In mid-November, one Bosnian TV station broadcast the 169th installment of a program called “TV Tribunal” – a weekly newscast dedicated to “informing” the public about the Hague Inquisition. What made it special was a segment in which Head Inquisitor, Carla DelPonte, speaks of her hunt for Slobodan Milosevic, which contained several interesting revelations. Transcript of the segment, in translation, is featured in this week’s edition of Serbian magazine NIN.
In it, DelPonte says she had initiated and maintained secret contacts with Zoran Djindjic, Washington’s hand-picked quisling in Serbia, before he came to power – so secret, not even the Inquisition knew about them. At their first meeting, in Switzerland, Djindjic vowed to deliver Milosevic to The Hague.
DelPonte also claims that Djindjic coordinated Milosevic’s abduction with the ICTY and NATO, and that ICTY had agents on the ground (in Serbia) to ensure all would go as planned.
Apart from highlighting Djindjic’s treachery, DelPonte (perhaps inadvertently) reveals things about her own character. After Milosevic’s first appearance before the Inquisition (3 July 2001), DelPonte accosted him in the hallway. When he told her off and refused to recognize her or the Tribunal, DelPonte instructed the guards to “take him away.” She claims it gave her pleasure, along with the fact that she had the last word. At the risk of lapsing into psychobabble, this reminds me of the countless petty tyrants with delusions of grandeur that function as oppression’s enablers on all levels of government.
Though it was her predecessor, Louise Arbour, who charged Milosevic with war crimes at the behest of the Empire, blaming him for a “joint criminal conspiracy” in all Balkans wars was DelPonte’s idea. Little wonder; as her own words demonstrate, DelPonte herself is at the center of one.