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- Serbian suspect must be extradited
Cooperation is no substitute for extradition in the case of the hulking Serbian basketball player charged with beating a Brooklyn college student into a coma, the victim's family said Tuesday.
The Serbian foreign minister's promise to cooperate with the U.S. in the attack on Bryan Steinhauer, 22, isn't enough, said family lawyer Irwin Rochman.
"It's unacceptable," Rochman said. "I knew they were going to do that."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the loudest... (read more) - Privacy Type:
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Extradite Miladin Kovacevic
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- Name:
- Extradite Miladin Kovacevic
- Category:
- Common Interest - Activities
- Description:
- Serbian suspect must be extradited
Cooperation is no substitute for extradition in the case of the hulking Serbian basketball player charged with beating a Brooklyn college student into a coma, the victim's family said Tuesday.
The Serbian foreign minister's promise to cooperate with the U.S. in the attack on Bryan Steinhauer, 22, isn't enough, said family lawyer Irwin Rochman.
"It's unacceptable," Rochman said. "I knew they were going to do that."
Sen. Chuck Schumer, one of the loudest... (read more) - Privacy Type:
- Open: All content is public.
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- Belgrade, Serbia
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- Tužilaštvo će predložiti određivanje pritvora Miladinu Kovačeviću i Slobodanu Nenadoviću, saopštilo je u utorak Republičko javno tužilaštvo. Portparol tužilaštva Tomo Zorić saopštio je da će bivši konzul Srbije u Njujorku Slobodan Nenadović i košarkaš Miladin Kovačević biti izvedeni pred istražnog sudiju Drugog opštinskog suda u Beogradu. Beta
Istražnom sudiji, koji nakon saslušanja treba da odluči o određivanju pritvora i donošenju rešenja o sprovođenju istrage, biće predat zahtev za sprovođenje istrage sa svom dokumentacijom vezanom za slučaj.
Kovačević se tereti za podstrekavanje na zloupotrebu službenog položaja, falsifikovanje isprave i nanošenje teške telesne povrede. Nenadoviću se stavlja na teret da je zloupotrebio službeni položaj u sticaju sa falsifikovanjem službene isprave.
Američko Ministarstvo pravde dostavilo je početkom oktobra srpskim kolegama dokumentaciju iz predmeta, koji se u državi Njujork vodi protiv Kovačevića, optuženog da je 4. maja naneo teške povrede Brajanu Štajnhaueru.
Američka policija je posle tuče u studentskom restoranu uhapsila Kovačevića, a sud mu je odredio pritvor i oduzeo pasoš. Posle polaganja kaucije, osumnjičeni je pušten da se brani sa slobode.
Sa privremenom putnom ispravom koju mu je izdao konzulat Srbije u Njujorku, napustio je SAD i vratio se u Srbiju. Kasnije je i Interpol za njim raspisao crvenu poternicu.
Slučaj Kovačević prvi put je dospeo pred sud početkom septembra, i to tako što je pokrenuta istraga protiv vicekonzula Igora Miloševića zbog izdavanja putne isprave sa kojom je Kovačević napustio Ameriku.
U međuvremenu, on je dobio otkaz u Ministarstvu spoljnih poslova. Miladin Kovačević i njegovi roditelji svedočili su u toj istrazi, tvrdeći da je Milošević radio po zakonu.
Dugo je ceo slučaj tapkao u mestu. Američke vlasti insistirale su da mu se sudi u SAD, a vlasti Srbije ponavljale su da je prema srpskim zakonima ekstradicija nemoguća.
Na kraju je američko ministarstvo pravde putem međunarodne pravne pomoći Srbiji dostavilo dokumenta u vezi sa slučajem Kovačević. Ona su pre 20 dana prosleđena Tužilaštvu, koje je odlučivalo o daljem toku postupanju.
Cut Serbia aid if thug walks free
As Miladin Kovacevic casually walks around his native land in gym shorts and a T-shirt, U.S. taxpayers are subsidizing the same Serbian cops who should grab him and send him back to face American justice.
Of the $53 million in foreign aid Congress approved for Serbia in 2008, $16 million is earmarked for "governing justly and democratically." Among the goals of this aid as put forth by Congress is "consolidation of the rule of law." Just under $1 million is specifically budgeted for "law enforcement restructuring, reform and operations."
One nice reform operation would be to lock up the fugitive who fled back to Serbia - with help from a Serb official - after being charged with kicking a fellow Binghamton University undergrad into a coma.
Congress has decreed that Serbia can continue to receive foreign aid only if it cooperates with the international tribunal on war crimes committed in the Balkan Wars of the 1990s.
Why not also require the Serbs to cooperate with the Broome County Court in upstate New York?
Some may dismiss the notion, saying the Broome County prosecutor is charging Kovacevic with a single near-murder. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia addresses the genocidal massacre of thousands.
But the true measure of crime is one victim at a time.
Just ask the anguished parents of Bryan Steinhauer, the comatose young man whom Kovacevic is accused of stomping after a dispute apparently involving a young woman.
And a thug is a thug, whether he is part of a paramilitary army that slaughters thousands of innocents or just a failed basketball player at a crowded student hangout seen to keep savagely attacking Steinhauer as he lay helpless on the floor.
Nobody needs reminding that Kovacevic was only able to flee the U.S. with the assistance of an official of the Serbian government. Vice Consul Igor Milosevic arrived with Kovacevic's mother to post bail, then provided him with an emergency passport to replace the one he had to surrender to the authorities in Broome County.
Among the requirements Milosevic clearly waived was one set forth on the Web site of the Serbian Consulate in New York. It states that applications for an emergency replacement passport must be accompanied by a "police report affirming that theft or loss have been reported by you."
The Serbian government has announced it has recalled Milosevic and that he may face criminal charges over the passport. Milosevic has reportedly said he provided it after Kovacevic's tearful mother begged him.
Whatever his motivation, Milosevic was acting as an official of a government that is ultimately and necessarily responsible. What the Serbian government should also announce is that Kovacevic will be arrested at the earliest opportunity and held pending extradition to Broome County.
Otherwise, Congress should cut off aid to the Serbs, notably including the money earmarked for "the rule of law." A congressional report suggests that the threat to withhold aid "spurred Serbia's cooperation with the [International] Tribunal." The same would likely be true when it comes to Kovacevic.
We might ask ourselves why we are giving any money to a government whose security forces shrugged while thugs burned our Embassy in Belgrade four months ago, after Kosovo declared its independence.
Meanwhile, it has been widely reported that Kovacevic was bounced off the Binghamton basketball team not just for being a terrible player but for assaulting a high school recruit.
We should wonder if that assault was serious enough for somebody to have called the Binghamton cops and stopping Kovacevic before a nice young man from Brooklyn ended up in a coma.