Letters to the Editor

March 2007

"LOW TIDE OF INTERNATIONAL LAW"

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) profiled in the December issue ["Californians at the Hague"] paints a deceptive picture of justice being dispensed. In fact, the ICTY is a miserable excuse for a court and should not be held up as an example to be emulated. Defendants accused of serious crimes including genocide lack even the most basic rights—foremost being those of a speedy trial and the right to adequate discovery and investigation.

The ICTY's main defendant, Slobodan Milosevic, died before his drawn-out trial concluded, and now Dr. Vojislav Seselj, the other major Serb defendant, is in grave danger of death due to a hunger strike. Dr. Seselj's trial has been delayed for several years while the ICTY has engaged in a comic-opera dilemma regarding the right to self-representation that could have been resolved by any California judge using rudimentary rules of criminal procedure within 15 minutes. The ICTY lacks basic safeguards for defendants and often pursues a political rather than criminal agenda.

The ICTY will be remembered as the low tide of international law, and until such time as the International Criminal Court shows some understanding of basic criminal procedure, the U.S. government and people are well served by abstaining from participation there too.

Dr. Jonathan Levy

Committee for Vojislav Seselj's Defense

Hilton Head Island, South Carolina