HRW says arrest of Mladic a message to Sudan’s Bashir
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May 26, 2011 (WASHINGTON) – The arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime general
Ratko Mladic on Thursday sends a strong signal to fugitives evading
international justice including Sudanese president Omer Hassan
Al-Bashir, Human Rights Watch (HRW) said today.
JPEG - 26.8 kb
Bosnian Serb army commander General Ratko Mladic speaks with the press
near Zepa, east of Sarajevo, in this July 26, 1995 file photo
(Reuters)
Mladic, accused of orchestrating the massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and
boys in the town of Srebrenica and a brutal 43-month siege of
Sarajevo, was found in a farmhouse owned by a cousin, a Serbian police
official said.
The Serbian general Mladic was indicted in 1995 together with his
former political leader Radovan Karadzic, who was arrested in July
2008 and went on trial in October 2009.
The United Nations along with Western nations warmly welcomed his
arrest as a milestone in hunting down war criminals around the world.
HRW said Mladic’s apprehension goes to show that it is not only Africa
which is a target of international justice.
"Thursday’s historic arrest of one of the most notorious Yugoslav
alleged war criminals is a reminder that international justice extends
far beyond Africa," said Elise Keppler, senior counsel with Human
Rights Watch’s international justice program.
"Moreover, Mladic’s arrest some 16 years after he was indicted
highlights that even when timely execution of warrants may not be
possible, justice can ultimately be done. Sudanese President Omer
al-Bashir—who is a fugitive wanted by the International Criminal Court
(ICC) for heinous crimes committed in Darfur—should consider himself
on notice."
The ICC charged the Sudanese leader with ten counts of war crimes,
crimes against humanity and genocide he allegedly orchestrated in the
country’s western region of Darfur. The Sudanese government refuses to
recognize the court’s jurisdiction despite a United Nations Security
Council (UNSC) resolution adopted under Chapter VII referring the
Darfur case to the ICC.
The African Union (AU) has rallied behind the Sudanese leader against
the ICC and accused the Hague Tribunal of targeting African leaders.
It was only African ICC members that allowed Bashir to visit without
arresting him contrary to their legal obligations under the Rome
Statute.
All of these countries used an AU resolution adopted in 2009 that bars
the arrest of Bashir in the continent as an excuse to receive him.
(ST)
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