Miladin Kovacevic – A Million Dollar Baby
The reason this post will be so short, and unusually sarcasm-free is that I was trying to find words to write about this news in some coherent way, but this time I admit – words fail me. I am usually prepared for everything Serbia has to throw at me, but every now and then the people running it manage to find some new and innovative ways to catch me off guard. Hopefully, I’ll write some more on the matter in the comments to this post if I find appropriate words.
So what actually happened?
The state of Serbia decided on a top secret parliament session to pay 900K dollars to Miladin Kovacevic’s victim, Bryan Steinhauer and another 100K for his bail. It was also decided that this case should be filed under ‘classified’ and of utmost importance to the country’s image.
When the news was first leaked, most thought it’s so unbelievable that it’s got to be fake, including myself. It turned out none of the politicians or ministers allegedly involved wanted to comment on it, thus making it official.
Now that it’s out, it provoked a huge negative reaction in Serbia. No wonder, I must say. I still believe all this mess could have been avoided if he was extradited to the US, even if that would mean a breach of country’s constitution.
This kind of dealing with the problem is dangerous and wrong on so many levels, no wonder they tried to make it top-secret classified.
This is probably the biggest screwup of the new government so fair, and their record was not exactly clean before it. I’m also interested to see how the citizens will react or if they will react at all – too much stuff like this makes you blunt after a while.
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Yeah, I and everyone I've spoken to couldn't believe this! Why on earth are we protecting this guy so much? He, allegedly, beat a student within an inch of his life! That money should have been used to renovate schools – not to protect some hooligan from facing justice in the US.
although I think you are right about what would have been the better thing to do, there is a case somewhat similar to this, which is almost exactly the other way around. I am sure most of you remember the american airforce pilot stationed in Italy, that wanted to be a really cool hotshot so he flew UNDER the wires of a mountain cable car. Unfortunately, his tail cut that wire and about 50 people fell to a certain death: all were killed.
Italian police never got a chance to arrest the pilot, because the US army flew him over to the US immediately, knowing that he would end up in prison if he would not get out of Italy really quickly.
And the US has always refused to have the guy transferred to an italian court. Or to have him in any court at all for that matter.
All this just happened a few years ago.
Of course I do not want to say: if there is some crazy country doing crazy stuff, it should be ok to do that. But I do find the similarity in the stories striking (although the pilot's actions are more horrible than Kovacevic's) and it is even more remarkable since it has the US in both stories on different sides of the fence.
This reaction of yours is also, in short, a typical Serb reader reaction on most news sites, forums, blogs etc these days. Again, I understand it completely.
On the other hand, this has turned into such a complex matter out of a bar brawl that it's becoming amazing to follow (at least to me).
It's exactly this type of cases that made me wonder why there's a non-extradition clause in every country's constitution in the first place. I understand a country has to try and protect its citizens when there's a tiny amount of necessity for that kind of intervention, but I don't see it in these cases.
Being the U.S. means able to get away with murdering millions – like they did in Vietnam – and no one going to jail for it.
The U.S. just killed 13 civilians in an airstrike in Afghanistan. They also have a penchant for bombing Afghan wedding celebrations and killed scores of civilians repeatedly last year when bombing them.
Yeah, let's break the constitution, probably no one will ever do that again and use this as an excuse.
any other suggestions?
[...] posts an update on the Miladin Kovacevic’s story. Cancel this [...]
[...] posts an update on the Miladin Kovacevic’s story. Cancel this [...]
In some way the problem was first created by the idiot who gave the ok for Kovacevic to leave US territory. Legally as soon as this was done it was inevitable that the country of Serbia would suffer as a result.
Perhaps somebody in the Serbian government was afraid that the right would have yet another poster boy with which to bash the government on a patriotic level. Or that somebody in the government was lobbied by his family and or thought it would be patriotic to look after one of our own…
In any case its another serious cock up and exposes both Hillary Clinton and the Serbian government as either crooked, incompetant or hypocritical.
A positive to come out of this – examination of the overly secretive way that decisions are taken in Serbia, something of a coup for the new Borba newspaper, and encouragement for journalists to see that there can be interest / increased sales for investigative stories. Oh yes and encouragement for whistleblowers as well, although as soon as they find out who leaked the story you can be sure he will be sacked at best. At worst, well lets hope threats are not used…
NY Post is, judging by the language used, something like or even a bit worse kind of "newspapers" than Serbian "Kurir" or "Press". Also judging by their influence, unfortunately, it seems they have much more power than Serbian tabloids.
Here's the article from NY Post that suggests Clinton's involvement:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/02222009/news/nationa…
There's also a picture there that shows Steinhauer is out of the coma, and thankfully, able to walk now.
