War Crimes

The incoming chief war crimes prosecutor for the United Nations, Serge Brammertz, said Thursday Serbia could do a lot better with its cooperation with the Hague, specifically in bringing war crimes suspects before the court.

“I particularly insisted on the search for and arrest of the … remaining fugitives,” he said. “It is crucial that they be brought to justice as soon as possible.”

His comments come amid his first trip to Serbia since taking over the post from his predecessor, Carla del Ponte.

Brammertz said Serbia needed to hand over Serbian leader Radovan Karadzic and his top military commander Ratko Mladic, making the astonishing statement (note the sarcasm) “progress is still needed in all of these areas.”

Del Ponte took a notably harsher tone, banging her first on the podium of the Serbian parliament, demanding, “I want my fugitives.”

Del Ponte pledged in June that Karadzic and Mladic were within reach.

Many states in the European Union want to sign off on Serbia’s petition to the EU as soon as possible, the Netherlands threatened to block the move unless Serbia handed Mladic over to the international court.

This entry was posted on Thursday, April 17th, 2008 at 7:41 am and is filed under Cases, Bosnia/FRY. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.