USA: Serbia is accused of abetting war criminals by the Balkan court prosecutor before the UN Security Council

The prosecutor of the tribunal on the former Yugoslavia accused Serbia on Friday (December 15) of sheltering war criminals and asked the U.N. Security Council to extend the life of the court until key suspects were arrested. The Hague-based U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is expected to close by the end of 2010, and the council has made no move to extend that date. But two key suspects, Bosnian Serbs Radovan Karadzic and Gen. Ratko Mladic are at large. They are accused of authorizing and orchestrating the systematic massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica 11 years ago during the 1992-1995 war. "The willful failure of Serbia to cooperate with my office, and in particular to arrest and transfer Mladic and Karadzic, is a demonstration of utmost disrespect towards thousands and thousands of ... victims," prosecutor Carla del Ponte told the council. Del Ponte said the Serbian army had protected Mladic while the Bosnian Serb enclave was harboring Karadzic, the civilian wartime leader. Still, both men have been isolated, with travel barred anywhere but Russia, which Del Ponte said was the "last known whereabouts" of Mladic. While judicial authorities in Bosnia, Croatia and Serbia had increased efforts to try war criminals, politicians in Bosnia and Serbia have refused to arrest six indicted fugitives, del Ponte said. And Serbia's new plan to capture the remaining accused "has thus far proven to be just another smoke screen," she said. In response Zoran Loncar, Belgrade's minister for state administration and local government, denied Serbia was failing to do its part and said the new body created in July to carry out an action had worked intensively. Loncar said the "highest state authorities" had a "strong political will" to have all fugitives transferred to the tribunal. But he said Serbia too was able to conduct fair trials that would also serve to educate the public. In the meantime, Belgrade had handed over to the tribunal 95 percent of 1,386 requests for documents and had issued waivers to countless witnesses, including those in possession of state secrets, Loncar said. Del Ponte asked the 15-member council to let the tribunal stay open until Karadzic and Mladic are tried in the Hague. And she urged the European Union to continue making cooperation with the tribunal a condition for freezing negotiations with Belgrade on future membership. Del Ponte said EU policy was responsible for 24 accused currently on trial being transferred to the Hague. Earlier this month, European Union foreign policy chief Javier Solana said the 25-nation bloc should review whether to resume talks with Serbia after an election there on Jan. 21.

ITN Source | December 16, 2006

Tags:. .eu. .earlier. .russia. .particular. .muslims