Good comment.
One thing I've heard is that the whistleblower is actually someone from or connected to the US intelligence in Serbia – interesting theory I must admit.
Does anyone know if the trial in Serbia means the entire police report comes to Serbia? I read that the lawyers of the other two guys implicated argued against its release when certain U.S. newspapers recently have tried to get the information under freedom of information laws or something.
Do Miladin's lawyers get the medical records relating to this case as well? There is total silence from any doctors at all on his medical condition since the fight. I really believe he has healed well and was not quite as injured as they first believed/said.
Originally I am from Serbia and I am not surprise with Serbian government (idiots) reaction. I am US citizen now and more interested who on US side was making the deals and do they have rights to initiate something like that?
Probably not, it seems to me that all is being done in a not so legal way on both sides, and even concerning Steinhauser family – I must say that would mean they were also trying to "fly under the radar" if it turns out that this Hillary Clinton lobbying deal is true. That way it would turn out that they are interested in money primarily and not in Kovacevic getting a fair trial.
But still, being that it was NY Post who brings these news, it's still filed under "very unverified".
"Does anyone know if the trial in Serbia means the entire police report comes to Serbia?"
Good question, I hope someone more familiar with this will know the answer.
None come to mind, but I do believe that the constitution, imperfect (to say the least) as it may be, should not be violated – it could turn out to be a potentially dangerous precedent.
The U.S. State Department deferred a question on this to the "Government of Serbia" and it is categorized as a "financial deal between the Gov. of Serbia and the Steinhauer family". The family wanted money. They had interest in making Bryan seem more hurt than he was and I'm sure he played along. I wonder if the other two men involved in this will financially pay or get sentenced to jail?
http://calibre.mworld.com/m/m.w?lp=GetStory&i…
US Department of State: Serbia: Financial Deal between Government of Serbia and Steinhauer Family (Taken Question)
Answer: We are aware of the press reports, and we refer you to the Government of Serbia for details on any possible negotiations between the Steinhauer family and the Government of Serbia.
"The family wanted money. They had interest in making Bryan seem more hurt than he was and I'm sure he played along."
Not that Ida cares, I'm sure, but isn't this potentially libellous?
"The family wanted money. They had interest in making Bryan seem more hurt than he was and I'm sure he played along."
Not that Ida cares, I'm sure, but isn't this potentially libellous?
I just ran a check on our Constitution, and it does not mention extradition of our citizens to other countries. The document that regulates the extradition is Criminal Procedure Code of the Republic of Serbia, article 517: http://www.legislationline.org/documents/id/8918
More than likely not since the Steinhauer family would be considered public figures and public figures can't sue for libel/slander.
Slk, do you mean public officials?
I just would like a doctor or some doctors of good credentials and neutral and not under any pressure (from either side – the prosecutors or defendants) to be able to review Bryan's medical records and see/assess him first hand and then summarize their findings honestly.
I also wonder why they won't show any photos or videos of him whatsoever. It's not like his looks and identity are secret as they showed different photos of him before the incident. There was no mention of any scaring, so why won't they show updated photos or video of him. Why is he being totally hid from view? They don't do that in other cases where people have been in an accident or injured. That woman – Terry Schiavo (sp?) was in a coma for many years (I believe her husband tried to murder her and it had nothing to do with her having bulimia and suffering a heart attack as her heart was strong for all those years and she lived through like 10 days of dehydration/starvation in the first attempt to end her life before she was put on again. She finally died after they did it again for longer, and she last like 13 days or so. Her heart had to be in good shape.)
Anywho, in many cases they show photos and videos of people in that state when it is news. But not here in Bryan's case. Why not?
Then there's the lawyers for the Bosnian Muslims who don't want the police report released – yet Miladin and his parents do – so who is thinking the truth will hurt them (the Bosnian Muslims) and who (Miladin and parents) believe it will direct blame or some blame away? It's clear to see who is not wanting the full details of what happened to come out (and not just media hysteria with often faulty information.)
Viktor! Guess what! I found an article an photo of Bryan Steinhauer with his mother that is dated January 11th of this year. He IS walking. Though the article claims:
"The Post caught the first glimpse of the reeling student since the attack as he hobbled to and from a taxi outside his Brooklyn home."
He does have a funny expression in the photo (but again I have hunch that he is purposely exaggerating/making that funny face to look brain damaged). He is wearing a walkman and refuses to talk to the press.
Interesting though that he should be walking about catching taxis when many would have you believe he is still lying in bed. For how long has he been walking about and why wasn't it announced by his parents.
