BH Politicians: Carla Leaves Frustrated

Carla is leaving, without passing the main exam- the arrest of Karadzic and Mladic, BH politicians believe.

BH politicians agree on one thing – international war crimes chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte is departing, leaving one unfinished task behind her, the arrest of Serb warlords Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic.

-Her departure, above all should alarm the international community representatives which did not pass the exam of arresting the two defendants, Karadzic and Mladic, because it was not only Carla Del Ponte`s obligation as a person, but the obligation of all international representatives in BH – said Zlatko Lagumdzija, SDP president.

Bosniak and Croatian officials passed better

In the Independent Social-Democrats Party (SNSD), which won the majority in the Bosnian Serb entity of the Republika Srpska last elections, they doubt anything will change with the chief prosecutor`s departure.

-Two mandates of Carla Del Ponte are marked with inefficiency. The fact Karadzic and Mladic have not been arrested is a great stain before the international community. But, these two indictees are in her power just as they are in mine – told us Rajko Vasic, chief board member and SNSD spokesperson. The Tribunal`s work was characterised by one-sidedness, believes Vasic.

-Some who were indicted as war criminals got small sentences, and some were not even trialed. I am talking about Bosniak and Croat officials. The Hague Tribunal is not for Serb crimes only- said Vasic.

She leaves frustrated

Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) believes how the Tribunal`s work does not depend upon one person, but Del Ponte will leave frustrated because she did not obtain those whom she searched for most.

-The Hague Tribunal shifts more and more cases over to BH courts. Therefore it is illusionary to expect this type of work system to depend on one person. But, her work cannot get a passing grade because her two most wanted people from APB`s are still at large. I think Carla will leave frustrated with this fact – said Miso Relota, HDZ BiH spokesperson.

Although we tried to get comments of other BH parties, presidents and their deputies were “at meetings” and did not answer.

After 13 years 94 people were charged

Thirteen years after its foundation, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has charged 161 people in total and ended procedures against 94 defendants.

Most of these matters are related to war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Precisely, 91 matters refer to BH, out of which 48 finalised and 41 non-finalised cases.

Momentarily, more and more cases are being processed in courts of the region countries where the defendants come from. Therefore, by June last year, ICTY forwarded eight matters in which The Hague Prosecution has already charged. This is the case of six people transferred to BH and two persons to Croatia.

From 1996 until 2004, The Hague Tribunal determined which cases will be processed before the BH courts. During this period, The Tribunal Prosecution examined 1,419 cases in total against 4,985 people and gave its concord for 848 people to be arrested on the basis of war crime charges.

Three years ago this responsibility was shifted over to entity level prosecutors, and now they are the ones who investigate cases and submit to state, canton or district courts.

The finalised cases are “Prijedor”, “Concentration camp Susica”, “Concentration camp Keraterm”, “Bosanski Samac”, “Brcko”, “Lasvanska valley”, “Concentration camp Celebici”, “Poljoprivredno dobro in Pilica”, “Foca”, “Concentration camps Omarska and Keraterm”, “Visegrad”, “Srebrenica Drinski corp”, “Tuta and Stela”, “Bosnia-Herzegovina” (Biljana Plavsic), “Milosevic”, “Mount Vlasic”, “Srebrenica”, “Glogova”, “Stupni do”.

Those still in process are: “Bosanski Samac”, “Republika Srpska Krajina”, “Lasvanska dolina”, “Foca”, “Sarajevo”, “Visegrad”, “Krajina”, “Bosnia-Herzegovina”, “Middle Bosnia”, “Grabovica and Uzdol”, “Srebrenica”, “Croatia, BH, Vojvodina” (Vojislav Seselj), “Herzeg Bosna”, “BH and Srebrenica” (Karadzic and Mladic).