Newsgroup: it.politica.internazionale
Titolo: Pulitzer: il premio per la fiction

[...]
David Binder, the Times's fine reporter on the former Yugoslavia for many
years, had been largely removed from this assignment by the end of 1993,
quite obviously because he did not toe this party line but had continued
to file reports that overstepped it, writing more complex analyses that
did not focus simply on Serb villainy.[6] 
By contrast, John F. Burns, whom the Times assigned to the former
Yugoslavia at the start of 1992, was famous for his close relationship
with Bosnian Muslim leader Alija Izetbegovic, and even won a Pulitzer
Prize in 1993 based on his detailed reporting of the confessions of 
Bosnian Serb, Borislav Herak, then in the custody of Bosnian Muslim
forces.[7]  While Herak's allegations about his "odyssey of brutality"
(Burns) were extremely dubious from the start, and  betrayed every sign of
the syndrome of false memory under extreme duress, Herak's claims were
very sexy, and, more important, they conformed to the already-established
narrative of vicious, sadistic, genocidal Serbs driving the breakup of
Yugoslavia.  At his trial before a Sarajevo court in March 1993, Herak
offered emotional testimony about "his part in, or his knowledge of, the
deaths of at least 220 Muslims, including 12 women" (Burns).[8] 
Eventually, however, a retraction by Herak along with other telling
evidence demonstrated that Burns's star witness had provided false
testimony based on threats by his Bosnian Muslim captors.[9] But Burns
suffered no ill-consequences—his Pulitzer was not withdrawn, nor did Burns
surrender it.  Instead, he remains a New York Times stalwart, and has
filed hundreds of reports from Baghdad since the fall of 2002.
[...]
http://www.zmag.org/content/showarticle.cfm?SectionID=21&ItemID=12321
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nor did Burns surrender it.
E non se ne vede motivo.
-Stefano

 falsa.
Kit R. Roane, "Symbol of Inhumanity in Bosnia Now Says 'Not Me'," New York
Times, January 31, 1996; Chris Hedges, "Jailed Serb's 'Victims' Found
Alive, Embarrassing Bosnia," New York Times, March 1, 1997; and Jonathan
Randal, "Serb Convicted of Murders Demanding Retrial After 2 'Victims'
Found Alive," Washington Post, March 15, 1997


'Victims' Found Alive," Washington Post, March 15, 1997
Leggiteli fessacchiotto. E poi mostra le *DIMOSTRAZIONI* che la sua
fosse una testimonianza falsa.
-Stefano

