Ljubomir Borovcanin’s transfer to The Hague, in which the RS authorities played an important role, is yet another important step in the process of bringing accused for grave war crimes before the court. Ljubomir Borovcanin is the sixth indicted war criminal to be transferred to the ICTY this year by the Republika Srpska, and marks a significant shift in policy after nine years of inactivity and obstruction in relation to the Tribunal.
Mr Borovcanin is one of the last remaining members of the joint RS Military and Police forces, subordinated to General Krstic charged before the ICTY with crimes committed in Srebrenica to be transferred to The Hague. Ratko Mladic should look carefully, and consider the military code under which he operates that permits his subordinates to answer for actions they carried out under his command.
The international community will continue to watch closely to see whether this transfer is followed by other transfers, including Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. The journey will only be complete when every indicted war criminal is in The Hague.