Topic: Serbia rejects Kosovo independence

[SouthSerb99]

There's no such thing as a fair trial before the Hague, the verdict has been rendered before the charges are announced. And people wonder why we insist on sticking with our Legal system, even if it isn't perfect it's a lot better than the alternative.

GiC,

     You know, I've had this debate with a couple of my colleagues and I have said that if I could try the Milosevic case in small town America, where a majority of people don't know the difference between Serbia and Siberia, I could win.  Given the strict evidentiary standards in our justice system, I agree with you 100%.

     Unlike the Hague, where hearsay, piled upon hearsay seems to be the norm, along with total speculation, surmise and outright lies.

[Fr. George]

I'm presuming, from what little I've read in the ways of summaries and transcripts, that there are different standards of preparation and presentation for prosecution and defense, and unlike the American system, it seems the defense has all the burden here.

[cizinec]

You can listen to the farse off the tribunal's website.  They have most of the sessions there.  Milosevic doesn't do himself many favors, but the prosecution with the judges make up the rules of the "court" as they go along and the defense has no say.

[serb1389]

http://hdr.undp.org/docs/reports/national/KOS_Kosovo/Kosovo_2004_en.pdf

This has the census of Kosovo along with a report by the UN from 2003.  Here are some quick facts from teh document.  

Ethnicity
Kosovan Albanians
Kosovan Serbs
Other ethnic minorities
Total
Number
4.387
495
325
5.207
Percent in
KPS
84.2
9.5
6.2
100
Percent in
Population
88 (Albanian)
7 (Serb)
5 (other)
100 (total)

I hope that this makes sense, sorry but the PDF wasn't working with me.  I tried adding in the catagories for population to make it easier, otherwise just follow the order for each catagory.

[cizinec]

Was that before or after Serbs were forced out?

[serb1389]

Its from 2003 so after.  But someone asked me for that information.  It is pretty much the same before the bombing.  I would say around 1990 this was the same exact case.  The Serb population might have been around 10-15%  but the overwhelming majority was Albanian.  

[cizinec]

You mean that is the number before the Serbs were forced out in this particular decade and not counting the other periods of genocide and mass expulsion since 1900.

[serb1389]

IF I understood your question correctly then yes.  These numbers have only changed in the last 30 years, or maybe even a little bit longer.  I would say that in the late 70's, early 80's the numbers were closer to 70-80% Serb and 20-30% Albanian.  So only in the last 2-3 decades have the numbers changed.  

The numbers changed due to the rutheless expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo from the Kosovar Albanians.  I can try to look up numbers from those specific years to give you a better idea.

In the 1900's, i'm not sure exactly what happened.  I would have to really look that one up.  Are you familiar with what went on then?  I was not aware of any expulsion of Serbs from Kosovo at that time...