC 2-part documentary,\u00a0 Storyville, showed this caption at the beginning of both parts:<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

These unrevised figures were to be endlessly repeated for years after this, right up to the present day.<\/span><\/p>\n

It is now established fact that, despite repeated requests, none\u00a0of the primary DNA evidence gathered by the ICMP was ever shared with the ICTY or with the defence teams in the many ICTY genocide trials. This means that there is no hard evidence for the ICMP\u2019s claimed DNA identifications which now number around 18,000. Since this evidence was by the ICTY\u2019s own admission core to the many genocide convictions it handed down, it follows that none of these convictions can be regarded as safe or valid.<\/span><\/p>\n

On close examination much of the other evidence offered in ICTY trials is similarly deficient. \u00a0The basis, for example, for the figure quoted in the caption above that 3 million people fled their homes in the\u00a0 Yugoslavia is not clear. \u00a0It seems to have been \u00a0plucked from the air. \u00a0So called evidence culled from seized documents was frequently revealed to be much less clear-cut than the prosecution suggested. \u00a0\u201cIntercepts\u201d of Bosnian Serb military communications became far less credible or plausible when it was revealed that the original recordings had apparently all been destroyed. \u00a0Even in ICTY hearings, witnesses lost credibility when they admitted that their testimony was the product of intensive coaching.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Perhaps the clearest example is provided by the Milosevic trial. \u00a0By the time of his death during the early stages of the defence case, the trial had already lasted for more than 4 years. \u00a0In all that time, the prosecution case had made next to no progress. Virtually the only part of their case which had gone according to plan was the presentation of the forensic and DNA evidence by the ICMP. Thanks to the unconscionable immunities<\/a> granted to the evidence-gathering agency, the International Commission for Missing Persons, this was read into evidence as though it were unchallengeable fact. Defendants were denied their fundamental right of access to this key evidence against them and were therefore unable to have it tested\u00a0 by independent expert witnesses.<\/span><\/p>\n

The net result of all these things was that, despite the fact that there was in reality no hard evidence to support any of the ICTY\u2019s trial verdicts, an almost impenetrable smokescreen had been put in place and a mountain of paperwork amassed. \u00a0So voluminous was the material generated that academic John Laughland calculated that\u00a0 to simply read the trial transcripts for the Milosevic trial alone would take a researcher some 7 years working 37.5-hours a week!\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Conscientious researchers will always hesitate to challenge facts when they know they have not seen all the information. Only the advent of the internet\u00a0 has allowed us to collaborate widely, to share information and begin to uncover the truth behind this travesty of justice.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

As we show in our video, reports of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s invariably\u00a0 claimed huge though quite unsubstantiated death tolls and casualty figures.\u00a0 Most spectacular was the very widely reported figure of 250,000 deaths in the first 6 months of the Bosnian war. However, by 2002 even the ICTY had scaled back by … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Putting the record straight”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":0,"parent":0,"menu_order":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","template":"","meta":[],"yoast_head":"\nPutting the record straight - Balkan Conflicts Research Team<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"http:\/\/www.balkan-conflicts-research.com\/archive\/putting-the-record-straight\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Putting the record straight - Balkan Conflicts Research Team\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"As we show in our video, reports of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s invariably\u00a0 claimed huge though quite unsubstantiated death tolls and casualty figures.\u00a0 Most spectacular was the very widely reported figure of 250,000 deaths in the first 6 months of the Bosnian war. 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