Saturday, June 5, 1999

Australian aid workers

    Q: Why was the court hearing for the Australian aid workers closed to media and international representatives and then an unknown charge laid against them. We, Australia are not at war with you nor are we with you. Let them go your standing within the Australian community is very low.

    In Yugoslavia the rule of martial law is introduced on March 23. This means that police can enter any of our houses, make a search without a warrant, or even arrest someone and keep him imprisoned for 60 days without explaining the reasons for the arrest. All media are under control of the Ministry of Information and all news are censored. It wasn't in the regime's interest that the court hearing was public, therefore it was closed to the media. As for the international representatives, in the state of war a lot of things are different than normal. Besides, we have a dictator on power. You can not expect him to act civilized, fair and rational.

    Speaking of normal, you may not be aware that even before March 23, there was something close to martial law in Serbia. New information policy, adopted in October, gave the regime an opportunity to confront all its opponents, from independent media to public figures. There were a lot of court hearings closed to the media regarding independent newspapers last year.

    As far as I know, all court hearings for the members of the KLA were also closed for public.

    And at last, these Australian workers may not be spies (actually, I don't think there's a way for us to know for certain), but one thing is for sure: humanitarian organizations and monitoring missions are a perfect cover up for espionage.

    However, we believe that they will be released soon - as soon as situation on Kosovo and in Serbice become more stabilized, there is no special interest for Serbian authorities to keep them. Probably, some Australian officials visit would be enough.

    A note: during the war, trials often lasted for 24h only (trials to Yugoslav citizens). People were sent to multiyear sentence because they stole gas or were smuggling something or because of other "small" law offence.

    Q: What is the general publics opinion of the Australian aid workers situation?

    There is none. First of all, the trail had no importance in the state television news. Secondly, when it was mentioned they were presented as spies. Thirdly, when you've been bombed every night and know what this regime has done in past (4 students were arrestes in October and sentenced to 10 days inprison each just for writing grafitti against regime), two Australian aid workers and one Yugoslav in prison, no matter how this may affect you, are not such a surprise. I'm sorry to say that, but that's the way it is.

bjmreid from quicknet.com.au