Judith Armatta

TRIAL AND CONVICTION OF KOSOVO LEADERS 

            On September 16, 2026, the Kosovo Specialist Chamber (KSC) found four KLA (Kosovo Liberation Army) leaders guilty of war crimes for arbitrarily detaining 385 people, the cruel treatment of 49, torturing 303, and killing 96 and imposed lengthy sentences. The Court acquitted them of Crimes Against Humanity because it found the prosecution failed to prove the crimes were directed against a civilian population. Six years ago the men all resigned their positions in government and turned themselves in to the KSC. They have been in jail ever since.

            The convicted are: Hashim Thaci (served as Prime Minister, Foreign Minister, and President of Kosovo between 2008 and 2020) - 25 years; Kadri Veseli (served as Chair of the Assembly and Intelligence Service) - 18 years; Rexhep Selimi (former parliamentary leader) - 13 years, and Jakup Krasniqi (Acting Kosovo President 2010 to 2011 and Assembly Speaker) - 25 years.[1] Three were founding members of the KLA and all were on its General Staff.

            The convictions are controversial, as is the KSC, which was established in 2015 under pressure from the EU (European Union) and U.S. solely to try members of the KLA.

MY EXPERIENCE

            In 1997 and 1998, I was serving in Belgrade, Serbia for the American Bar Association's Central & East European Law Initiative (ABA/CEELI) to support efforts to establish an independent judiciary. The war in Bosnia-Herzegovina had ended with the Dayton Accords in 1995. Slobodan Milosevic, formerly President of Serbia, was President of the rump Yugoslavia (consisting of Serbia and Montenegro) from 1997 to 2000. He had assumed power in 1989, in significant part by exploiting Serb anxieties in Kosovo and Serb nationalism throughout much of the former Yugoslavia. Some Serbs considered Kosovo the cradle of Serbdom. Milosevic manipulated that belief to gain and maintain power. 

            Kosovo had been an autonomous province of the FRY until Milosevic abolished its autonomy in 1989, setting in motion Albanian boycotts of Serb institutions. Though Albanians were by far the largest population, Serb authorities were in control. They discriminated against Albanians, whose language was not allowed in schools and public institutions. In response, the Albanian community established their own institutions, including schools which were held in private homes. Unlike Slav groups in the former Yugoslavia, they lived an apartheid existence. At a women's law conference, one of my feminist colleagues, a Serb, admitted that she didn't know any Albanians. Unusually, other Serbs, especially from Women in Black and the Belgrade Women's Center, nurtured Albanian friendships. We socialized as well as worked with both Albanians and Serbs.

            My partner and I visited Kosovo several times for business and pleasure. Serbian and federal forces patrolled the streets of its capital, Pristina. Curfews were imposed. In 1998, we began hearing of Serbian police attacks against Albanians. A few a week at first, but it escalated. They were part of Milosevic's policy to ethnically cleanse the Province to enhance his power and control.

            The KLA arose in 1997 to defend Albanians who were being forced from the province by destruction of homes and livelihoods as well as killings. For eight years, Kosovo Albanians had followed a policy of nonviolent resistance to Serb oppression. Yet the international community ignored them. When the Dayton Accords were signed in 1995 ending hostilities in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the ongoing violence and oppression in Kosovo was not even a footnote.

            Killings in Kosovo continued, a few every week. Then, in February 1998, Serb forces carried out a massacre in Drenica. An Albanian friend and colleague summoned us to help document it for the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). Police had murdered 91 people, including 12 children, 15 women (3 pregnant) and 7 elders. Photos showed signs of torture. One woman was shot at point blank range as her small child stood in front of her. Killings, property destruction, forced expulsion and rapes continued throughout the year.

            In January 1999, Serb forces massacred 45 civilians in Racak.[2] The international community pressed for negotiations between Kosovar Albanians and the FRY. They went nowhere. Slobodan Milosevic refused to relinquish any measure of control of the province. ABA/CEELI evacuated me and my partner days before NATO dropped the first bombs on March 29, 1999. By that time, Serb forces had murdered between 1500 and 2000 Kosovo Albanians.

            Within a few weeks, I was assigned to lead a war crimes documentation project among Kosovo refugees in Macedonia. The war lasted until June 10, 1999, when Milosevic capitulated. The peace agreement was signed by NATO and the FRY. The KLA was not part of it.

