Where's Radovan, Carla?

Earlier this month Carla Del Ponte told us that
Karadzic would be in the Hague by June 29. She
repeated it at the UN. So where is he? Her
spokeswoman is now ludicrously claiming that Del
Ponte's comments were distorted. Precisely why this
complaint about distorted comments was not aired
previously has not been revealed. Below, in order,
are the relevant press reports.

Again, when complaining about the Hague, Del Ponte's
misleading comments to the world public should be
aired.

Brian Gallagher


Del Ponte confident on Karadzic arrest | 21:44 June 12
| Reuters
THE HAGUE -- Saturday -- The chief war crimes
prosecutor for the Balkans says she is confident top
Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic will
be arrested by the end of the month, the Swiss news
agency ATS reported.

"We have good reasons to believe that Radovan Karadzic
will be extradited by June 29," Carla del Ponte told
ATS in Switzerland late on Friday, without
elaborating.

The Bosnian Serb wartime leader has been at large
since 1996, evading a United Nations trial for
genocide for his role in Bosnia's 1992-95 war that
killed 200,000 people.

The Bosnian Serb Republic is under Western pressure
over poor cooperation with the U.N. war crimes court
in The Hague and has pledged to step up efforts to
detain suspects.

It hopes to join NATO's Partnership for Peace
programme for non-members next month.

Expressing discontent with Belgrade's poor
cooperation, Del Ponte said the arrest of Karadzic's
military commander Ratko Mladic depended on the
Serbian authorities.

Del Ponte said she would submit a formal complaint
against Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to
the UN Security Council by the end of the month,
adding that the tribunal was still missing important
documents needed to continue the inquiry.

Karadzic arrest 'imminent'
Tuesday, June 29, 2004 Posted: 8:13 PM EDT (0013 GMT)


UNITED NATIONS (CNN) -- Chief U.N. war crimes
prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte,
says she is optimistic that former Bosnian Serb leader
Radovan Karadzic will be in custody by the end of the
day Wednesday.

Asked why she thought they would be in custody soon,
Del Ponte said Tuesday, "I cannot tell it now publicly
-- let's obtain the arrest of Karadzic and afterward
we will talk about what we have done, what we have
learned."

For years, Karadzic was said to be at large somewhere
in the Republika Srpska -- the Serb part of
Bosnia-Hercegovina. There has been renewed pressure on
Bosnia to hand over Karadzic.

Aides to Del Ponte say there have been new pressures
placed on Serb officials in Bosnia who were recently
convinced to give fresh evidence on mass graves for a
report on the massacres in Srebrenica in July 1995.

Bosnia also is hoping to join NATO's Partnership for
Peace -- a cooperative defense program with NATO.

At the recent NATO summit in Istanbul, Bosnia was
reminded that it had not lived up to its obligation to
cooperate with the war crimes tribunal -- a condition
for joining NATO's Partnership for Peace.

Del Ponte has been saying in various forums over the
past year that she was hopeful Karadzic would be
arrested by the end of the year, and recently told
journalists she was confident he would be arrested by
the end of June 2004.

The International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia,
and another U.N. Tribunal for War Crimes in Rwanda,
are now under mandate from the U.N. Security Council
to wrap up their work.

While there is no particular deadline for arrests to
be made, investigations must be completed by the end
of 2004 and trials must be completed by the end of
2008.

Del Ponte told the U.N. Security Council Tuesday that
the tribunal was in a "dire budgetary and financial
situation."

She also said the deadlines imposed by the council
meant that "fugitives and their protective networks
are trying to buy time until 2008 in hopes of evading
justice, as they believe the time to be tried in The
Hague will soon expire."

Karadzic is wanted for his role in Bosnia's war -- he
has been twice indicted by the United Nations war
crimes tribunal in The Hague.

Karadzic as well as another top war crimes suspect,
former Bosnian Serb military leader General Ratko
Mladic, are alleged to be directly responsible for the
atrocities committed against the Bosnian Muslim
population in Srebrenica.

