Gatti Santana speaks before the UN Security Council about Serbia, genocide denial, and Kordić who would do it all again

(Patria) - President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals Graciela Gatti Santana said on Monday before the UN Security Council in New York that Serbia „flagrantly disregards“ its international obligation to arrest and extradite Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta, accused of contempt of that court.

Presenting her regular report to the UN Security Council, Judge Gatti characterised Serbia's refusal to „arrest and surrender“ Serbian Radical Party officials Jojić and Radeta as one of the „greatest threats“ facing the judicial Mechanism, the successor to the Hague Tribunal, along with „persistent attempts to undermine our work…and judgments“.

„This includes Serbia flagrantly violating its international legal obligations established by the UN Security Council and persistently failing to arrest and surrender Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta, who are alleged to have obstructed the administration of justice“, Gatti Santana emphasised.

She warned that Serbia's non-cooperation „prevents the Mechanism from fulfilling its mandate“.

Gatti Santana underscored that there continues to be a „disturbing trend of genocide denial, glorification of war criminals, and even provocative statements by convicted persons who shamelessly admit they would do it all again“.

Gatti Santana also reported Serbia to the Security Council for the non-extradition of Jojić and Radeta at the end of last year.

The Hague Tribunal indicted Jojić and Radeta in October 2012 for influencing prosecution witnesses in the Hague trial of their party leader Vojislav Šešelj by threatening, blackmailing, and bribing them to change their testimonies or not testify.

Since 2015, when the Hague court issued its first arrest warrant, Serbian authorities have refused to arrest and extradite Jojić and Radeta to The Hague.

In the spring of 2016, the Higher Court in Belgrade ruled that there were no legal grounds for the arrest and extradition of the Radicals, because the national law on cooperation with the Hague Tribunal only provides for the obligation to extradite those indicted for war crimes, not those indicted for contempt of court.

At the same time, Serbia expressed readiness to try Jojić and Radeta before domestic courts.

The Hague court has repeatedly rejected this interpretation, emphasising that official Belgrade, under both international law and domestic law, has an obligation to cooperate in cases of contempt of court, as it had done previously.

However, after the closure of the Tribunal, its legal successor, the judicial Mechanism, decided in 2017 to defer the trial of the Radical officials to Serbia.

Following an appeal by the prosecutor, the Appeals Chamber ordered Judge Liu Daqun to consider whether witnesses against Jojić and Radeta would be safe if the trial were held in Serbia.

In March 2019, Judge Daqun overturned the initial decision and ordered that the trial of Jojić and Radeta be held in The Hague. At the same time, the judge again issued an arrest warrant and extradition order to the Serbian authorities.

In his reasoning, Chinese Judge Daqun stated that key witnesses in this case had „unequivocally“ stated they would not testify if the trial were in Serbia due to „serious concerns for their own safety and the safety of their families“.

In February 2020, the Mechanism rejected Serbia's appeal against that decision and confirmed that the Radical officials would be tried in The Hague.

At the end of July 2020, Judge Daqun called on Serbia to inform him of what it had done to implement the arrest warrant and extradition order for Jojić and Radeta.

In September 2021, Judge Daqun decided to hear prosecution witnesses in the absence of Jojić and Radeta, in order to preserve evidence.

This special legal procedure does not constitute a trial, but the statements of witnesses given before Judge Daqun may later be admitted as evidence in the trial of Jojić and Radeta, if and when it takes place.