Serge Brammertz: Mladic Arrest Not Too Late

Has Mladic’s arrest come too late?

The arrest is taking place very late and we were hoping for this arrest for the last 16 years, so yes I would have preferred this arrest to have happened much earlier. But it’s not too late because he is finally in The Hague, and we hope his trial can start as soon as possible under the best possible conditions. The [International Criminal] Tribunal [for Former Yugoslavia]  is still in existence and as you know the UN Security council decided last year to put a Residual Mechanism in place and one of the rules of this mechanism is that all arrests made prior to July 2012 stay with the Tribunal. That means the trial will definitely take place before the ICTY under its current form.
 

Will you change the report on Serbia's cooperation with The Hague because of the arrest?

When we sent the report to New York three weeks ago, we were very critical in regard to the non-arrest of the fugitives and we explained why. We said we wanted a more multidisciplinary approach. We wanted the police more involved. We wanted Serbia to look at several possibilities simultaneously, not one after the other. This report is still valid and we stand behind our criticism. Having said that, it is clear that with the arrest, one of Serbia's main obligations [to the tribunal] has been fulfilled and even if we are not changing our report, we will of course mention this very positively in the oral presentation.

Might the Karadzic and Mladic indictments be merged?

When Radovan Karadzic was arrested in July 2008, we hoped that the arrest of Mladic would follow soon. There had been political changes and the Head of the [Serbian] Intelligence service had been changed at that moment, and we had hoped that both [indictees] could face the judges in The Hague together. As the Office of the Prosecutor, we consider both men part of the same Joint Criminal Enterprise. One being the political architect of the crimes committed, the other being the highest military leader on the ground. This was our hope in 2008, and we know that finally the arrest was much more complicated, and that's why one-and-a-half years ago Karadzic's trial started. That trial is ongoing now and theoretically, based on the Rules of Proceedings, it is still possible to go for a partial joinder. That's a theoretical possibility but I would not say it is a very likely thing today, though we are still looking into a number of options.

If the cases are joined, would Karadzic’s trial be postponed?

The Karadzic trial is ongoing today and will continue next week, and currently no decision has been taken that could in any way impact on the current form of the Karadzic trial.

Is Mladic's health good enough for a trial?

You know, he was successful in hiding for 16 years. He was in a position to move from one place to another. Today, in The Hague, we know there are a number of health issues. It is difficult for me as the Office of the Prosecutor to express any opinion in this regard; I am not a doctor. But I am absolutely sure, as has been the case in the past, that the Register, which is competent in this area, will make sure he receives all the necessary medical treatment to ensure he is fit for trial.

Could the trial be divided ip, so that after each count, the defence presents its evidence and a verdict is given - so that we get some verdicts - considering Mladic's poor health?

Today we have one operative indictment, which was filed yesterday. It is an indictment that basically mirrors the charges against Karadzic. It concerns the following four areas: The ethnic cleansing in Bosnia between 1992 and 1995, the siege of Sarajevo, the shelling and sniping of the city between 1992 and 1995, of course the genocide in Srebrenica and the hostage-taking of UN personal. That is the current operative indictment, but of course we are looking at a number of possibilities to make sure a manageable trial can take place as soon as possible, but it is much too early to say in what direction we are going.

Did you have any indication the arrest would come?

We were hoping for many months that the arrest would come. A year ago we had also a number of very interesting avenues that our Serbian counterparts were working on. Unfortunately, those avenues at the end of the day were unsuccessful. We knew that sooner or later there would be other opportunities to have him arrested, so on one hand we are perhaps surprised, because at the end of the day, after our visit three weeks ago, it happened quickly. On the other hand we are not surprised, because we know that if you are dealing with operations, if you are following a number of leads, you can be successful very quickly.

Do you believe Serbia knew where Mladic was?

I have no elements at all to answer in this in an affirmative way in relation to this question. During the last six months and year we made a number of recommendations about what we would like Serbia to be doing. One of those recommendations was having the investigation broadened. We see Serbia very recently worked on a number of avenues, and that it put more resources into the search, and I've seen that with the change in the police structure, having more specialized police officers in this specialized unit dealing with war crimes, that this also perhaps had an impact. I think this was perhaps to an increased operational activity and of course you need a little bit of luck in the end of the day to be successful.

It's been said that Mladic has cancer. Can you confirm this?

Not at all, I never heard this. I have absolutely no idea what happened to Mladic after 2006, as you know, in 2006 an opportunity was missed to have him arrested. As far as my office is concerned we have no other information about his whereabouts or his medical and physical condition since 2006.