This morning the High Representative, Paddy Ashdown signed administrative Decisions freezing all the bank accounts in BiH of 14 people who are helping indicted war criminals evade arrest. The fourteen are:
- Aleksandar KARADZIC
- Luka KARADZIC
- Sonja KARADZIC-JOVICEVIC
- Ljiljana ZELEN-KARADZIC
- Djojo ARSENOVIC
- Zvonko BAJAGIC
- Bogdan SUBOTIC
- Zarko NIKOLIC
- Jovan DJOGO
- Slavko ROGULJIC
- Dragan LALOVIC
- Dragan SPASOJEVIC
- Milenko VRACAR
- Dragomir VASIC
The banks and the BiH banking authorities, who, under the applicable banking laws will enforce these Decisions, were informed by the OHR of these Decisions this morning.
The High Representative today also signed Decisions removing Djojo Arsenovic and Dragomir Vasic from their positions as deputies in the RSNA. Dragomir Vasic was also removed from the Zvornik Municipal Assembly.
At a press conference today in Sarajevo the High Representative said that this was one more step undertaken by the ‘coalition against crime’. “There are six allies in this coalition: the US Administration, with its Presidential Executive Orders: the European Union with its entry bans: the OHR, with the Bonn powers: SFOR, ICTY and finally, our local partners in the region” said the High Representative. He underlined that “the members of the coalition have different weapons, which we use in different ways at different times, but we all have one, co-ordinated, purpose and that is to clean up BiH.”
The High Representative said that the case of Slobodan Milosevic has shown that these techniques are successful in undermining the networks that enable indicted war criminals to remain at large.
Today’s Decisions make it clear that the international community is determined to ratchet up the pressure until all those indicted by the ICTY for war crimes are brought before the court. The High Representative today noted that “a few days ago, ICTY indictee Zeljko Meakic handed himself in to the Serbian authorities for delivery to the Hague. Meakic has shown the way and the others should follow – because until they hand themselves in, or are arrested, these lists will just get longer.”