Both Karadzic and Mladic are also charged with
genocide and crimes against humanity for crimes
perpetrated against the civilian population throughout
Bosnia-and-Herzegovina, for the sniping campaign
against civilians in Sarajevo, and for the taking of
U.N.-peacekeepers as hostages and their use as human
shields.

Del Ponte says there are a total of 20 fugitives from
the war crimes tribunal including Karadzic, and 15 of
the fugitives are thought to be in Serbia and
Montenegro.

Next year will mark the 10th year that both Karadzic
and Mladic have been on the run from the court.

Del Ponte told the council, "How long will it be
tolerated that these leaders escape justice? How long
will it be tolerated that they make a parody of both
justice and the repeated commitment of the Security
Council to have them arrested and tried?"



The Associated Press
Wednesday, June 30, 2004

Karadzic eludes U.N. war crimes tribunal

By ANTHONY DEUTSCH
ASSOCIATED PRESS WRITER

THE HAGUE, Netherlands, June 30 (AP) --
Serbia-Montenegro's president
said Wednesday his country is ready to extradite
fugitives to the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the Balkans, and the top
international administrator for Bosnia fired dozens of officials
believed to be hampering the court's work.

The key developments for the U.N. court in the Hague came as its
most-wanted suspect, Radovan Karadzic, was still at large, despite
predictions by Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that
his arrest would happen before the end of June.
Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb leader during the wars of
the 1990s that broke apart Yugoslavia, has eluded justice for nearly nine years.

The tribunal has stepped up pressure on Serbian leaders in recent
months by reporting their failure to cooperate withthe court
to the U.N. Security Council, which can impose economic sanctions.

Also, the change of position by Serbia-Montenegro came after the weekend
election of a pro-Western leader in Serbia, the dominant country in the
two-republic union that replaced Yugoslavia. Reformer
Boris Tadic won in a runoff poll against a hard-line nationalist ally
of former autocrat Slobodan Milosevic, who fueled ethnic wars in Croatia,
Bosnia-Herzegovina and the southern Serbian province of Kosovo.

Karadzic was indicted for genocide in 1995 - along
with his top general, Ratko Mladic - for the massacre of thousands of
Bosnian Muslims from the Bosnian enclave of Srebrenica. They are among 20
fugitives still sought by the tribunal for crimes allegedly committed during
the Balkan wars.

Comments by Del Ponte on Tuesday in New York, after
she addressed the U.N. Security Council, had left the impression that
Karadzic's hand-over was imminent. Some media even reported he had been
caught.

Asked about Karadzic's arrest, Del Ponte had said: "Of course I have
(information). But you all understand that I cannot tell it now publicly.
Let's obtain the arrest of Karadzic, and after we will speak about
what we have done."

Responding to a question about her earlier comment that Karadzic would
be arrested before June 30, he said: "I'm still expecting (it), yes. But let's see."

But the following day her spokeswoman, Florence Hartmann, sought
to tone down the prosecutor's comments, which she said had been
"completely twisted" out of context.

"She expects, she hopes, and we will not give up,"
Hartmann said. "Just when it will be, we don't know."

Karadzic has eluded a massive manhunt, escaping
regular raids by NATO peacekeepers at the homes of his family, his
former political headquarters, and businesses of his former associates.

Some believe he has long fled the Balkans, possibly to
Russia, where Milosevic's wife, Mira Markovic - also a war crimes
fugitive - is believed to be hiding.

Del Ponte's optimistic comments may have been provoked by the pending
dismissals of 60 Bosnian Serb officials that Bosnia-Herzegovina's
international administrator, Paddy Ashdown, announced Wednesday.

Among those fired for stonewalling Karadzic's capture
were Bosnian Serb Parliament Speaker Dragan Kalinic and Zoran Djeric,
the interior minister in charge of police in the Serb half of Bosnia.

Others dismissed were senior politicians of the party
founded by Karadzic, along with lower party officials, heads of
state companies and some local police chiefs.

Ashdown said the dismissals were part of a 10-point
package "designed to reduce the influence of those who ... obstruct this
country's progress toward stability and the rule of law."