- Title: NETHERLANDS: Judges set to formally charge war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic
- Date: 2nd June 2011
- Summary: THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS (JUNE 1, 2011) (REUTERS) EXTERIOR OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) SATELLITE TRUCKS OUTSIDE TRIBUNAL (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "Good morning everybody. Today Ratko Mladic is in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. For almost 16 years he has evaded justice. Now he must answer to the serious international crimes he has been charged with." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "Ratko Mladic's transfer into the tribunal 's custody is significant on many levels. For this tribunal, the transfer brings us closer to the completion of our mandate to hold accountable those most responsible for the serious crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. As a result of the arrest today only one out of 161 persons indicted by the tribunal remains at large." JOURNALISTS (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "Ratko Mladic was a Colonel General and Commandeur of the main staff of the Bosnian Serb army. He was the most powerful military figure in Bosnia during the war. He's charged with crimes that shocked the conscience of the international community. These crimes symbolise the brutality of the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina." BRAMMERTZ SPEAKING (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "Today we have filed an amended indictment against Ratko Mladic. We have done this to make sure the charges against Ratko Mladic reflect the most recent development in the tribunal's case log. The amended indictment also provides more information about some of the charges brought. We know that an important responsibility now lies in our hands. I have no doubt that Mladic will receive a fair trial and that his rights will be respected." CAMERAMEN (SOUNDBITE) (French) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "It is clear that Mladic's arrest today gives a strong and clear signal that there is no place for impunity and that sooner or later those who are being sought for war crimes and genocide and for crimes against humanity will have to face justice. I do understand this is a strong signal for other fugitives sought by other courts." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) PROSECUTOR, SERGE BRAMMERTZ SAYING: "Based on the rules of proceedings it is still theoretically possible to envisage a partial joinder. No decision has been taken in this regard. I'm not saying at all that this is likely possibility but it is at least a theoretical one but we have to look into this issue. What we have today is an operative indictment that has been filed this morning. It is as I explained an indictment which is very much mirroring the charges brought against Karadzic because, as I said, the crime base, the crimes allegedly committed, are the same." JOURNALISTS AT NEWS CONFERENCE SECURITY GUARDS AT NEWS CONFERENCE
- Embargoed: 17th June 2011 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: Netherlands, Netherlands
- Country: Netherlands
- Topics: War / Fighting
- Reuters ID: LVA77W291JEXK53YL34V0EUO2MZU
- Story Text: International Criminal Tribunal For The Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said on Wednesday (June 1) that Former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic, extradited to the Netherlands from Serbia after 16 years on the run, would be formally charged with genocide at the U.N. war crimes tribunal on Friday (June 3).
Judges at the ICTY scheduled Mladic's initial court appearance for Friday at 0800 GMT, when he will be charged and asked to enter a plea, according to a statement on the court's website.
Serge Brammertz, prosecutor for the tribunal, said at a news conference on Wednesday (June 1) that Mladic's transfer was a very significant step for the tribunal.
"Today Ratko Mladic is in the custody of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. For almost 16 years he has evaded justice. Now he must answer to the serious crimes he has been charged with," and added, "For this tribunal the transfer brings us closer to the completion of our mandate to hold accountable those most responsible for the crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia. As a result of the arrest today only one out of 161 persons indicted by the tribunal remains at large."
Brammertz also said everything possible would be done to avoid a lengthy trial. Several war crimes trials in The Hague have dragged on for years.
Asked how long the whole process could take, he said that depended on several things, including Mladic's health and whether he appointed a legal team or handled his own defence.
"Today we have filed an amended indictment against Ratko Mladic. We have done this to make sure the charges against Ratko Mladic reflect the most recent developments in the tribunal's case log. The amended indictment also provides more information about some of the charges brought. We know that an important responsibility lies in our hands. I have no doubt that he will receive a fair trial and that his rights will be respected," said the prosecutor.
Mladic was indicted by the tribunal 16 years ago over the 43-month siege of the Bosnian capital Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the town of Srebrenica, close to the border with Serbia, during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
He was taken to a detention centre outside The Hague from Rotterdam airport on Tuesday evening after being flown from Belgrade on a Serbian government aircraft.
The 69-year-old former general was arrested on Thursday at a farmhouse in northern Serbia belonging to a cousin, triggering protests by Serb nationalists in Serbia and Bosnia.
His swift extradition will smooth Serbia's progress towards candidacy for European Union membership while serving as an important warning to others indicted on similar charges, such as Libya's Muammar Gaddafi and Sudanese President Omar Al Bashir.
Brammertz welcomed Serbia's decision to extradite Mladic, even though he said it took a "very long time".
Serbia must still do more, Brammertz said, urging the authorities to track down Goran Hadzic, an ethnic Serb also wanted by the U.N. tribunal.
"It is clear that Mladic's arrest today gives a strong a clear signal that there is no place for impunity and that sooner or later those who are being sought for war crimes and genocide and for crimes against humanity will have to face justice. I do understand this is a strong signal for other fugitives sought by other courts" Brammertz told journalists.
The ICTY prosecutor also said joining Mladic's trial with Former Bosnian Serb president Rodovan Karadzic was theoretically possible.
"Based on the rules of proceedings it is still theoretically possible to envisage a partial joinder. No decision has been taken in this regard. I'm not saying at all that this is likely possibility but it is at least a theoretical one but we have to look into this issue. What we have today is an operative indictment that has been filed this morning. It is as I explained an indictment which is very much mirroring the charges brought against Karadzic because, as I said, the crime base, the crimes allegedly committed, are the same," he said.
Mladic's arrest has highlighted continued deep ethnic divisions in Bosnia, where he fought to create a separate Serb entity with the crucial backing of then-Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in his U.N. tribunal cell in 2006.
As a result of the war, Bosnia is made up of a Serb Republic and a Muslim-Croat Federation under a weak central Bosnian government.
According to an opinion poll published on May 15, before he was caught, 51 percent of Serbian citizens said they were against extraditing Mladic, while 34 percent said they were in favour of his arrest.
In the same poll, 78 percent of Serbs said they would not reveal Mladic's whereabouts in return for the 10 million euro reward offered by the government.
After his arrest, Mladic's lawyer and family argued that he was mentally unstable and too sick to be extradited to the tribunal -- a tactic that has been used by others facing war crimes courts and tribunals. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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