Brussels, 27/01/2010 (Agence Europe) - During discussion at the European Parliament on Tuesday 26 January, Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor at the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), underlined the tribunal's three main priorities. These are: - trials underway must be concluded (25 persons are currently charged), fugitives must be brought to justice, and the judiciary mechanism must be strengthened. The prosecutor also welcomed the increasingly important role of the European Union in providing assistance to the ICTY. He said there was no doubt that EU assistance is essential, something that he will go on repeating. He added: “We need help from the international community”.
On the subject of relations between the various countries that made up the former Yugoslavia, Brammertz welcomed the fact that different public prosecutors' offices, for example in Belgrade, Zagreb and Sarajevo, have been set up over the past five years. He stressed the importance of integrating young prosecutors with a view to working together towards one and the same objective. Since last summer, the ICTY has been able to integrate a relational prosecutor into its team to liaise with the three above towns.
There is no problem of cooperation in Bosnia but rather a “more structural problem as one does not wish to interfere in internal policy”, the prosecutor said, taking the view that “Bosnia has the greatest potential when it comes to dossiers” but that, unfortunately, it does not have sufficient resources for handling all the dossiers. He said that, regarding collaboration with Croatia, it seems very tricky to answer the question of whether external aid is needed, as this does not truly come within the ICTY remit. However, if Croatia wants such aid, then the prosecutor is not opposed to it. Brammertz stressed on the subject of the missing documents concerning war crimes in Croatia that “we know they existed” but he himself does not know “whether the documents were destroyed or not”. He calls for a “credible and complete investigation” to be carried out, adding: “We are not asking for something impossible”. He considers there is no reason to doubt the commitment of the Croatian prosecutor.
A finger of blame was pointed at the little progress made by the ICTY when the prosecutor was questioned about the fact that Ratko Mladic is still free 15 years after the end of the war in Bosnia. Brammertz responded by pointing out that “the hunt for fugitives is our absolute priority”. Nonetheless, according to an OECD survey, 65% of the Serb population is against General Mladic's arrest. A report will be drafted by the ICTY in May on what has been done since December 2009 and, if there is no progress, the prosecutor undertakes to include this in the report. (V.L.B./transl.jl)