 testimony based on threats by his Bosnian Muslim captors.[9]
New York Times 
January 31, 1996, page A6.  Symbol of Inhumanity in Bosnia Now Says 'Not
Me.' by Kit Roane
Thin and pale, Borislav Herak does not fit the picture of the rapist and
killer he confessed to being nearly three years ago. He is quiet and
subdued, an ex-store clerk residing in a 6-by-12 foot prison cell.
He shocked the world, after his arrest by Bosnian forces in early 1993,
with his meticulous, deadpan accounts of systematic murder and rape,
wielded by the Serbs as deliberate tactics of war.
Now, as he appeals the death penalty imposed on him after his conviction
by the Bosnian Government for crimes against humanity, he has changed his
tune.
"It was a mistake," he said simply, lighting a cigarette under the
watchful gaze of a guard. "I was forced to speak against myself and my
comrades in the Serb republic. But I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING." ...
Dozens of journalists made pilgrimages to the regional jail in Sarajevo to
hear his grisly accounts of abducting women from Serb-run prison camps
near Sarajevo, raping them, then dumping their lifeless bodies along
nearby hills. Other times, he recalled the "ethnic cleansing" of Muslim
villages, where his commanders encouraged him to rob and then kill the
inhabitants.
At least some of those interviews were out of earshot of Bosnian guards,
and his accounts -- which effectively indicted Bosnian Serb leaders for
pushing their troops to commit terrible acts -- were widely seen as
credible...
Now Mr. Herak protests his innocence, saying that the tales of conquest
and monotone recollections of brutality were a result of BEATINGS AND
THREATS by
his prison guards. They were looking for a scapegoat to the ills that had
befallen their nascent country, he says, and knew that Mr. Herak, who is
slightly retarded, would provide the vessel.
"I was tortured, forced to confess," he explained, hunching over his bunk.
"I was given 60 pages to learn by heart and recite. I was afraid for my
father, afraid they might kill him because of me."
"I said what I did to survive," he added. "Otherwise he and I WOULD HAVE
BEEN DEAD IN A DAY. BUT I TALKED AND HERE I AM STILL ALIVE." 
____________________
March 1, 1997 Jailed Serbs' 'Victims' Found Alive, Embarrassing Bosnia
By CHRIS HEDGES
  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina -- In a major embarrassment for the Bosnian
government, two Muslim brothers, whose supposed slaying was used as
evidence in the most publicized war crimes trial of the war to condemn two
Bosnian Serbs to death, have been found living in a Sarajevo suburb.
  The finding of the brothers, which has led the lawyer for one of the
imprisoned Serbs to file for a new trial, has raised troubling questions
about the guilt of the men, currently in a Sarajevo prison, and the death
sentence handed down by the military court.
  It has exposed what defense attorneys say was the undue haste of the
trial, which went ahead without any physical evidence, and the heavily
charged political atmosphere that colored the judicial ruling.
  The trial, which was widely covered by the international press, was used
by the Muslim government to publicize the brutal "ethnic cleansing"
campaign then under way by the Bosnian Serbs.
  The March 1993 trial of Sretko Damjanovic and Borislav Herak was the
first attempt by the Sarajevo legal system to try Bosnian Serbs for
genocide and other war crimes. It was intended to begin a judicial process
that would see those Serbs responsible for the killings of tens of
thousands of Muslims brought to justice. 
  But it was also used to convince Europe and the United States that the
Serbs were guilty of genocide and other crimes against humanity.
  The case against Damjanovic, 36, now appears especially weak.
  Damjanovic was found guilty, based largely on a confession he later said
was made under torture, of killing the brothers and a third man, Krso
Ramiz, in the trial.
  But in yet another blow to the case, the Sarajevo Public Prosecutor's
office, according to internal documents, has charged three other Bosnian
Serbs -- Nenad Damjanovic (not related to Sretko), Vukovic Miro and Jeftic
Bozo -- with carrying out Ramiz's murder.
  During the trial, Sretko Damjanovic recanted his confession and said he
had been severely abused by the Muslim police until he signed the document.
The court doctor confirmed at trial that Damjanovic had four knife wounds
and a broken rib that appeared to have been inflicted while in police
custody.
  In Damjanovic's confession, he stated that he was responsible for the
killing of the two brothers, Kasim and Asim Blekic, who still live in
Sarajevo.
  "The two principal pieces of evidence used to convict my client were his
signed confession, where he supposedly admitted to murdering two men who we
now know are alive, and the testimony of his co-defendant Borislav Herak,"
said Damjanovic's lawyer, Branko Maric.
  "How can my client's supposed confession be considered valid now? And
how can the testimony of Mr. Herak, who said he witnessed these alleged
murders, also be accepted by the court?"
  Government officials were reluctant Friday to discuss the case and the
appeal for a new trial.
  Azra Omeragic, president of the Sarajevo county court, said there would
be an evaluation of the request for a new trial. But she added that the
decision was not the responsibility of her office and had been handed over
to the public prosecutor's office. She said she did not want to comment
further.
  The chief public prosecutor, Domin Malbasic, said the request for a
retrial had never reached his office.
  Herak said in the trial that he saw Damjanovic kill Kasim and Asim
Blekic as well as Ramiz. He said he also saw Damjanovic kill three other
people
who were not identified in the trial. No other witnesses were presented to
the court to back Herak's accusations.
  Herak confessed to a series of war crimes that included 42 individual
killings and 16 rapes that were followed, according to his confession, by
the killing of 11 of his rape victims. He said he also witnessed the
killing of 220 civilians during Serbian campaigns of ethnic cleansing.
  Kasim Blekic, who now raises sheep in a small shed next to his house in
the Vogosca suburb of Sarajevo, said he was unaware that his supposed
killing had been used to indict Damjanovic until a year ago when Vogosca,
which was under Bosnian Serb control, was handed back to the Muslim
government as part of the Dayton peace agreement. 
  Blekic, his wife and two children had fled their small home in Vogosca
in May 1993 when they found themselves living along what became the front
line.
  His house was destroyed in the fighting. Blekic, 43, became an ambulance
driver for the army during the war. He and his brother lived in Sarajevo
until the fighting ended.
  "I didn't return to Vogosca until last year when the Serbs were
leaving," he said, standing next to a small, muddy pen that held about two
dozen
bleating sheep.
  "I was buying cattle in those days from a lot of the Serbs, including
many of my old neighbors. I went to see the uncle of Sretko Damjanovic, an
old friend, and he said he couldn't believe I was alive. He told me his
nephew had been sentenced to death for killing my brother and me. They all
looked at me as if I was a ghost."
  Blekic said he knew Damjanovic and his family. He described his
relationship with the condemned man as "normal." He said he never saw
Damjanovic in April and May 1992, when the killings were supposed to have
occurred.
  U.N. international police monitors showed up last summer at Blekic's new
house in Vogosca, which once belonged to a Serb neighbor, to photograph him
and copy the information on his identity card. But this was the last he
heard from the U.N. team.
  "We are the only Blekic family in Vogosca," he said. "There are no
others."
  At the end of last year relatives of Damjanovic reached his lawyer in
Sarajevo with the news. And in December Maric filed a motion for a new
trial.
  Herak and Damjanovic were arrested in November 1992 by the Bosnian
Muslims after their car took a wrong turn and they drove into a Muslim
checkpoint.
__________
 SERB CONVICTED OF MURDERS DEMANDING RETRIAL AFTER 2 "VICTIMS" FOUND ALIVE
Jonathan C. Randal, The Washington Post, March 15 1997
SARAJEVO, Bosnia - Sretko Damjanovic, a Serb soldier in the Bosnian civil
war, was convicted of genocide  four years ago for the murders of five
unarmed people, several rapes and various other crimes. Now two of his 
victims have turned up alive, casting doubt on the testimony that led to
his conviction and spurring his lawyer  to demand a retrial.
The highly charged case was tried before a military tribunal run by the
predominantly Muslim Bosnian  government during the dark hours of 1993,
when
Sarajevo was enduring a long siege under Bosnian Serb  artillery.
Damjanovic and a friend, Borislav Herak, were convicted together and
condemned to death by firing squad, a sentence later reduced to life
imprisonment. 
