Witnesses are attacked on ideological grounds. Western academics appearing as expert witnesses have been subject to personal abuse as well as intrusive inquiries into their personal lives by the Prosecution's allies in the NATO intelligence services. The intention seems to be to intimidate anyone not sharing the Prosecution's purpose and to warn off others from giving evidence. The refusal to contemplate the idea that even individual NATO servicemen may have committed acts liable under the Tribunal's charter vitiates its impartial character. The Prosecution certainly, but in practice, the whole Tribunal structure acts as a revolutionary or ideological court.
Opinion is as much on trial as actions.
The Tribunal supports certain goals and national independence is not one of them. Whatever their differences, Serbs, Croats and Bosnian Muslims who believe in the independence of their states or peoples are viewed negatively by the ICTY ideology. It is against all nationalisms. The Prosecution's use of conspiracy as a charge recalls the great Soviet show trials of 1936-38. In one case, the Orwellian proportions of the Prosecution mindset was revealed as the accused was charged with conspiring, despite the admitted lack of evidence.