LETTER : Discrimination against Serbs

From Mr George Tintor

Sir: The endorsement by the UN War Crimes Tribunal of the arrest of two Bosnian Serb officers exposes the tribunal as a politically inspired kangaroo court that has little to do with justice or morality, whose primary aim is to convict Serbs of war crimes in order to demonise the entire Serbian people.

The arrests, which were described as "provocative and inflammatory" by Nato officials, had no legal basis. Prior to their detention, the two Serbian officers had never been named as suspected war criminals.

Last year the tribunal's chief prosecutor, Richard Goldstone, said that "discrimination of any kind, anywhere, contains the seeds of genocide" (International Herald Tribune, 4 July). Yet the very tribunal that he presides over discriminates against a group of people, the Serbs. The tribunal has turned a blind eye to the hundreds of thousands of Serbs ethnically cleansed from territory controlled by Croats and Muslims.

Peace in the former Yugoslavia will be achieved only when all constituent groups are treated fairly.

Yours sincerely,

George Tintor

London, EC3

13 February