            While the KLA fought to protect Kosovo Albanians, the Kosovo War was not a civil war between two states, as some have recently claimed. By the end of the war, 13,000 people, mostly Albanian, were dead, one million were refugees, whole villages had been destroyed, somewhere between 10,000 and 45,000 Albanian women had been raped and others tortured and brutalized. These crimes were part of a joint criminal enterprise planned and directed at the highest levels of the rump Yugoslavia, commanded by Slobodan Milosevic. The KLA was a defensive force of Albanians. It had no state apparatus behind it.

            KLA members also committed crimes against civilians (Serbs, Roma, Albanians, and others), including detentions, torture and murder, but nowhere near the scale of Serbia's campaign of violence and ethnic cleansing.[3]

LEGAL CONSEQUENCES

            The ICTY indicted Milosevic and six other high ranking Serbs in the government and police for war crimes and crimes against humanity in Kosovo. Milosevic died in jail before the end of his trial. Of the others, five were convicted with sentences of 15 to 22 years, one was acquitted.

            The ICTY also prosecuted members of the KLA in two cases for crimes committed against Serbs, Roma and suspected Albanian collaborators: Limaj et al. and Haradinaj et al. While the court concluded that the crimes had been committed and KLA members were responsible for a number of them,

"[The prosecution] failed to prove beyond a reasonable doubt the link between the direct perpetrators and the accused KLA commanders. Nor did it prove the existence of a joint criminal enterprise whose goal was to strengthen KLA control over parts of Kosovo through a campaign of crimes against civilians."[4] 

Internationals, such as NATO General Wesley Clark, testified to this in the KSC's Thaci, et al. trial.

            The ICTY convicted Haradin Bala for his individual acts that constituted war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was sentenced to 13 years in prison. The ICTY acquitted all other accused KLA members who were prosecuted. The ICTY ended its proceedings on December 31, 2017.

            I did not follow the Thaci, et al. trial in the KSC. Nor did I follow the machinations that led to the KSC's establishment. Credible sources claim that Kosovo was pressured to establish the court because of witness intimidation in Kosovo state courts. In addition to the recent conviction of the four Kosovo leaders, the KSC has tried and convicted seven Albanians; an additional four remain on trial. State courts in Serbia have also prosecuted Kosovo Albanians for war crimes, though the number is unavailable in public sources.[5]         

CONCLUSION

            The Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre recently concluded:

At the same time, the discontent in Kosovo over the near-total absence of prosecutions of senior Yugoslav Army (VJ) and Serbian Ministry of the Interior command structures headed by generals who were ultimately convicted. Such institutional inaction shows that Serbia continues to side with those convictedand to protect VJ and MUP officers linked to structures responsible for the gravest crimes against Kosovo Albanians, rather than standing with the victims and pursuing individual criminal responsibility.[6]

It is noteworthy that Aleksandar Vucic, President of Serbia, was Slobodan Milosevic's Minister of Information during the Kosovo conflict.[7]

            Most Serbs -- and many other Slavs in the region -- looked down on Albanians as an inferior race. Living in the U.S., I am not unfamiliar with racism -- its blatant as well as its subtler manifestations. Treatment of Kosovo Albanians -- by Serbs as well as the international community (the U.S. and EU) that forced post war Kosovo to adopt the Kosovo Specialist Chambers, established solely to try KLA members -- raises the specter of racism, as do the convictions and lengthy sentences handed down for four Kosovo Albanian leaders -- particularly in light of almost no effort to try Serbs for far greater and more extensive crimes against Albanians. Moreover, none of the state leaders convicted by the ICTY for war crimes and crimes against humanity against Kosovo Albanians received the maximum sentences imposed on Thaci and Krasniqi, i.e. 25 years.[8]

[1] The Defendants' lawyers said they would appeal. The Prosecution may also appeal. The Appeals Panel can affirm, reverse, or modify the verdicts and change sentences.

[2] In July 2026, Kosovo put 21 Serb officials on trial in absentia for the massacre. The men are charged with murder, torture, inhumane treatment, destruction of property and deportation of civilians to Albania.

[3] According to Human Rights Watch, as many as 1000 Serbs and Roma were killed or missing in Kosovo after June 12, 1999. "Under Orders: War Crimes in Kosovo," Abrahams, Fred and Benjamin Ward, 2001, www.hrw.org-reports-Under-Orders-En-combined.pdf. A Serbian government 2002 report found 847 civilians and security forces had been killed between June 10, 1999 and November 11, 2001. These were assumed to be revenge killings and kidnappings after Serb forces left the Province. They were not part of the Thaci, et al. case before the KSC.