Here's the link:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01112009/photos/news0…
Oops, I meant to link to the entire article, not just the photo:
http://www.nypost.com/seven/01112009/news/regiona…
Here's what Miladin says about Steinhauer – that Steinhauer kept hitting him:
In his first interview since fleeing the United States in June, Kovacevic told Serbia's Kurir newspaper that he had only intervened in a fight between his pals and Steinhauer.
"I tried to separate them, but I was hit by Steinhauer several times," Kovacevic said. "He was very aggressive. He kept thumping his chest and saying, 'You don't know who I am!' At one point, I managed to free myself from him."
When he was released last month, Kovacevic claimed he was a model citizen.
"I'm not a criminal as the American press likes to portray me," he told Serbia's Politika newspaper. "I was one of the best students at the university when I was in the US. I was one of a handful of foreigners who helped American children with special needs. I always represented my university in the best light."
How about it not be libelous but the truth that you are a dunce and do poor research and get carried away by rumors while I have much better intuition. You claimed he was dead, but I found (see my links to the New York Post story) that Bryan Steinhauer is up and out – walking around and catching taxis. So I was right that he was definitely out of a coma. The question is though – just how long has he been walking around – and why was there no update about it from his parents? Why did they keep silent about that?
You're such a charmer!
Yeah, well, lying isn't forbidden. I've seen more such interviews in Serbian, mostly in tabloids, some by him, some by his parents.
On the other hand – the american guy was definitely in a coma. I don't think he could've faked that. To put someone in a coma, you really have to hit hard. These facts are not making it easy for Kovacevics right now. That's also probably the reason not many people here in Serbia believe them.
You were going to check out how the priest from Pakrac was getting on for me, weren't you?.
"On the other hand – the american guy was definitely in a coma. I don't think he could've faked that. To put someone in a coma, you really have to hit hard."
But was it a medically induced coma? Often the doctors will put someone who has been injured or knocked out in one of those for a while to prevent possible brain swelling and brain damage from that.
You are also leaving out that there were 2 other men hitting and/or kicking Bryan Steinhauer – and what if it were their blows or one of theirs' which was the blow which knocked him out? I mean the one was said to have been head-butted by Bryan to initiated the violence in the first place. The girlfriend claimed Bryan Steinhauer head-butter her boyfriend when they were arguing and it gave him a bloody nose. Seems like a jealous, angry guy who has just got a hard blow to his head/nose would react in rage to that.
In addition, just about 2 weeks ago an elderly Serb man, in an Albanian area, was found unconscious and in a pool of blood in his home. He was in a coma and taken to the hospital. Serbs being beaten into comas under U.S. occupied Kosovo has happened scores of times, but you don't see it mentioned in the media or Serbs in Serbia concerned about that. And the culprits who have done these acts are all free.
I ain't doin' nothing for you.
Kurir reckon that the whisteblower is defence minister Sutanovac. It goes towards the theory that Tadic and Sutanovac are at loggerheads on a number of issues. Kurir and other tabloids have claimed that Sutanovac has been trying to oust Tadic in some way, although who knows.
Its also possible that somebody inside DS remembered their past of supporting a free media and open government
Whatever, the truth is that Sutanovac has the potential to be a thorn in Tadic's side, for as long as Tadic plays the moderate concilliator (to society) against Sutanovac's more DS / reformist position.
People can be considered public figures if they're involved with some sort of controversy that's garnered publicity. Usually that means people standing trial for criminal offenses but it can also be applied to this situation. Some states have a criminal libel statute but they have to have an 'actual malice' clause in the law in order for the state prosecutor to go after them (where instead of money the defendant would be sentenced to jail). But the US hasn't had a lot of criminal libel cases.
I highly doubt this case has anything to do with the US going after Serbia maliciously.
To clarify, the US isn't going after Serbia because of unjust cause. The US would do this with any other country involved.
What about the case of Samuel Sheinbein, who plotted and carried out, with a friend, the murder of Alfredo Tello Jr. in September 1997. Then dismembered and burned the body in an empty garage.
He fled to Israel with his lawyer fathers help and both son and father have been out of reach of the U.S. Samuel Sheinbein was tried in Israel and given a 24-year sentence – which sounds long, but he will probably be out long before that – if he’s not out now.
And that’s a case of premeditated murder and mutilation – not a bar fight in which the injured victim is now up walking around, and obviously has been for some time. It’s only that the press only got their first sight of him in early January when Bryan Steinhauer was going to catch a cab in front of his house. (My feeling is that he was out of a coma before they sent him home from the hospital, but the family and others milked the coma scenario to increase the victimhood status and hype the case.)
Israel is different issue though. Its the US’ only stable ally in the Middle East and there’s a huge Jewish lobby in the country
I don’t know the particulars of that case, so I can’t answer.
But the bottom line is that the US isn’t picking on Serbia. If anything, the US needs Serbia as an ally to create a small buffer against Russia.
This is a special situation made even more extraordinary due to the fact that a Serbian governmental official helped sneak the guy out of the country. That crossed a huge line—it reflects poorly on Serbia and the country’s willingness to negotiate with the West.
Ida,
The case of Samuel Sheinbein caused friction between Israel and the US to the point that the US threatened to withhold $50 to $75 million in aid to Israel if Sheinbein was not extradited to the US. The US petitioned very hard to have Sheinbein extradited to the US but Israeli courts ruled that extradition was not necessary in Sheinbein’s case, which both agreed with and contradicted Israeli laws in regards to extradition of it’s own citizens. Since then, Israel has updated it’s rules regarding extradition of it’s own citizens. So that particular example is not exactly valid.
Tran,
And what do the updated rules say? And threatening but not carrying through is not exactly withholding money. Doesn’t the U.S. give Israel a billion or more in aid per year?
SLK,
“If anything, the US needs Serbia as an ally to create a small buffer against Russia.”
That’s a laugh! It’s Serbia which needs Russia as support against the monsterous, murderous, mutilating ways of the U.S. towards Serbia and Serbs.
The U.S. has consistently supported enemies/separatists against Serbs. The U.S. caused 10s of billions of damage to Serbia’s infrastructure and housing – and that’s not counting the theft of Kosovo private property, investments and assets.
The U.S. and its media have consistently lied about Serbs – and their CNN showed footage of a funeral of Bosnian Serb children killed in a bus bombing as being of Bosnian Muslims by carefully cropping out the Orthodox priest conducting the funeral. This was witnessed by Stella Jatras who saw the footage first on French TV, then later that same video, but with the priest cut out.
CNN had U.S. psy-ops working/interning there during the Kosovo war.
Besides which – what trade does Serbia have with the U.S.? Serbia far more needs Russian resources and has far greater trade with Russia.
The U.S. government, its media and its liberal-run universities all have pushed an anti-Serb lying deceiving agenda.
I just wish Russia would genuinely help Serbia more and the U.S. would genuinely ignore Serbia rather than sabotage it.
Hello Ida, read any good ICTY rulings lately?
The ICTY is financed by NATO countries and was set up in 1993 by Serbophobes such as Madeleine Albright. It’s a kangaroo court which allows hearsay, second hand hearsay, etc. as “evidence”. It is a court which has no penalty for perjury. It is not about truth or justice, but is a political tool against Serbia and Serbs and used to justify NATO crimes and western agenda in the Balkans.
But you know I have read some court proceedings and often they say what the mainstream media hides – you have testimony by UN officers of the Bosnian Muslims provoking and initiated mortar attacks – and having done it purposely from the areas around the UN compounds and hospital grounds. You have testimony about how the Bosnian Muslim army snipers did control and use the buildings along Sniper’s Alley, yet of course all their shooting and sniping would be automatically blamed on the Serbs.
You had testimony by the German journalist embedded with the KLA who said the KLA ordered Albanians to leave and even had priority lists of villages to evacuate months before NATO started dropping the bombs.
You also have Croat/Muslims who admit to/brag about killing Serbian civilians – Miro Bajramovic, for example who says he killed over 70 with his own hands and is responsible for killing even more – who is free today in Croatia. And his commander, Tomislav Mercep, is still involved in Croatian politics.
The Croats and Muslims have gotten away with mass murder with only a few token ones given a farce of a trial then sent back home after a short stint in jail.
http://www.icty.org/sid/10066
Particularly cunning of this kangaroo court to acquit Milutinovic.
At first I was shocked with the news. And I was affraid that it’ll be soon forgotten and done as it usaully was here. Politicians in Serbia’re just doing everything with no responsability what so ever and get away with that. And you have to watch it with no power to do something about that. The feeling is familliar and it dates from the 90-ties (S.Miloshevic).
Anyway, instead they start behaving like serious country (wich is the favorite centense of our minister for foreign affairs) and rewerse the process of brakeing constitution of USA and extradict Kovacevic, they prefer not to brake Serbian constitution afterwards when they allready broke USA constitution. The way I’m learned about fer play, u can not have double standards. Anyway, if Serbia was a serious country wich is the first sentence as an argument for this rediculous arrangemant, its diplomats would never eaven think of making a mistake like helping Kovacevic escape to Serbia. And with this agociateing thing, they just make it worse, instead of makeing it simple.
