High Representative and EU Special Representative Valentin Inzko, met with the President of the ICTY, Patrick Robinson, today in Sarajevo. They were joined by Principal Deputy High Representative Raffi Gregorian, who handles ICTY issues for OHR. Considering that this was the first visit by Mr Robinson to BiH as President of the ICTY, HR/EUSR Inzko used the opportunity to brief him on issues relevant to ICTY and the processing of war crimes that occurred in BiH.
At the meeting they discussed the cooperation between Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Hague Tribunal, which is an ongoing obligation arising from the UN Resolutions as well as the Dayton Peace Agreement. They emphasized that this cooperation would not be completed until the remaining war crime indictees were brought before the Tribunal, primarily Ratko Mladić. «Bringing to justice the remaining war crimes indictees, Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić, is one of the OHR’s priorities, and this organization directs significant efforts to break the suspects’ support network and will continue doing so until they are brought to justice. We owe at least this much to the victims», HR/EUSR Inzko said.
Inzko and Robinson also discussed issues related to the legal heritage of the Hague Tribunal and strengthening capacities of local judicial institutions for processing war crime cases. They agreed that it is absolutely essential to the rule of law and the ICTY completion strategy that international judges and prosecutors in the War Crimes divisions of the BiH Court and Prosecutor’s Office remain as long as those two bodies require them. They also discussed the case of Radovan Stankovic, whose flight to Serbia and the utter failure of RS, BiH, and Serbian authorities to return him to justice are impediments to the ICTY completion strategy and the rule of law.
The High Representative and EU Special Representative, Valentin Inzko, and the President of the ICTY, Patrick Robinson called BiH institutions, primarily the RS, to strengthen their efforts in the direction of meeting the obligations of full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal.