SOLIDARIETA' ED APPOGGIO AGLI OPERAI DELLA DITTA "PARTIZAN"
IN SCIOPERO DELLA FAME CONTRO LE POLITICHE LIBERISTE !

Ci giunge notizia della protesta iniziata il 4/2/2002
da circa 170 operai della ditta "Partizan" di Kragujevac,
specializzata nella concia delle pelli per produrre cuoio.
Gli operai della ditta, che e' di proprieta' statale, si
oppongono alle privatizzazioni e chiedono al governo un
incremento di capitale per rilanciare la produzione.

La notizia ci e' stata confermata da Rajka Veljovic, il
cui sindacato - quello maggioritario tra gli operai della
ditta automobilistica Zastava, oggi a loro volta sotto
attacco in vista della liquidazione e privatizzazione del
gruppo - ha a sua volta espresso la sua solidarieta' operaia.

Per esprimere sostegno alla loro protesta:
<partizan@...>

---

Since 04.02.2002. in city Kragujevac, Serbia, 250 workers from
'Partizan' factory which try to defend their factory and their jobs are
at hunger strike! Send your protest to nearest Yugoslavian embassy, to
Serbian government, or directly to strikers at partizan@....

---

Od 04.02.2002. u Kragujevcu, Srbija, 250 radnika fabrike 'Partizan' koji
pokusavaju da odbrane svoju fabriku i svoje poslove je u strajku gladju!
Potrebna im je bilo kakva vrsta pomoci. Posaljite im barem mjel podrske
na partizan@....

CHIESTA LA SOSTITUZIONE DELL'AMBASCIATORE DELLA FYROM IN SVIZZERA

Berna, 8 febbraio - Il governo svizzero ha chiesto al
governo macedone l'allontanamento dell'Ambasciatore a Berna,
l'albanese-macedone Alajdin Demirij, nella cui macchina
e' stata trovata una quantita' di armi e di droga.

+++ Schweiz verlangt Abzug des Botschafters +++

BERN, 08. Februar 2002. Die Schweizer Regierung verlangt von
Makedonien den Rückzug ihres ethnisch-albanischen Botschafters,
Alajdin Demirij, aus Bern. In seinem Wagen wurde, bei einer
Durchsuchung, eine größere Menge von Drogen und Waffen gefunden.

INET.NEWS / AMSELFELD.COM

PONTE DI VARVARIN, SERBIA:
DIECI MORTI E PIU' DI TRENTA FERITI

L'avvocato di Berlino Ulrich Dost ha intentato causa contro
la Repubblica Federale Tedesca per conto delle vittime del
bombardamento compiuto da aerei della NATO sul ponte della
piccola citta' serba di Varvarin. L'attacco, attuato contro
una struttura di nessun interesse dal punto di vista militare o
strategico, il 30 maggio del 1999 causo' dieci morti e piu' di
trenta feriti.

Per le spese processuali, l'Unione dei giuristi democratici della
Germania ha aperto, presso la Sparkasse (BLZ 100 500 00), il conto
numero 33522014. Causale: "Schadenersatz für Nato-Kriegsopfer".

Ulteriori informazioni al sito:
> http://www.nato-tribunal.de/varvarin

Sulla azione penale intentata in Germania per il
bombardamento del ponte di Varvarin si veda anche:

> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1485
> http://groups.yahoo.com/group/crj-mailinglist/message/1524
(inklusiv Presseinformationen zu der Zivilrechtsklage)

===*===

GEPLANNTE FERNSEHSENDUNG UEBER VARVARIN:
ARD "Europamagazin" - 23.2.02 um 16.30

===*===

http://europe.cnn.com/2002/WORLD/europe/01/17/germany.kosovo/index.html

CNN News
January 17, 2002

Kosovo bombing victims sue Germany

BERLIN, Germany --Victims of a NATO bombing raid
during the 1999 Kosovo war are seeking $3.6 million
compensation, their lawyer said on Thursday.
Ulrich Dost said those who had been wounded and
relatives who lost family members in the bridge attack
are looking for damages from the German government.
The lawsuit has been filed against Germany as it is a
member of the 19-nation NATO, even though its planes
were not used in the attack on Varvarin on May 30,
1999.
The families say the attack was deliberately directed
against civilians and violated the Geneva Conventions.
Ten people were killed and more than 30 injured, 17 of
them seriously, in the strikes which were part of the
78-day bombing campaign that forced the end of a
crackdown on ethnic Albanians by then Yugoslav
President Slobodan Milosevic.
NATO officials insisted at the time that the bridge
was a legitimate military target and denied targeting
civilians.
Dost said on Thursday: "The goal of the suit is to
investigate and ascertain whether NATO countries broke
the rules of war and to get help for the victims."
Vesna Milenkovic, whose 15-year-old daughter Sanja was
killed in the attack, said the suit was about more
than financial compensation.
"We hope the suit will fulfill all our expectations --
determining responsibility and the bringing of
justice."
The relatives are seeking about 100,000 euros
($90,000) compensation for each person wounded and
relatives of those killed, he added.
When the suit was filed on December 24, the German
Defence Ministry said the military campaign had
complied with the Geneva Conventions, and added that
international law does not allow for individual
victims or their relatives to claim compensation from
warring parties.