The most rediculous thing here is this chase after the source of this “top secret” information, like it’s going to change anything…
So unprofessional. So non diplomatic. I’m just wondering if polititions in Serbia will ever learn what diplomacy is…
Serbia is tired of all the unjuictice that’s been done to it and in it’s name for so long from it’s polititions, their and other world wide wrong politics;
So we can not take it any more. WE ARE SCREAMING FOR JUICTICE! Once and for all!
Current Israeli extradition rules state that Israeli citizens can be extradited to the country requesting extradition as long as the person in question can serve her/his sentence on Israeli soil. But what do current Israeli extradition rules have anything to do with Kovacevic’s case?
My point was that Sheinbein’s case and Kovacevic’s case are similar because both home countries in question refused to extradite the defendent to the US, which harmed the relationships between both home countries and the US. This is going back to SLK’s point that Kovacevic’s case is not one of the US picking specifically on Serbia. The fact that Kovacevic is Serbian is just coincidental in terms of the political situation.
Oh, right, I almost forgot. If you all could just keep quiet about this Kovacevic case, because it’s supposed to be a state secret. So, make sure none of these info leaves the blog, thanks.
Serbia did that damage to itself through its actions. There is no nation-wide conspiracy against Serbia—to the average American, it holds no significance to our national security (compared to Iran, North Korea, etc.). So this idea of the international community’s “agenda” of oppressing Serbs is only a result of Serbia’s self-inflated importance it believes it holds in this world. Serbia oppresses itself with this moronic logic that prevents its people from moving forward.
“Serbia did that damage to itself through its actions.”
Baloney! I’ve seen so many orchestrated lies and false blame by the U.S. and other western countries.
Even Tudjman’s wartime police minister said recently in an interview that Tudjman had planned to ethnically cleanse the Serbs before the war started there and that Tudjman believed there couldn’t be “independence” for Croatia without a war, so attacks on Serbs were initiated.
The west has been awfully silent about the crimes done to Serbs at the very beginning and throughout the wars. The west stood by as Serbs were kidnapped, tortured and murdered under their noses in Kosovo. There were 50,000 armed troops from the west and many thousands of UN police, yet not one kidnapped Serb was found by them and returned alive.
You are the liar and a person like you with YOUR agenda can only do harm for Serbia. I’d hope you involve yourself in some other part of the world as people like you promote enough harm and lies.
People like you don’t give a damn about the scorched earth and deserted ethnic Serb areas of Croatia, Muslim-Croat Federation and Kosovo. It’s alright with you for Serbian land to be stolen by western tools (Muslims and Croats) or the west itself. They are even now privatizing Serb property in Kosovo and the money for these sales is ending up in foreign accounts/pockets.
Meanwhile many thousands of Serbs remain homeless – many still in collective centers – and THAT is called “humanitarian” and “peace”.
I’m non Serb but I can clearly see there was a brutal agenda and so many lies against the Serbs who were demonized AS A WHOLE by the western press and western foreign police.
I suppose you think depleted uranium is good for Serbs too?
I’m not disagreeing with you on the fact that Serbs suffered during the war, they did. But to state that the US and the West “orchestrated lies and false blame” is not true. Although the Western Media may not have reported on what happened to the Serbs in comparison to their coverage of Croats and Bosnians, they did not have an agenda against the Serbs. The top news organizations did not have a secret meeting and determine that they were going to espouse lies about the Serbs. Their lack of balanced coverage can be attributed to lazy journalism. Being able to tackle multiple sides to an international story is something journalists are trying to improve on, but it’s not easy.
Please be aware that for people living outside of Europe, the wars in the 1990s were, and are, difficult to understand just based on the complexity of who was fighting who. It wasn’t as simple as WWII where you had the US and Great Britain as the Allies and Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy as the Axis powers.
As such, it’s very difficult for journalists to write a complex story while maintaining readership. As sadly as that sounds, that’s how the world works.
I agree that Tudjman was planning on taking land—but he wanted Western Bosnia. He was entering a deal with Milosevic so that each country (Croatia and Serbia) could have half of Bosnia. But I don’t believe Tudjman represents Croatia or Croats, just like I don’t believe Milosevic and his cronies represent Serbia or Serbs. Take notice of that—there is a difference between not liking a government versus not liking its people. If I didn’t like the Serbs, would I really be going to this blog?
Unfortunately for you I am not involving myself with some other part of my world. I’m going to study the Former Yugoslavia in graduate school in order to show the West and the rest of the world that that area isn’t defined by genocide and the manipulations of its politicians. I see your point but I don’t think you see mine. To make blanket statements is not conductive to a proper discussion.