DECEMBER '93: WAR CRIMINALS ON TRIAL

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SATURDAY 18 AND SUNDAY 19 SEPTEMBER:

INTERNATIONAL DAYS FOR THE

TRIBUNAL ON CRIMES IN EX-YUGOSLAVIA:

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Rome 16/9/93 R.P. 88 - 14.00)

I AGREE WITH SCALFARO, SAYS EMMA BONINO. STRONG INTERNATIONAL PRESSURE ON THE U.N. AND THE GOVERNMENTS FOR THE CONSTITUTION OF A CRIMES TRIBUNAL IS CRUCIAL.

OVER 1000 PARLIAMENTARIANS AND PERSONALITIES FROM ALL OVER THE WORLD HAVE ENDORSED THE INTERNATIONAL PETITION ASKING THAT THE RUTHLESS VIOLATIONS OF THE INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN LAW IN THE BALKANS NOT GO UNPUNISHED.

THE ELECTION OF THE SEVEN JUDGES: A FIRST STEP TOWARDS THE INSTITUTION OF THE TRIBUNAL

LATEST SIGNATORIES INCLUDE THE PRESIDENT OF THE CONSTITUTIONAL COURT OF BOSNIA, KASIM TRNKA, CROATIAN JUSTICE MINISTER IVICA CRNIC AND THE AMBASSADOR OF BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA IN ZAGREB, BISERA TURKOVIC.

The appointment of the first seven judges of the international court is an encouraging signal. Other obstacles such as the appointment of the Public Prosecutor and the installation of the Court in The Hague must be immediately overcome.

"I share President Scalfaro's concern that dropping the initiative of the international crimes tribunal would be thwarting justice", said Emma Bonino. International pressure must be unrelenting, she added. Leaving the decision to create the international tribunal on ex-Yugoslavia on paper would mean a defeat for its promoters and would damage the United Nations' authoritativeness. Its creation would instead represent a step toward the affirmation of the primacy of legality and law".

The appeal, promoted by the radical party, is meeting with growing support from parliaments of many countries and a strong international mobilization. Signatures will be collected in many cities on Saturday and Sunday. The 4000 signatories ask the upcoming United Nations General Assembly to achieve the conditions and fulfil the technical requirements to make the tribunal operative by December '93. It also asks the Assembly to start procedures aimed at the creation of a permanent tribunal.

Among the latest signatories:

The chief Rabbi of the Jewish community of Rome, Elio Toaff, the executive chairman of the Tunis-based Palestinian human rights Association, Zaben Khall; Cesar Verduga, President of the Latin-American association for human right; Nobel prize winners Maurice Wilkins e Hamilton Smith, American writer Gore Vidal; Carmen Llera Moravia; the deputies and members of Parliamentarians for Global Action: Warren Allmand (Canada), Moses Katjioungua, president of the patriotic front of Namibia, Mona Makram Ebeid of the Egyptian Parliament; seven parliamentarians from Armenia and thirty-one parliamentarians from Georgia; criminologist and founder of the International Antiprohibitionist League Marie Andrée Bertrand (Canada), Carlo Ripa di Meana, national spokesman of the Greens, Marina Ripa di Meana, university professor Angelo Bolaffi, journalists Valerio Riva and Dany Aperio Bella, foreign correspondent for Il Messaggero, actress Maria Maddalena Fellini and other show business personalities.

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