RAMSEY CLARK ANNOUNCES THE FORMATION OF COMMISSION OF INQUIRY FOR AN INTERNATIONAL WAR CRIMES TRIBUNAL

U.S./NATO WAR CRIMES WILL BE SUBJECT OF COMMISSION OF INQUIRY HEARING IN NEW YORK CITY ON JULY 31, 1999

June 11, 1999

A Commission of Inquiry for an International War Crimes Tribunal has been initiated by former U.S. Attorney General Ramsey Clark. Mr. Clark is the chairperson of the International Action Center. The Commission of Inquiry will hold hearings to collect eyewitness, direct, and expert testimony, video footage, photographs, documents, and other evidence as part of an investigation into crimes against peace, crimes against humanity, and war crimes committed during the U.S./NATO bombing war against Yugoslavia.

The Commission of Inquiry will include international jurists, human rights activists, trade unionists, medical personnel, environmental experts, rank-and-file soldiers from NATO countries, and people who have been in Yugoslavia during the bombing.

Mr. Clark is in the process of outlining a multi-point indictment of the U.S. government’s conduct in the war against Yugoslavia. This indictment will serve as the basis of the Commission’s work.

We are now in the process of organizing similar hearings throughout the United States, in other NATO countries, in Russia, and elsewhere. At the conclusion of these hearings, there will be convened an International War Crimes Tribunal that will consider all of the evidence.

We are now assembling an international research team and will be dispatching investigators and researchers wherever evidence can be collected.

The July 31 Commission of Inquiry hearing will take place at the Fashion Institute of Technology campus in New York City. We are urging anti-war activists to come to New York that weekend to participate in the Commission of Inquiry hearing and to join us in a national organizers’ planning conference that will prepare the work of the Commission of Inquiry in cities throughout the United States.

If you are interested in being a volunteer, an organizer, or a member of the research staff, please contact Sarah Sloan at (212) 633-6646 or email us at iacenter@iacenter.org.

Sincerely,

Sara Flounders and Brian Becker
Co-Directors, International Action Center