.
Of course not, the US is a rogue state where International rules of Justice don’t apply … unless your name is Bobby Fischer and you play a game of chess. Bobby Fischer: “I won’t play on Friday, but that’s just God’s law”.
Argentina’s ex-president jailed for arms smuggling
(France24) – Former Argentine President Carlos Menem was sentenced to seven years in prison on Thursday for illegally smuggling weapons to Ecuador and Croatia in violation of international embargoes in the 1990s.
An appeals court found Menem and 11 others guilty in March, overturning his earlier acquittal at trial in 2011. The court said much of the evidence had been mistakenly dismissed, and that there is no logical way the weapons could have been smuggled without Menem’s direct participation and approval.
Menem, who served two terms as president from 1989 to 1999, acknowledged signing secret decrees to export weapons to Venezuela and Panama, but said he had no idea that the tons of rifles and ammunition made in Argentina would end up in Ecuador and Croatia, countries subject to international embargoes at the time.
The appeals court called his defense “incomprehensible,” given voluminous evidence that customs procedures weren’t followed amid pressure from the presidency. The court found that Menem’s brother-in-law and “man of confidence,” Emir Yoma, acted as his intermediary with the government authorities and others involved in the scheme, and that Yoma also collected money from the companies involved.
Chile generals convicted over 1991 Croatia arms deal
(BBC News) – Chile’s Supreme Court has convicted two retired generals of selling weapons to Croatia 20 years ago, in breach of a UN arms embargo. The former generals Hector Letelier and Vicente Rodriguez were sentenced to three years house arrest.
The shipment of weapons and ammunition – disguised as humanitarian aid – was intercepted in Hungary in 1991 during the war in the former Yugoslavia. Former ruler Gen Augusto Pinochet was also implicated in the deal.
The case was also linked to the death of Chilean Col Gerardo Huber, who was shot dead in 1992 after giving evidence to a military tribunal investigating the arms smuggling. His death was initially treated as suicide, but in 2011 four retired army officers were jailed for his murder.
- US used Islamists to arm Bosnians
- Croatian pipeline – Pentagon armed Bosnian Mujahedin
- Dutch Srebrenica Report – A Safe Haven [large pdf]
