WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, said in a report to the UN Security Council on Thursday that cooperation between countries of the former Yugoslavia
and the office of the prosecutor did not meet her expectations, and criticised Croatia for its failure to arrest fugitive general Ante Gotovina.
WASHINGTON/NEW YORK, Oct 10 (Hina) - The chief prosecutor of the UN
war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, said in a report
to the UN Security Council on Thursday that cooperation between
countries of the former Yugoslavia and the office of the prosecutor
did not meet her expectations, and criticised Croatia for its
failure to arrest fugitive general Ante Gotovina. #L#
"I regret to have to report to you that Croatia, Serbia and
Montenegro, Republika Srpska and the Bosnian Croat party to the
Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina have not achieved, so far,
full cooperation with the Tribunal," Del Ponte said.
Speaking of Croatia, the prosecutor said that most of her requests
for documents and witnesses were now treated seriously and
professionally, but added that the quality and pace of the
country's cooperation increased considerably with the approach of
important international deadlines.
Del Ponte said that the Croatian authorities were responsible for
the failure to apprehend and transfer General Ante Gotovina to the
tribunal.
She said that the Croatian government had recently provided the
tribunal with the information corroborating its claim that the
runaway general was outside Croatia, and that during her latest
visit to Zagreb she informed the government about Gotovina's
whereabouts in Croatia and the protection he enjoyed there.
We have agreed to work together to locate him and arrest him, and I
have received firm assurances to that effect, Del Ponte said,
adding that she would consider Croatia's commitments fulfilled
only after she saw results.
Tribunal president Theodor Meron, who spoke before the chief
prosecutor, said he did not believe the tribunal would be able to
complete all the trials by 2008, the year set by the Security
Council as a deadline by which all first-instance proceedings
should be completed.
Del Ponte also said that on average it took Croatia more than a year
to meet a request filed by the prosecutor.
She warned that full cooperation of the countries of the former
Yugoslavia, including the arrest and handover of fugitives and
access to documents and witnesses, was crucial for the tribunal to
accelerate trials and complete its work.
Del Ponte said that she planned to complete 13 investigations
already in progress, adding that the investigations covered 30
individuals who held the highest positions and most parties to the
conflict between 1991 and 2001. She stressed that there was hardly
any chance of local courts taking over these cases.
The prosecutor said that the situation would be clearer by the end
of next year, by which time all new indictments would be issued and
most probably made public. It will then be decided which cases will
be tried in The Hague and which will be handed over to national
courts, she added.
Including the present trials, between 40 and 45 trials may be
conducted before the Hague tribunal, she said.
Meron said that the trial of present fugitives, excluding new
indictments, could last until at least 2009.
Del Ponte said 17 additional investigations had been suspended at
the end of last year. These investigations covered 62 suspects who
will not be formally charged by the tribunal, and the prosecutor
said she expected these cases to be referred to courts in the former
Yugoslav countries for further investigation and trial. Twelve of
these cases, with 48 suspects, would be referred to Bosnia-
Herzegovina, three with eight suspects to Croatia, and two with six
suspects to Serbia and Montenegro.
Speaking of Serbia and Montenegro, Del Ponte said that cooperation
with this country was still difficult and very politicised in terms
of the arrest and transfer of indictees, access to documents and
allowing high-profile witnesses to testify. She said that Belgrade
was neither truly committed to cooperation nor ready to take
difficult steps that are necessary.
As regards former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic and other
accused, Del Ponte said she had a feeling that the authorities of
Serbia and Montenegro wanted to withhold crucial documents that
could prove the involvement of the wartime authorities in Belgrade
in crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Del Ponte said she believed that more than half of the 17 indictees
who are still at large, including Bosnian Serb military commander
Ratko Mladic, were hiding in Serbia and Montenegro.
Speaking of Republika Srpska, the prosecutor said that authorities
in this entity of Bosnia-Herzegovina had so far failed to locate or
arrest any indictees. She said that one of the most wanted
fugitives, Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, was known
to be shuttling between Republika Srpska and Montenegro.
Del Ponte described the cooperation of Croats from the Federation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina as unsatisfactory. She said she had received
very little cooperation from them in connection with cases
committed by Bosnian Croats.
The precondition for the successful implementation of the
tribunal's exit strategy is full cooperation of the countries of
the former Yugoslavia and the transfer of individual cases to
domestic courts, Del Ponte said, adding that the lack of
cooperation might compromise the completion strategy.
The prosecutor said that the capability of the countries to try low-
level war criminals, including suspects or indictees who might be
handed over by the tribunal, would have an effect on the tribunal's
exit strategy. The main problem in this will be the lack of witness
protection and the non-existence of laws that would enable the
evidence gathered by the tribunal to be admissible before national
courts.
(hina) vm