[4] SENSE News Agency, ICTY: The Kosovo Case 1998-1999, www.kosovo.sensecentar.org

[5] The Belgrade Humanitarian Law Center, an NGO, issued a report in June 2025 finding that of eight indictments for war crimes filed by Serbian prosecutors seven were against Kosovo Albanians. "REPORT ON WAR CRIMES TRIALS IN SERBIA IN 2024," reported by CNN "Serbia Number of indictments against Kosovo Albanians increases," June 16, 2025. Prosecutors in Serbia also filed their first case for genocide, again against a Kosovo Albanian.

[6] Humanitarian Law Centre, www.hlc-rdc.org 16.09.2026 Press Release. Serbia has tried 60 individuals for crimes during the Kosovo War, convicting 17 to 23 (sources vary). But the government has shown little political will to prosecute higher ranking officials.

[7] Vucic resigned his current position in September 2026 to run for Serbian Prime Minister in the October 25 parliamentary elections.

[8] Nebojsa Pavkovic, Commander of the VJ Third Army, was sentenced to 22 years; Sreten Lukic, head of the Serbian Ministry of Internal Affairs (MUP) for Kosovo, 20 years; Nikola Sainovic, Deputy Prime Minister of the FRY, 18 years (served 13 years); Dragoljub Ojdanic, Chief of General Staff of the Yugoslav Army (VJ), 15 years (served 11 years); Vladimir Lazarevic, Commander of VJ Pristina Corps, 14 years (served 12 years). In a separate trial, Vlastimir Djordjevic, Assistant Minister of Serbian MUP, received a 27 year sentence reduced to 18 years.

          Srebrenica genocide denial is rampant throughout the Serb-controlled jurisdictions in the Balkans. The orchestrated murder of more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica in July 1995 has been erased from official government documents in the Republika Srpska in Bosnia and in Serbia. It is not taught in public schools. The recent death of Ratko Mladic, one of its primary perpetrators, was honored with all but a state funeral in Belgrade, Serbia. In Montenegro, the Speaker of Parliament, Andrija Mandic, wrote a laudatory condolence note to Mladic's family. Opposition members submitted a motion for his dismissal. Though a vote was set for September 24, it could not be held for lack of a quorum.[1]

            The Srebrenica Genocide Memorial Center in Potocari has been under attack by authorities in the Republika Srpska since at least last summer. With direction from the local prosecutor's office, police summoned and questioned 28 members of the Center over allegations of tax fraud. The Center's director, Emir Suljagic, denied any irregularities in the Center's operations, pointing out that the institution operates through Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) state treasury and has received positive audit opinions year after year. In late September, Suljagic went public with information he had received that the police were planning an assault on the Center, as well as arresting him. He has since said the Center was able to thwart the attack. The prosecutor's office has denied any plans to arrest him.

            The government of BiH established the Srebrenica Genocide Memorial Center in 2001. It contains a cemetery and an exhibit center with offices. Suljagic assumed the directorship on October 15, 2019. He has been a member of the BiH government, an interpreter, a journalist including at the ICTY, and an author. He is also the only survivor of the Srebrenica genocide among his family. He survived because he was interpreting for internationals at the time of the mass killings.

            Suljagic described the threat the Center poses to revisionist forces:

"We are a mortal threat to the Greater Serbia nationalist narrative because it is grounded in lies. There is no way to intimidate us. We follow no one in Sarajevo, nor anyone anywhere on the planet; we follow these people (the dead) resting here."

            I am honored to know Emir. We both covered the trial of Slobodan Milosevic before the ICTY in The Hague. He is a courageous human being, deeply committed to international justice, truth, and compassion for those who have and are suffering at the hands of perpetrators of great evil. I now watch from afar in amazement at his relentless ability to shoulder the burden of truth for 8,000 who cannot, even though placing himself in jeopardy.

            Justice- and truth-loving people must stand up against the revisionism that would bury the truth of the Srebrenica genocide and the graves that memorialize it.

[1] Montenegro's Human Rights Action published a statement on September 9, calling on the government of Montenegro to "publicly and individually condemn the actions of every public official who has glorified Ratko Mladic, and cut off political support to such officials." Thirty-eight NGOs and 21 activists signed it. www.hraction.org

Sixteen years after the publication of my book, Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic, I awake to find we're living in a dark time. Twilight has turned to night. Impunity has a new life, emblazoned with light.

Thousands of people gathered in the streets of Belgrade, Serbia to honor one of the men most responsible for genocide of 8,000 Bosniaks in Srebrenica. Ratko Mladic, former head of the Republika Srpska army, was serving a life sentence for his role in the genocide, among other crimes, when he died in prison at age 84. Serbia honored him with just short of a state funeral. If Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic wasn't courting European Union membership, Mladic likely would have had that.

