Global Policy Forum

UN Prosecutor:

Print

Nedim Dervisbegovic

Reuters
January 26, 2004

Top Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic is unlikely ever to be arrested as the West lacks the political will to do it, the U.N.'s deputy prosecutor at The Hague was quoted as saying Monday. Nothing happens that would give me a reason to believe he will be arrested," deputy prosecutor Graham Blewitt said in the most critical comments yet of the West from a member of the war crimes tribunal. "We at the tribunal have been constantly told that there is political will in the West to arrest Karadzic but I have to say openly that I don't believe in that," he told Sarajevo's main daily Dnevni Avaz in comments later confirmed to Reuters. "Look what happened to Saddam Hussein. There, there was political will to snatch him -- and they snatched him. Had there been the same such will for Karadzic, he would be in The Hague." Blewitt said Karadzic could stay at large until his death. He also announced he would leave his post for personal reasons in mid-2004 after 10 years with the tribunal and return home to Australia. The evasion from justice of Karadzic and his former army leader General Ratko Mladic is seen as an impediment to the full recovery of former Yugoslavia and its integration into Europe. Karadzic is seen as one of the people most responsible for Bosnia's 1992-95 conflict in which 200,000 people, mainly Muslims, were killed. Wanted on two charges of genocide, he was the first person indicted by the special tribunal in 1995. He remains at large despite several NATO attempts to arrest him in Bosnia. Two weeks ago, a four-day manhunt by NATO's Stabilisation Force (SFOR) of his wartime stronghold near Sarajevo failed again to capture him. Blewitt blamed the authorities of Bosnia's Serb Republic for his continued freedom, but also SFOR. "There were opportunities to arrest Karadzic but SFOR did not do it. I don't understand why, I can only guess," he said. He said he once thought Karadzic may have struck a secret deal, as part of Bosnia's 1995 U.S.-brokered Dayton peace treaty, to quit politics in exchange for being left alone. "But even if that argument could have stood in 1996 or 1997, it could not be true today because many administrations have changed," he said. "True, he is well protected, moves in inaccessible mountainous areas on the border between Bosnia and Montenegro, enjoys strong support for the Serbian Orthodox Church."



More Information on International Justice
More Information on Rogues Gallery
More Information on the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C íŸ 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.


 

FAIR USE NOTICE: This page contains copyrighted material the use of which has not been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. Global Policy Forum distributes this material without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in 17 U.S.C § 107. If you wish to use copyrighted material from this site for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain permission from the copyright owner.