===*===

> http://www.workers.org/ww/2002/varvarin0214.php

Germany sued over NATO bombing of Yugoslavia

By John Catalinotto

Sometimes it is possible for a small, determined
group of people to keep an important issue alive,
creating a forum that can pave the way for a future
struggle.
Attorney Ulrich Dost, working with only a small
committee of supporters in Berlin and Hamburg,
Germany, and the cooperation of the people of
Varvarin in Serbia, has brought a suit against the
German government on behalf of those wounded
and the surviving family members of those killed in a
NATO bombing attack on the village on May 30,
1999. The suit is asking for about $90,000 in damages
for each person.

After over a year of painstaking work gathering
evidence and doing the necessary legal submissions,
Dost has been able to file the Varvarin victims'
claim for damages.

Dost argues that whatever nation's planes carried
out the assault on Varvarin, Germany is guilty of
illegally causing damages to the population by
virtue of its membership in NATO and its go-ahead for
all the bombing raids.
For the first time since the work was begun, the
establishment media in Germany and also CNN and
the BBC have begun to publicize the Varvarin
case.
This publicity comes as the International Criminal
Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) meeting in
The Hague is about to open a war-crimes trial
against former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic
on Feb. 12. Stories have begun to come out that
the ICTY prosecutors fear they have insufficient
evidence to prove their charges.
Dost, on the other hand, believes more than
enough evidence exists to prove the civil case against the
German regime. On Jan. 13 Workers World asked
Dost, who had just returned from an exhausting
weeklong tour of Yugoslavia, to explain the facts
of the case for a U.S. audience.
"Varvarin, with its 4,000 inhabitants," said Dost,
"lies about 125 miles south of Belgrade and another
125 miles from the border of Kosovo. It is in a
mostly agricultural region with no significant industry,
no military bases, and in 1999 military transports
were never sent through the center of the town.
People there did not think of their town as a war
target.
"Even on Whitsunday, May 30, 1999, the Sunday
market where farmers sold their goods was open. At
1:25 p.m. three NATO warplanes appeared over
Var varin. One separated from the formation, flew
toward the bridge and fired its rocket, which hit the
bridge's central support column. Its collapse
dumped the bridge and all the people and
vehicles on it into the small Morava River.
"Panic broke out among the hundreds of people in
the market. Some of them ran to the bridge's
wreckage and began to reach toward the victims.
"After they fired the first round of rockets, the
warplanes turned around. The rescue work had just
begun," Dost said angrily. "One of the planes
attacked from the other side, firing two additional rockets
at the already destroyed bridge.
"There were further dead and wounded. Altogether
from this air attack 10 people lost their lives and
another 16 people were gravely wounded. The
youngest fatal casualty of this attack was a 15-year-old
student, Sanja Milenkovic.
"There was no military excuse for the attack. It was
directed at civilians. This is a crime," argued Dost.
Asked why there were not more cases of such
suits around Yugoslavia, which was bombed so heavily,
Dost apologized for not having the human and
material resources to handle more cases.
"It would be easy--if attorneys and funds were
available--to bring similar cases from all different
regions of Yugoslavia, including Kosovo, and with
victims of all ethnic origins. Right now, though, I and
some other volunteer workers have our hands full
with the Varvarin case.
"We have to raise another 150,000 Euros
[$135,000] to pay the legal costs of finishing this case," he
said. "There is no support from the new Yugoslav
regime, which is trying to stay on good terms with
Germany."

Conditions inside Yugoslavia

WW asked Dost, who had just seen much of
Yugoslavia while traveling and speaking about Varvarin,
what conditions were like there now.
"The unemployment must be over 50 percent," he
said. "In some areas there doesn't seem to be a
money economy. People are only surviving
through the help of their families. It reminds me of what I
heard about conditions in Germany just after World
War II."
Dost also brought up the time after reunification of
Germany in 1990. "As many East Germans did
during reunification, many Yugoslavs had great
hopes that removing Milosevic and making peace with
the NATO powers would bring prosperity back.
Now even the pro-Western [Serbian Prime Minister
Zoran] Djindjic is complaining that none of the
promised aid is coming through.
"In Eastern Germany, too, people soon lost their
jobs and their whole way of life. The difference is that
under the ample West German social security
guarantees--which have decreased in the past
years--people were able to maintain at least a
minimum livelihood. In Yugoslavia they have only their
family's support.
"There are polls that predict that in an election the
Socialist Party of Serbia [Milosevic's party] would
come in first. So the European Union people have
advised Belgrade to postpone the elections."
For more information or to give support, contact
Hkampffmeyer@....