Serbia's official policy these days is denial that genocide happened in Srebrenica. If there was a genocide, it was against Serbs, they say. This is also official policy in Bosnia's Serb province, Republika Srpska.

As journalist and human right activist Refik Hodzic writes,

            Genocide denial has become a feature of nationalist identity and anyone who challenges it is labeled a traitor or foreign agent. . . .

            Denial is not passive. It prepares the ground for repetition. . . .

            We are witnessing not just a denial of genocide, but its legitimization through silence, distortion and alignment with a world where justice has no traction. Unless this is confronted by courts, by educators and by international institutions, it will metastasize. And in some ways, it already has. We must stop pretending that Vucic and [Milorad] Dodik [president of Republika Srpska] are misunderstood nationalists. They are the custodians of an ideology that dehumanizes, that prepares for exclusion, and that, under   the right conditions, will justify violence once again. "30 Years After: How Denial Can Fuel a New Conflict," Justice Info, 11 July 2025.

My soul aches when reading this. My hopeful outlook when I named my book has been devastated. Are we now living in the Twilight of International Justice? Consider Russia's 12 year unprovoked war on Ukraine, Israel's destruction of Gaza, the U.S. and Israel's war on Iran, the U.S. attack on Venezuelan fishing boats and murder of the people on them, U.S. kidnapping and arrest of Venezuela's president Nicolas Maduro.

Though all looks bleak, I remind myself of the Serbian students who came out in force for months to protest the corruption that caused the deaths of 16 people when the Novi Sad train station awning collapsed from shoddy workmanship. And the 3.1 million Hungarians who turned their autocrat, Viktor Orban, out of office after sixteen years. And the thousands of Albanians who have taken to the streets to protest Jared Kushner's desire to turn their coast into a luxury resort for the international jet set. Or I can look more closely to home where hundreds of thousands of my fellow citizens have rallied in "No Kings Marches" against President Donald Trump's efforts to establish an autocracy here.

I am holding my breath until the midterm elections. Then we will see if hope is alive enough to carry me through to 2028. Or if darkness has set on international law and justice.

On Monday, the United States Supreme Court shot down the Trump Administration's attempt to upend the midterm elections by interfering with mail-in voting. Only Justices Thomas and Alito dissented, though Justice Kavanaugh indicated the Postal Service might legally be able to do so under its rule-making authority. But allowing it so close to the election would be arbitrary and capricious because state officials lacked time to implement it, he wrote.

            Trump issued the executive order based on his conclusion, without evidence, that mail-in voting (which he uses) was rife with fraud. The Administration is running scared because Trump's approval ratings have tanked. They apparently have decided that creating chaos is their best shot at maintaining a Republican Congress.

            That Trump is not concerned about electoral fraud is shockingly apparent in a statement he made at his midterm "Convention," reported by columnist Jamelle Bouie:

"The single strangest moment in all of this was when Trump led the audience in a pledge to himself, which included a promise to cheat if necessary.

"Please raise your right hand. I pledge to the greatest president in the history of the United States. That loves us so much he can’t even breathe. That I will go out with my family, my friends, I’ll do it any way — I don’t care if I’m registered or not, I’m going to try to cheat like hell like they do. There’s never been bigger cheaters. They don’t care. I am going to go out and I’m going to get my friends, my family. And we are going to vote on Nov. 3, or we are going to vote before that."

            Despite the Supreme Court ruling prohibiting Administration and U.S. Postal Service interference in the midterm elections, it is unlikely to stop. Recently, F.B.I. Director Kash Patel indicated in a Congressional hearing that he's ready to send his agents to polling places. Fortunately, those who care about election integrity are also organized and will continue monitoring and doing what is necessary to assure the midterms are as fair as possible.

            In Oregon, where we all vote by mail, the Legislature recently appropriated money, some of which will be used to establish additional drop boxes so we can avoid use of the U.S. mail. If you can't and must use the U.S. Postal Service, please do so as early as possible. 

I've struggled with depression most of my adult life. I've taken nearly every anti-depressant available until they no longer worked for me. Then I tried transcranial magnetic stimulation (TMS), a six week series of brain zaps five days a week. It worked! No more depression -- until the next major crisis. The other downside: rapid onset glaucoma, which may or may not have been stimulated by the TMS treatments. My last best hope (I thought) was psilocybin.

