BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: New UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz calls for arrest of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic

Record ID: 644620

  • Title: BOSNIA-HERZEGOVINA: New UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz calls for arrest of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic
  • Date: 10th March 2008
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (Bosnian) INTERNATIONAL PEACE OVERSEER IN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA, MIROSLAV LAJCAK, SAYING: "The establishing of the full truth and full justice and full responsibility for the war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a necessary precondition for progress of this country. In that regard I confirmed once again that I personally and my office are ready to continue with the full cooperation on the issues related to the work of Mr Brammertz."
  • Embargoed: 25th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Topics: International Relations
  • Reuters ID: LVAB6O6XBPKNZ64C1RVQU9DJSP5O
  • Story Text: The new chief UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz makes his first visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, and calls for arrest of wanted war criminals, Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.
    The United Nation's new war crimes prosecutor on Friday (March 7) called for the arrest of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the top two war crimes suspects from the Balkan wars of the 1990s.
    Serge Brammertz, who took over in January from Carla del Ponte as UN chief prosecutor, said during his first visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina that the UN war crimes tribunal should not close down until all remaining fugitives are brought to justice.

    "And I strongly believe that it is also out of respect for these victims that the international community in general and the countries in the region have to do everything they can to have the remaining fugitives, in particular Mladic and Karadzic, arrested. It is difficult for me to imagine that the tribunal could close its doors one day without these persons prosecuted," Brammertz said at news conference.
    Bosnian Serb wartime leader Karadzic and his military commander Mladic are indicted for genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims and the 43-months siege of Sarajevo, in which some 11,000 people were killed.
    Bosnia's international peace overseer Miroslav Lajcak expressed the readiness of his office to fully support the work of the war crimes tribunal.

    "The establishing of the full truth and full justice and full responsibility for the war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina is a necessary precondition for progress of this country. In that regard I confirmed once again that I personally and my office are ready to continue with the full cooperation on the issues related to the work of Mr Brammertz," Lajcak said.
    Other remaining fugitives are Bosnian Serb Stojan Zupljanin and Croatian Serb Goran Hadzic.
    During his meeting with Bosnia's three-man inter-ethnic presidency on Thursday (February 6), Brammertz said the handover of the remaining fugitives was a matter of individual criminal responsibility, not a political issue.
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