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ICTY / GORAN HADŽIĆ ARREST
STORY: ICTY / GORAN HADŽIĆ ARREST
TRT: 1.29
SOURCE: ICTY
RESTRICTIONS: NONE
LANGUAGE: ENGLISH / NATS
DATELINE: 20 JULY 2011, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS
RECENT 2011, INTERNATIONAL COURT FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) HQ, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
1. Tilt up, ICTY HQ
20 JULY 2011, THE HAGUE, THE NETHERLANDS
2. SOUNDBITE (English) Frederick Swinnen, Special Adviser to the Prosecutor, ICTY:
“Today marks the arrest of the last fugitive remaining at large out of the 161 persons indicted by the Tribunal. Hadžić has been a fugitive since July 2004 when the indictment charging him with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war committed in Croatia and Serbia was made public. Arrangements for his transfer into the Tribunal’s custody are under way and he is expected to arrive in The Hague within days. In relation to the arrest, Prosecutor Serge Brammertz stated the following: He welcomed the arrest today of Goran Hadžić the war-time Croatian Serb political leader of the self proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. Hadžić’s transfer into the Tribunal’s custody is a long awaited development for the victims of the crimes charged against him. It is also an important milestone in the Tribunal’s history. Eighteen years after the Tribunal’s creation, we can now say that no indicted person has successfully evaded the Tribunal’s judicial process. This is a precedent of enduring significance, not only for this Tribunal, but also for international criminal justice more generally.
RECENT 2011, INTERNATIONAL COURT FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (ICTY) HQ, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS
3. Tilt up, ICTY HQ
The international tribunal set up to try those responsible for the worst crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s (ICTY) welcomed today’s arrest in Serbia of Goran Hadžić, who has been at large for more than seven years and was the court’s last remaining fugitive.
Reading a statement from The ICTY’s prosecutor, Serge Brammertz, Frederick Swinnen, the Special Adviser to the Prosecutor said that Mr. Hadžić’s transfer into the court’s custody is a “long-awaited development” for the victims of the crimes charged against him.
“It is also an important milestone in the tribunal’s history. Eighteen years after the tribunal’s creation, we can now say that no indicted person has successfully evaded the tribunal’s judicial process. This is a precedent of enduring significance, not only for this tribunal, but also for international criminal justice more generally,” Brammertz said in his statement.
Hadžić is now awaiting transfer from Serbia to The Hague, following the completion of relevant legal proceedings required by Serbian law. After his transfer to the tribunal, he will be detained pending his initial appearance before a judge, at which time he will have an opportunity to enter a plea to each of the charges brought against him in the indictment.
The apprehension of Hadžić comes less than two months after the arrest of wartime Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladiæ. Mr. Brammertz noted that these combined events mark a long-awaited step forward in Serbia’s cooperation with the tribunal.
Hadžić, former president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina, was indicted in 2004 for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, between 1991 and 1992.
His alleged crimes include participation in exterminating or murdering hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians, deporting or forcibly transferring tens of thousands of them, and imprisoning and confining hundreds of them in detention facilities within and outside of Croatia.
He was the last remaining fugitive of the 161 persons indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is based in The Hague.
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