SARAJEVO, April 2 (Hina) - The arrest of Slobodan Milosevic is a big step on the road to peace and stability in the region, but the former Yugoslav President must be extradited to the Hague tribunal so that he may be prosecuted for
his responsibility for war crimes, holds the international community's High Representative in Bosnia. In a statement released in Sarajevo on Sunday evening, High Representative Wolfgang Petritsch reminds Milosevic has already been indicted for the exile of hundreds of thousands of ethnic Kosovo Albanians from their homes and horrifying massacres committed in Racak and Velika Krusa. He also reminds the chief prosecutor with UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague has announced the indictment will be extended to include crimes committed in Bosnia and Croatia in the early 1990s. Petritsch recalls meeting Milosevic just a few hours before NATO's spring 1999 air attacks
SARAJEVO, April 2 (Hina) - The arrest of Slobodan Milosevic is a big
step on the road to peace and stability in the region, but the former
Yugoslav President must be extradited to the Hague tribunal so that
he may be prosecuted for his responsibility for war crimes, holds
the international community's High Representative in Bosnia.
In a statement released in Sarajevo on Sunday evening, High
Representative Wolfgang Petritsch reminds Milosevic has already
been indicted for the exile of hundreds of thousands of ethnic
Kosovo Albanians from their homes and horrifying massacres
committed in Racak and Velika Krusa.
He also reminds the chief prosecutor with UN's war crimes tribunal
in The Hague has announced the indictment will be extended to
include crimes committed in Bosnia and Croatia in the early 1990s.
Petritsch recalls meeting Milosevic just a few hours before NATO's
spring 1999 air attacks on targets in Yugoslavia. Negotiations
failed as the then incumbent President insisted on starting a
fourth war in the Balkans, he says in the statement.
The Austrian official maintains that Bosnia suffered the most on
account of Milosevic's involvement.
His arrest shows that authorities in Belgrade are committed to the
respect of human rights which is a prerequisite for lasting peace in
Southeast Europe, as well as a signal that nobody in the region is
above the law, says Petritsch, adding this primarily refers to
Bosnian Serb war-time leader Radovan Karadzic and his military
commander Ratko Mladic.
The High Representative believes the families of the victims of
massacres like the one in Srebrenica will not find peace until those
accountable for those crimes are brought to justice.
(hina) ha