Oregon legalized psilocybin a few years back. I followed its adoption and legalization with interest since the medical community found it efficacious for treatment-resistant depression, major depressive disorder and substance use disorders. Several friends had tried it with positive results. Half a century ago, in my youth, I'd used it recreationally a few times with no ill effects. I contacted one of the newly established centers and signed up.

I met with the facilitator, an MSW, before our session, read, discussed and signed many forms. She said she would be there as a guide, a tether, assuring that I would not fall too far. Bodies know how to self-limit, she said. I wouldn't confront more than I could handle. That turned out to not be true for me.

On the morning of the session, I followed instructions and arrived on an empty stomach with pillows and blankets in arms. It was held in an old Portland house with large, high-ceilinged rooms and windows admitting the gray light of a rainy Portland day. In the room I chose, a mural of a rambling rose crawling along a white picket fence decorated one wall. Pillows, blankets, chairs, and couches invited rest. I brought a water bottle and snacks. Soft music played in the background.

I settled onto a couch, while my facilitator and another staff member mixed the powdered psilocybin mushroom with tea and honey. I took a few sips. Within 15 minutes, my world dissolved. But not into kaleidoscope skies or brilliant turquoise seas traversed by a yellow submarine. It dissolved into darkness. My facilitator encouraged me to move through it. I would gladly have done so, but it never wavered. The only vision I saw was of a hospital bed, which I desperately wanted to come for me. I wanted my spouse to return and take me away to safety. All was darkness, revealing only my greatest fears: of going blind and deaf and dying.

After four hours the material world reemerged. My facilitator comforted me, urging me to spend time in nature, to be gentle with myself. The scary part would pass. We would have two sessions to integrate the experience. My spouse arrived to return me to my ordinary world. She fed me. We binge watched BritComs. I was able to sleep.

That wasn't the end of it, unfortunately. I was left with the highest anxiety I'd ever experienced -- pretty much 24/7. My doctor prescribed medication but it was too much and just knocked me out. The next prescription did nothing. I contacted anxiety clinics. They were either too expensive and/or did not take my insurance. To manage the anxiety, I stayed busy, tried to divert myself, exercised.

I continued to search for resources and found Prism, an organization headquartered in Maryland that deals specifically with psychedelic experiences and integrating them. (www.prism-wellness.com) I spoke with the director, Erin Atkinson, who was compassionate and knowledgeable. I signed up for their first Thursday of the month free on-line facilitated peer support group. Unfortunately, I missed it because I ended up in a psychiatric hospital.

After nearly two months of mostly unremitting anxiety, when I thought it couldn't get worse, it did. I started calling around for help and fortuitously connected with Unity Behavioral Health Center. They suggested I come in. There, I met with a psychiatrist and a social worker. The doctor wanted to try a beta blocker to lower my anxiety. Because it also lowers heart rate and mine is already low, he wanted to admit me to their residential clinic. Me? In a psychiatric hospital? I'd only ever visited them as an attorney. After some very deep breaths and no little hesitation, I agreed. I was desperate.

It took a Unity psychiatrist sixteen days to find a medication and dosage that calmed my anxiety, allowing me to return to my ordinary life (with all its demands and tech problems, but that's another story). Overall it was one of the best experiences I've had in years. The staff -- psychiatrists, nurses, social workers, volunteers -- were compassionate and highly skilled. Ninety-eight percent of residents were some of the kindest, most caring people I've met. The facility was exceptionally clean. Food was good and plentiful. Group therapy, as well as creative activities and games, were offered. Friends and family could visit twice daily. Also twice daily we were allowed outside into a small garden for fresh air and exercise.

The psychiatrist I met with daily, Dr. W., told me he'd had other patients with negative experiences from psilocybin. One of the therapists also shared that he'd had a bad trip on psychedelics, a trip that sounded a lot like mine. And it lasted months as well.

Dr. W. advised that psychedelics affect older bodies and brains differently than younger ones. We have decades more experiences, some traumatic, which we may not have completely processed. That was true for me. Friends and relatives have died. One year I lost nine friends. During my early professional career I worked with survivors of domestic and sexual violence, as well as prisoners. For a change of scene, I took a position in the former Yugoslavia collaborating with people traumatized by war. When war broke out again, this time in Kosovo, I coordinated a war crimes documentation project gathering testimony from refugees. I followed that for over three years by reporting on Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial, then spent more years writing a book about it.

On returning home, I was diagnosed with non-Hodgkins Lymphoma and underwent several rounds of chemo and radiation treatment. I took in my grandnephew to keep him out of juvie jail, then again when he was released from prison at age 21. Only four years ago he was murdered, likely by one of the unsavory characters he met while locked up.

