General Ratko Mladic

Doc. 9759

1 April 2003

General Ratko Mladic

Written Question No. 414 to the Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers

Reply from the Committee of Ministers

adopted at the 833^rd meeting of the Ministers’ Deputies (26 March 2003)

I. Written Question No. 414 by Lord Russell-Johnston (Doc. 9577)

What specific action has been taken collectively by the governments she represents to bring to justice at the International Court in the Hague, General Ratko Mladic, whose direction of the slaughter of about 10,000 people at Srebrenica in July 1995 is well documented; noting that he has taken refuge in a relatively small geographical area either within Serbia or Montenegro, in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, which seeks entry into the Council of Europe or within Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina, which is now a member.

II. Reply by the Chairperson of the Committee of Ministers

The Chairman of the Committee of Ministers is particularly grateful to the Honourable Parliamentarian for the opportunity provided by his question to recall the Committee of Ministers’ position on this matter.

The Committee of Ministers attaches fundamental importance to Serbia and Montenegro’s co-operation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which is shown by the exchange of correspondence between the Chair of the Committee of Ministers at the time, Ms Lydie Polfer, and the President of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, Mr Vojislav Koštunica, and the competent ICTY authorities (documents CM/Inf(2002)41 and 42).

In fact, this question was at the heart of the discussions on the commitments to be honoured by Serbia and Montenegro. Its importance is firmly underlined in the letter recently sent by the Chairman of the Committee of Ministers to the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro, which points out that the Committee of Ministers “expects the authorities of Serbia and Montenegro and of its two Republics to co-operate fully and effectively with the Tribunal and to comply unconditionally with its orders and requests by arresting and handing over, without further delay, the indicted persons still at large and by guaranteeing full and loyal co-operation concerning access to the archives and documents upon request of the ICTY. In this respect, the Committee of Ministers expects, in the coming months, not only words but deeds”.