- END -

KOSTUNICA BUSSA A TUTTE LE PORTE

Nel corso del suo piu' recente viaggio a Washington, dove
ha partecipato ad un ulteriore banchetto con l'Imperatore,
il presidente jugoslavo Vojslav Kostunica ha "bussato a
tutte le porte" implorando che il suo paese non venga
ulteriormente diviso - stavolta tra Serbia e Montenegro.
Allo scopo, Kostunica si e' detto disposto a tutto: in
particolare, disposto ad abbracciare la causa del Tribunale
"ad hoc" dell'Aia.
Il suo grido di dolore ha sicuramente fatto breccia nel
cuore dell'establishment statunitense,etablishment che e'
gia' entrato a pieno titolo nei libri di Storia per i
grandi sforzi compiuti in favore dello... squartamento
della Jugoslavia, e per il massacro dei suoi abitanti.
(I. Slavo)

KOSTUNICA TRAVELS TO WASHINGTON
BELGRADE, Feb 5 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica travels Tuesday evening to Washington, where
he will attend the traditional prayers breakfast, with
US President George Bush.
During a two-day visit to the United States, the Yugoslav
president will have a number of meetings with US congressmen
- members of the House of Representatives and of the Senate
- and give a lecture at the Woodrow Wilson Center on the
prospects of federalism in the Balkans.
The prayers breakfast, traditionally hosted by members of
Congress for the domestic political elite and guests from
the whole world, will also attend Yugoslav lower house
president Dragoljub Micunovic, who is already on a visit
to the United States at the invitation of a Congress
committee.

KOSTUNICA IN WASHINGTON: BELGRADE TRYING TO FIND WAY TO
PRESERVE YUGOSLAVIA
WASHINGTON,Feb6 (Beta)-Yugoslav president Vojislav
Kostunica said in Washington on Feb.6 that Belgrade
was trying to work out a new model for the federal
state, which will serve as the basis for a fourth
sustainable Yugoslavia.
At a talk on federalism at the Wilson Center, Kostunica
said that due to a "federal order that was either unsound
or was not implemented consistently enough" the first and
second Yugoslavias collapsed, and that the present, third
Yugoslavia has not found an adequate solution to this
problem.
"We are therefore doing our best to work out a viable,
in many ways completely new solution for the federal state,
which might serve as the foundation of a fourth, sustainable
Yugoslavia - the newly preserved or, if you will, newly
reordered joint state of Serbia and Montenegro," the
Yugoslav President said.
Kostunica arrived in Washington to attend the traditional
prayer breakfast on Feb. 7. A press release from President
Kostunica's office said he was scheduled to meet with
congressmen and senators.

PRESIDENT KOSTUNICA ATTENDS WASHINGTON PRAYER BREAKFAST
WASHINGTON, Feb 8 ( Beta) Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica attended on Feb. 7 the traditional Prayer-
Breakfast in Washington, organized by Congress and the
U.S. president.
After the breakfast, attended by some 30 heads of states
from around the globe, Kostunica met with U.S. senator
George Vojnovic.
BETA learned at the Yugoslav embassy in Washington that
Kostunica had separate meetings in Congress and the Senate
during the day.
Kostunica told Voice of America on Feb. 7 that there were
many doors to knock on in Washington and that the he would
attempt to raise support in the U.S. for the preservation
of Yugoslavia.
"When I ran in elections in September 2000, I said in a
public address, which many still remember well, that there
was not a door that I would not knock on. There are many
doors here to be knocked on for the sake of the our country,
the stability of Yugoslavia, the preservation of the
Yugoslav federation," Kostunica said.

KOSTUNICA SAYS VISIT AIMED AT GETTING GREATER SUPPORT
TO FEDERATION
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica has said that one of the goals of his visit to
the United States is to step up support to the survival
and reorganization of the Yugoslav federation, which has
already been received from the European Union.
Kostunica said that for him the visit to the United States
was an opportunity to meet a large number of congressmen
and to address US media.
Kostunica said that over the past few years, "our country
occasionally had more problems with individuals at the
Congress, than with the Administration, president or his
authorities" and voiced satisfaction with the fact he
would have the opportunity to meet many of them during
his two-day visit to Washington.
As for cooperation with the White House, the Yugoslav
president said that the stands on Yugoslavia's cooperation
with the Hague war crimes tribunal had in no way changed
since his meeting with US President George Bush last year.
"I think that at this moment we will get back to something
I stressed in talks with President Bush and State Secretary
Collin Powel a year ago," Kostunica said and added that
"we have to get closer to a solution in which the interest
of the state and state's relations will simply be formulated
through a special law on cooperation with the Hague tribunal."

YUGOSLAVIA MUST COOPERATE WITH WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL
WASHINGTON, Feb 7 (Tanjug) - Yugoslav President Vojislav
Kostunica said in Washington on Wednesday that Yugoslavia
had to cooperate with the international war crimes tribunal,
but that this cooperation had to be put on a legal basis.
Kostunica was responding to questions asked by the audience
at the Woodrow Wilson Centre, after a lecture on the future
of federalism in Yugoslavia.
Asked whether he would support the extradition to the
tribunal of former Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic
and Ratko Mladic if they are in Yugoslavia, Kostunica
said that as far as he knew Mladic was not in Yugoslavia.
As for Karadzic, his name was never mentioned in this
context - international authorities and international
troops controlling Bosnia-Herzegovina have no idea
about his whereabouts, Kostunica said.