I've now been diagnosed with rapid onset glaucoma, cataracts, hearing loss, and two lung diseases. While my childhood was not trauma free, after more than a half century I've added enough tough experiences to turn my magical mystery tour into an unremitting nightmare.

I raise this as a warning for those contemplating use of magic mushrooms now that they're legal in Oregon. I continue to support legalization. But in the enthusiasm for what they can do (and the money they can generate), I believe the dark side gets short shrift. Potential trippers need to consider all possibilities, lest their anticipated yellow submarine lose its ballast and sink.

From 1997 to 2000, I lived and worked in the Balkans. I arrived in the interwar period--shortly after the Bosnian war ended and before the war in Kosovo. My assignment was to support local efforts to establish rule of law in these former Communist countries. Initially, I landed in Belgrade, Serbia, which was living under the "soft" dictatorship of Slobodan Milosevic. Despite his efforts to control civil society, the judiciary, and the press, people had organized in opposition. Just months before I arrived, tens of thousands of Belgrade citizens spent three months of a freezing winter in the streets protesting his theft of local elections won by his opposition. Five courageous judges validated their efforts by publishing a letter in the press, explaining that Milosevic's actions violated the law. These five judges formed an independent Judges' Association. My assignment was to support them by connecting them to international jurists.

After much work and many false starts, we organized a successful conference with judges from France, Italy, the United States, and other countries. I gave a speech at the end in which I congratulated them on their achievement under difficult circumstances, including an authoritarian government. Despite not having a crystal ball, I told the assembled judges that, while U.S. lawyers and judges had helped make the conference possible, someday we in the United States might need their help to maintain rule of law and an independent judiciary. While I was trying to equalize our relationship, my prediction has become all too true. Given the Trump Administration's contempt for the rule of law and political appointment of judges who support the unitary executive theory of government in which power lies with the president and not the people's representatives, those of us in the U.S. who support the rule of law and our constitution might well welcome assistance from abroad.

Unfortunately, Serbian progressives' efforts to establish an independent judiciary and rule of law have been thwarted under the presidency of Aleksandar Vucic. But citizens are still active. Students took to the streets over a year ago after a railway station awning collapsed, killing 16 people. The protesters charge the government with corruption in granting a contract for the awning which resulted in shoddy workmanship and hence the deadly collapse.

Serbia has been a candidate for accession to the European Union since 2012. Recently, the European Commission announced that it is considering suspending 1.5 billion euros of payment to Serbia during its accession due to rule of law problems and controversial judicial reforms. It appears we cannot look to Serbian reformists for help in maintaining U.S. rule of law and an independent judiciary at present. We might check out Hungary. Despite Orban's 16-year autocratic rule, he lost badly in recent elections.

Soldiers have a duty to follow legal orders and can be court martialed for failure to do so. They also have a duty to uphold the U.S. Constitution and International Law. When a commander, including the President of the United States, orders military personnel to target or intentionally harm civilians, soldiers and their commanders are required by law to disobey.* This principle was established in the Nuremberg trials, where obeying orders was not a defense to charges of war crimes. It was subsequently codified in international and U.S. law. It has been applied in international war crimes trials, such as those at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia.

* * *

I was working in the former Yugoslavia during the war in Kosovo/a. Serbia's war against the Kosovo Albanians was largely directed against the civilian population in an attempt to drive them out of the province. Homes were burned, crops destroyed, people raped, tortured, and massacred. Some young Serbs and Montenegrins refused to fight. One soldier got into his tank and drove it to Belgrade where he parked it on the Parliament steps. In another situation, a whole platoon refused to fight. They started walking home. Their commanding officer demanded that they leave their guns behind. The young soldiers went one better. They took off their uniforms and set out walking in their underwear.

Parents did not know if their soldier sons had been deployed. A mother stood up among them and said, "Go to the barracks and retrieve your sons. Take them home with you." Another woman protested: "But they'll go to jail." The first mother answered: "They'll get out of jail, but never from the grave."

One of the soldiers who testified during the trial of Slobodan Milosevic said that he was never told about the Geneva Conventions and his obligation to disobey illegal orders. He and others were ordered to destroy a village. They'd burned between ten and fifteen houses before they discovered people. Fifteen women, children, and elderly men were forced out of their house at gunpoint and made to sit on the ground. One woman held an infant who was crying. The sergeant ordered the soldiers to shoot them all. The young soldier, who had asked to testify as a way to ease his conscience), obeyed.

