Briefly
Noted: Brammertz Slams Serbian Tribunal Cooperation
Chief prosecutor said there has been no notable
progress in delivering remaining suspects to Hague.
By Simon Jennings in The Hague
Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz
criticised Serbian cooperation with the court in a report to the United
Nations Security Council this week.
In his first address to the UNSC since taking over
from Carla Del Ponte at the beginning of the year, Brammertz said that
his office was struggling to obtain important documents from Belgrade,
and mentioned "significant obstacles" that prevented them gaining access
to vital archives.
He also said that in the last six months, with the
exception of Stojan Zupljanin, there had been no notable progress in
bringing about the arrests of fugitives wanted on war crimes charges.
Brammertz said that all four Serbian fugitives - Ratko
Mladic, Radovan Karadzic, Stojan Zupljanin and Goran Hadzic - are
"within reach of the authorities in Serbia and that the Serbian
authorities can do more to locate and arrest them".
Zuplijanin is a former commander of the Bosnian Serb
police and is wanted on charges relating to crimes committed during the
war against Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in the autonomous region of
Krajina.
Tribunal president Fausto Pocar also addressed the
Security Council, dealing with the question of when the tribunal will
finish its work.
Under its UN mandate, the tribunal is scheduled to
complete all trials including appeals hearings in 2010. According to
Pocar, all but two trials will be underway by the end of this year and
only three will extend beyond 2009.
Brammertz, meanwhile, told the UNSC that his office
was trying to complete trials within the mandate period. He said that
prosecutors were taking steps to reduce the time needed to present
cases.
"We are firmly engaged in finding ways to expedite
proceedings without diminishing the prosecution's case," he said.
However, he said the tribunal should not be wound up
before all the fugitives have been tried.
"I cannot think of a situation in which the tribunal,
having been established to try those most responsible for atrocious
crimes, will close its doors without bringing to justice all remaining
fugitives," said Brammertz.
Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
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