Del Ponte has sent a letter to the Muslim member of Bosnia-Herzegovina's tripartite presidency, Sulejman Tihic, who has invited her to attend the commemoration in Srebrenica on July 11, saying that she cannot accept the invitation as long as the most wanted indictees are at large, Sarajevo newspapers reported on Thursday.
Until they are in the custody of the ICTY, I find it impossible for me to participate in marking this sad anniversary. That is my personal protest at the failure to arrest them and at the lack of determined action to locate them and bring them before the tribunal, the prosecutor said in her letter, noting that this is also the position of Tribunal President Theodor Meron.
She said she would come to Srebrenica if at least one of the two most wanted fugitives was in custody by July 11.
Del Ponte said there was no doubt that paying tribute to the Srebrenica victims was of exceptional importance, adding that she thought that it was equally important to direct the attention of the world public at that crime and at the failure by the United Nations to protect the civilian population of the former UN protected area.
About 50,000 people and a large number of foreign delegations are expected to gather at the Potocari Memorial Complex to pay tribute to more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys who were killed by Bosnian Serb forces after they overran the UN-declared safe haven of Srebrenica on July 11, 1995.