"The people shot at began falling down one over the other. What I remember most vividly is how -- I remember this very vividly -- there was a baby shot with three bullets, screaming unbelievably loud." The baby's scream haunted the conscript for three and a half years and ultimately brought him to confront Milosevic: "I came forward to give my evidence because I wanted in this way to express everything that is troubling me, that has been troubling me for the past three years since I completed my service. Never a night goes by without my dreaming of that child hit by the bullets and crying. I thought if I came forward and told the truth, that I will feel easier in my soul. It is the only reason I am here."

Milosevic asserted that not a single officer ordered the soldier to kill civilians. He responded: "That is not correct. I heard this [order to not leave anyone alive] and also ten soldiers from my company can confirm it and in no way can you deny that. I was there. I heard it and . . . you, as Supreme Commander, could have come down there and seen what it was like for us. You were issuing shameful orders to be carried out." pp 90-91, Twilight of Impunity: The War Crimes Trial of Slobodan Milosevic.

I joined other Portlanders this week at the ICE facility near the waterfront for a singing protest. It was powerful and moving. As I sang the songs I learned 60 years ago, I hid my face behind my song sheet to keep my tears from erupting into belly-wrenching sobs. One song was adapted from protests in Belgrade, when protesters invited police to join them. Though none of the Portland ICE agents accepted the invitation, in Belgrade the police did. They moved to join the protesters, refusing to protect Milosevic any longer. Shortly after, he was arrested, then sent to The Hague to stand trial before an international tribunal for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes. Though Milosevic died before a verdict could be rendered, he died ignominiously in a jail cell.

-------------------

*Ordering troops to engage in illegal conduct is a war crime.

NO GENOCIDE IN MY NAME

President Donald J. Trump announced to the world his intent to commit genocide in Iran: "A whole civilization will die tonight [April 7, 2026], never to be brought back again." Trump threatens to bomb civilian targets including power plants and bridges. This is a clear violation of international law. Indeed, stating his intent to commit genocide is itself a war crime.

Though Pakistan (supported by China) secured a cease fire for two weeks, Trump's threat remains. Admittedly, he is fast and loose with his pronouncements. That doesn't erase them.

The Genocide Convention, to which the United States is a signatory, states clearly: ". . . genocide, whether committed in time of peace or in time of war, is a crime under international law which [contracting parties] undertake to prevent and to punish." Article I.

". . . genocide means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, i whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: (a) Killing members of the group; (b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; (c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. . . . Article II.

"The following acts shall be punishable: (a) Genocide; (b) Conspiracy to commit genocide; (c) Direct and public incitement to commit genocide; (d) Attempt to commit genocide; (e) Complicity in genocide." Article III

"Persons committing genocide or any of the other acts enumerated in article III shall be punished, whether they are constitutionally responsible rulers, public officials or private individuals." Article IV

Assuredly, Trump believes he will never face justice for ordering the destruction of a country and its people. Still, for many people throughout the world he will die in infamy. No bronze statue. No peace prize. No carved head on Mt. Rushmore. He will go down in history with other leaders responsible (not all convicted) for genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity: Pol Pot, Adolf Hitler, Saddam Hussein, Augusto Pinochet, Josef Stalin, Slobodan Milosevic. . . .

A man knocks on your door. A woman is with him. She appears to be pregnant. The man says she is about to give birth, but they can find no place for her to rest. Because they are strangers they cannot find shelter. The local hotel will not admit them, nor any of your neighbors. What do you do?

All religions admonish their followers to admit the stranger. But we are afraid. International and U.S. law require us to provide asylum to those from other countries who are in danger because of their race, religion, nationality, membership in a particular social group or political opinion when they have a well-founded fear of persecution. Those seeking asylum are not merely wanting to immigrate for economic reasons or because they want to live in a place different from their home country. They are in danger. They seek refuge. They are asking us to help them be safe.

President Trump closed the Southern border of the U.S. to all refugees and asylum seekers on January 20, 2025, in violation of U.S. and international law. His executive order states that people arriving at the border are an "invasion." The Southern border is closed until he declares the invasion over.

I remember reading about a man whose car had broken down on a country road at night. He went to a nearby house for help. The owner came to the door with a gun and shot him dead. Because he was black and the homeowner was white.

Thousands of strangers have knocked at our borders only to be turned away no matter the threats they face. Thousands of 'foreigners' living in the U.S., who are seeking asylum from danger in their home countries -- Iran, Israel, Sudan . . . have been deported. The hypocrisy is overwhelming as people in the U.S. celebrate the birth of Jesus, born in a barn because there was no other place that welcomed them. What if one of those desperate people we turned away at our Southern border is following in Jesus' footsteps? Like many of them, Jesus and his family were poor. If this is a test, we're failing miserably. The star of Bethlehem has gone out. The Wise men have nothing to follow. They will not be able to find the holy child.

