Del Ponte transcript stirs controversy

Officials declined to comment on the transcript of a conversation between Carla Del Ponte and a former RS speaker. According to the transcript, at end of May 2004, the Hague Tribunal’s chief prosecutor asked Dragan Kalinic to pass a message on to war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic telling him to give himself up, or risk being killed by NATO and SFOR forces. Del Ponte transcript stirs controversy In response to the former speaker’s assessment that the Republic of Srpska (RS) would suffer as a result of cooperation with the Hague and that their officials from the Serbian Democratic Party would be replaced as a result, Del Ponte replied that there would not be any more “Parliament, government, or federation, just Bosnia.” “The RS will cease to exist, period,” she added, according to the transcript. The Hague Tribunal said in a short statement that “Del Ponte has no comment.” Reflecting on the transcript, NATO’s spokesman in Bosnia, Derek Chapel said that the statement suggesting NATO or SFOR would kill war crimes suspects in the course of arrest, bizarre and unprecedented. “NATO’s job is to help the International Court in The Hague (ICTY) as we have done in the past,” he said. EUFOR spokesman, Major Dave Fielder, rejected the prosecutor’s claims. “Our job is to catch and detain war crimes suspects, not to kill them. We are under the orders of the ICTY and the United Nations to catch and apprehend suspects,” he asserted. ICTY Secretariat representative in Bosnia Matias Hellman did not wish to respond to Del Ponte’s remarks, stressing that it was not his responsibility. “That directly concerns the prosecutor and the prosecution, and I can’t make any comment. You’ll have to ask her or her spokesman,” he said. Nor did the cabinet of EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Javier Solana want to comment on the transcript. “We can’t comment on such things. That’s a question for EUFOR, not us. Everything EUFOR says, Javier Solana supports,” said a representative from Solana’s press office.

Del Ponte transcript stirs controversy

In response to the former speaker’s assessment that the Republic of Srpska (RS) would suffer as a result of cooperation with the Hague and that their officials from the Serbian Democratic Party would be replaced as a result, Del Ponte replied that there would not be any more “Parliament, government, or federation, just Bosnia.” “The RS will cease to exist, period,” she added, according to the transcript.

The Hague Tribunal said in a short statement that “Del Ponte has no comment.”

Reflecting on the transcript, NATO’s spokesman in Bosnia, Derek Chapel said that the statement suggesting NATO or SFOR would kill war crimes suspects in the course of arrest, bizarre and unprecedented. “NATO’s job is to help the International Court in The Hague (ICTY) as we have done in the past,” he said.

EUFOR spokesman, Major Dave Fielder, rejected the prosecutor’s claims. “Our job is to catch and detain war crimes suspects, not to kill them. We are under the orders of the ICTY and the United Nations to catch and apprehend suspects,” he asserted.

ICTY Secretariat representative in Bosnia Matias Hellman did not wish to respond to Del Ponte’s remarks, stressing that it was not his responsibility. “That directly concerns the prosecutor and the prosecution, and I can’t make any comment. You’ll have to ask her or her spokesman,” he said.

Nor did the cabinet of EU High Representative for Foreign Policy Javier Solana want to comment on the transcript. “We can’t comment on such things. That’s a question for EUFOR, not us. Everything EUFOR says, Javier Solana supports,” said a representative from Solana’s press office.