Victims' associations with Brammertz: Karadžić verdict early 2016

During his three-day visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina, the chief Hague prosecutor Serge Brammertz met in Sarajevo with representatives of victims' associations, writes the news agency Patria.

Bakira Hasečić, president of the Association "Woman-Victim of War", told Patria that among other things, they asked the Hague prosecutor when the first-instance verdict for Radovan Karadžić would be pronounced.

-The prosecutor said January or February 2016. The main issue we raised are the cases transferred from the Hague Tribunal under Rule 11bis to the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, which have not been prosecuted.

I personally requested, and others supported, that after the end of its mandate, the Hague Tribunal be relocated to Sarajevo and called a "mini tribunal", and that the prosecutor include this initiative in his report and seek permission from the UN Security Council, says Hasečić.

The representatives of victims' associations also demanded that the prosecution of war criminals at the entity level and in the Brčko District be abolished, and that all criminals be tried at the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

-We also informed Brammertz about the problems that surviving victims face daily. They are without support when testifying in the Republika Srpska, left to themselves and without any protection.

Convicted war criminals who are at large reveal the identities of protected witnesses of the Hague Tribunal to other war criminals. We warned him that the leaders of war crisis staffs in the Republika Srpska have not been arrested, and that they are most responsible for the crimes committed. Lower-ranking individuals are being arrested, says Hasečić.

Brammertz said that the verdict for Vojislav Šešelj should have been pronounced in 2010, but that he does not know why it has not been pronounced to this day and why he has not been returned to The Hague.

In the Hague Tribunal, a new president of the Court will soon be appointed, while the current president, Theodor Meron, will retain the cases of Karadžić and Mladić.