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Potato i Jedinstvo
Friday, September 16, 2005
On the run from the eastern RS to Arizona
This is how the headline writer put it:
"Feds: Indicted Bosnians served in notorious brigades"
A federal prosecutor says Bosnian refugees who were indicted in Phoenix this week for concealing their service in the Serbian army 10 years ago belonged to brigades that took part in the most notorious atrocities during war in the former Yugoslavia.
Assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Pacheco stressed that none of the defendants is charged with a human rights violation, and investigators turned up no evidence of personal involvement in the Srbrenica slaughter or other atrocities.
At detention hearings Friday, Pacheco alleged that the ethnic-Serb immigrants were members of the Zvornik and Bratunac brigades - military outfits that massacred more than 7,000 Bosniak Muslim males in Srbrenica during July of 1995.
In an interview later, Pacheco said investigators obtained army records from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a United Nations entity that investigates war crimes.
Earlier this week, federal agents arrested the 13 suspects on indictments for immigration fraud and perjury. They seized seven others for deportation hearings based on similar allegations...
The rest of the article is not an example of fine reporting, or particularly insightful, but read it and filter it as you see fit.
P.S.: I've been through Zvornik - such a beautiful setting, and haunted as hell.
Update: another article about this - link via my reliable source.
"Feds: Indicted Bosnians served in notorious brigades"
A federal prosecutor says Bosnian refugees who were indicted in Phoenix this week for concealing their service in the Serbian army 10 years ago belonged to brigades that took part in the most notorious atrocities during war in the former Yugoslavia.
Assistant U.S. attorney Andrew Pacheco stressed that none of the defendants is charged with a human rights violation, and investigators turned up no evidence of personal involvement in the Srbrenica slaughter or other atrocities.
At detention hearings Friday, Pacheco alleged that the ethnic-Serb immigrants were members of the Zvornik and Bratunac brigades - military outfits that massacred more than 7,000 Bosniak Muslim males in Srbrenica during July of 1995.
In an interview later, Pacheco said investigators obtained army records from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a United Nations entity that investigates war crimes.
Earlier this week, federal agents arrested the 13 suspects on indictments for immigration fraud and perjury. They seized seven others for deportation hearings based on similar allegations...
The rest of the article is not an example of fine reporting, or particularly insightful, but read it and filter it as you see fit.
P.S.: I've been through Zvornik - such a beautiful setting, and haunted as hell.
Update: another article about this - link via my reliable source.
Posted by: Skelly / 10:13 PM 
Comments:
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that isn't a particularly good piece of reporting.
Unfortunately in all those countries there WAS conscription, (the draft for those of you in Rio Del, for those younger readers, compulsory military service, kind of like compulsory education only guns and killing instead of calculators and paper and pens)
Anyway on the evidence question, I can tell you from personal experience that records haveing to do with people from that region can be really hard to get sometimes, meaning evidence one way or another is ALSO hard to get.
People who were not technically in the military from an American view in actual fact had military duties, for example policemen often had such duties, and there were irregular forces all over the place.
I think these guys took a big chance not just putting down their units.
There's still circumstances where that could have been explained, and they would not have been vulnerable to the events they have experienced.
Another thought, because there is such a huge focus on bad guys from Muslim countries maybe the assorted people who investigate this and that feel they have to throw in some non-Muslims so that they can say 'see you guys, we grabbed those cetniks! no discrimination here!'
A lot of Serbian people came here precisely because they didn't want in on all the nasty stuff that was going on. One of the first Serbs I ever met was in that catagory.
I hope these guys do get a good lawyer! Either way it should be handled fairly and I am afraid either way it won't be.
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Unfortunately in all those countries there WAS conscription, (the draft for those of you in Rio Del, for those younger readers, compulsory military service, kind of like compulsory education only guns and killing instead of calculators and paper and pens)
Anyway on the evidence question, I can tell you from personal experience that records haveing to do with people from that region can be really hard to get sometimes, meaning evidence one way or another is ALSO hard to get.
People who were not technically in the military from an American view in actual fact had military duties, for example policemen often had such duties, and there were irregular forces all over the place.
I think these guys took a big chance not just putting down their units.
There's still circumstances where that could have been explained, and they would not have been vulnerable to the events they have experienced.
Another thought, because there is such a huge focus on bad guys from Muslim countries maybe the assorted people who investigate this and that feel they have to throw in some non-Muslims so that they can say 'see you guys, we grabbed those cetniks! no discrimination here!'
A lot of Serbian people came here precisely because they didn't want in on all the nasty stuff that was going on. One of the first Serbs I ever met was in that catagory.
I hope these guys do get a good lawyer! Either way it should be handled fairly and I am afraid either way it won't be.
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