So many state-inflicted atrocities, killings, torture, starvation, ethnic cleansing, genocide in the world. The death toll in Gaza (60,000) and Ukraine (up to 1 million civilians and military) obscures what is happening elsewhere. Starvation (25 million expected to go hungry this year), violence (150,000) and displacement in Sudan (14 million). Increasing numbers of executions in Iran. Hundreds of thousands deported from the U.S. More hundreds of thousands losing their livelihoods. How much empathy do we have? Can we care about the thousands of Iranians being executed for drug offenses, protesting government repression, torture, killing, for vague religious offenses, and fabricated charges?

In Iran, six hundred twelve (612) prisoners were executed through the first six months of 2025. An increase of 119% from the same period last year. In the last two weeks, 93 individuals went to the gallows. Iran, the religious state, executes more people than any other. It hardly makes the news.

I feel a special affinity with Iran. Nearly sixty years ago when I was in my twenties, I was a member of the Baha'i Faith which has its origins in Iran. Though theirs is the largest non-Muslim religious group, Baha'is face widespread repression and discrimination and are forced to practice their religion in private homes.

The United Nations has shown a spotlight on Iranian human rights violations, including executions. UN High Commissioner for Human Rights, Volker Turk, demanded an immediate halt to what he called a "disturbing escalation" in state killings. He also expressed concern over the lack of due process in death sentence proceedings and a proposed espionage bill that would expand capital punishment to include such acts as online communication with foreign media.

Iranians are not more criminal than other peoples. They are sentenced to death for opposing the government, involvement with drugs (knowing or unknowing), vague offenses such as "waging war against god" (Moharabeh) and "corruption on earth" (Fesad fel Arz). Trials, if they happen at all, can last five minutes before guilt and a death sentence are pronounced. Lawyers may or may not be present.

Iran has 253 penal institutions with a capacity of 150,000, though holding over 50,000 more. Children as young as 14 are sentenced to death, locked up until they reach 18 and can be executed. Women have been arrested immediately after giving birth, never to see their children and separated from children who rely on them for care and sustenance.

The increasing pace of executions reminds Iranians of 1988 when tens of thousands of political prisoners were killed. Fear of a repeat has generated organizing within the prisons and outside. On Tuesdays prisoners in 48 institutions and their supporters go on hunger strike in a movement known as "No to Executions Tuesdays." Over 90 Tuesdays, supporters and prisoners have made 48 podcasts to inform the world of the ongoing terror in Iran.

In 2022, thousands of women took to the streets after Mahsa (Jina) Hamini, arrested for improperly wearing a head scarf, died in police custody. The protest, called "Women, Life, Freedom," was brutally put down by the Regime.

When those who hold power feel threatened they increase oppression. That is what's happening in Iran after the fall of Assad in Syria and Hezbollah in Lebanon and the 12-day war initiated by Israeli and U.S. bombing. Iran's rulers feel more vulnerable today than at nearly any time in the past and executions have increased significantly.

ACTIONS THAT NEED TO BE TAKEN TO END THESE ATROCITIES:

1. Integrate measurable and objective human rights benchmarks into all diplomatic and economic engagements with Iran, particularly including an immediate moratorium on executions and transparent reporting of death penalty cases.

2. Impose targeted sanctions on individuals with a documented record of issuing or carrying out death sentences. Publish and update regularly a list of serious human rights violators. Equally important is accountability for the main architects of the machinery of executions, led by Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

3. When Iranian nationals on the list of serious human rights violators are present in states that have adopted universal jurisdiction, those states should file cases against them in their domestic courts.*

4. States should file a case with the International Court of Justice for human rights violations in Iran.

5. Impose sanctions on human rights violators.

6. Support international initiatives for an independent truth commission on the 1988 massacre and 2022 protests.

7. Support and publicize the grassroots movements against Iran's use of capital punishment to silence opposition (No to Executions Tuesdays; National Council of Resistance of Iran (Maryam Rajavi, president elect), Iran Human Rights Monitor; People's Mojahedin Organization of Iran (MEK), Justice for the Victims of the 1988 Massacre in Iran. Other sources: Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch, The Atlantic (articles by Arash Azizi).

*Sweden prosecuted and convicted Hamid Noury in 2022 for his role in the 1988 massacre of Iranian prisoners. While he was sentenced to life in prison, he was released in 2024 in a prisoner exchange with Iran.