"CIA protected Karadžić"

A former Hague Tribunal insider has added her comments to claims that Radovan Karadzic enjoyed support from the United States. Former Hague spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told the Belgrade daily Blic that the UN war crimes court's prosecution on several occasions gave the U.S. exact locations where the former leader of the Bosnian Serbs was hiding. "CIA protected Karadzic" But, Hartmann says, "they did nothing". "Information about the fugitives' whereabouts was abundant, however, it would always turn out that one of the three countries – the U.S., Britain or France – would block arrests." "Sometimes arrest operations were halted by [former French President Jacques] Chirac personally, other times by [former U.S. President Bill] Clinton," she told the daily in an interview published today, and added she spoke "based on authentic statements and documents". Hartmann claims that during the summer of 2005, two CIA agents asked the Bosnia-Herzegovina police to put an end to a surveillance operation directed at Karadzic's family members, ordered previously by Del Ponte and the Hague Tribunal. She adds that former Bosnian secret police chief Momir Munibabic was sacked on former High Representative Paddy Ashdown's orders, "for being efficient in his search for Karadzic, and for sending information to Del Ponte". Hartmann also believes that Karadzic's arrest "was never a problem for Serbia as much as for the West – unlike the case of Ratko Mladic, whom the Hague sees as a firm link of crime that connects Belgrade and Bosnia". Karadzic, she continued, was known to distance himself from Serbia. "Now that Karadzic has finally been arrested, he can tell a lot about secret deals that led to the fall of Srebrenica. His testimony represents a great risk for the great western powers," Hartmann is convinced. According to her, so far no solid evidence emerged that it was the western countries who had handed Srebrenica over in exchange for the Serbs' cooperation in the peace process, but that "if anyone has any knowledge about such secret deals, it's Karadzic". The former UN war crimes court prosecution spokeswoman also believes that "unless Mladic is arrested in the coming weeks or by the end of the year at the latest, he will never face trial at the Hague". "We had information at the Tribunal from 1997 until 2006, when I left, that Mladic was in Serbia. Whether he now got lost and where he went, should the government in Belgrade claims he's not there, is all the same. Serbia and the West must extradite him if they wish for Serbia to become an EU member," Hartmann concluded.

"CIA protected Karadžić"

But, Hartmann says, "they did nothing".

"Information about the fugitives' whereabouts was abundant, however, it would always turn out that one of the three countries – the U.S., Britain or France – would block arrests."

"Sometimes arrest operations were halted by [former French President Jacques] Chirac personally, other times by [former U.S. President Bill] Clinton," she told the daily in an interview published today, and added she spoke "based on authentic statements and documents".

Hartmann claims that during the summer of 2005, two CIA agents asked the Bosnia-Herzegovina police to put an end to a surveillance operation directed at Karadžić's family members, ordered previously by Del Ponte and the Hague Tribunal.

She adds that former Bosnian secret police chief Momir Munibabić was sacked on former High Representative Paddy Ashdown's orders, "for being efficient in his search for Karadžić, and for sending information to Del Ponte".

Hartmann also believes that Karadžić's arrest "was never a problem for Serbia as much as for the West – unlike the case of Ratko Mladić, whom the Hague sees as a firm link of crime that connects Belgrade and Bosnia".

Karadžić, she continued, was known to distance himself from Serbia.

"Now that Karadžić has finally been arrested, he can tell a lot about secret deals that led to the fall of Srebrenica. His testimony represents a great risk for the great western powers," Hartmann is convinced.

According to her, so far no solid evidence emerged that it was the western countries who had handed Srebrenica over in exchange for the Serbs' cooperation in the peace process, but that "if anyone has any knowledge about such secret deals, it's Karadžić".

The former UN war crimes court prosecution spokeswoman also believes that "unless Mladić is arrested in the coming weeks or by the end of the year at the latest, he will never face trial at the Hague".

"We had information at the Tribunal from 1997 until 2006, when I left, that Mladić was in Serbia. Whether he now got lost and where he went, should the government in Belgrade claims he's not there, is all the same. Serbia and the West must extradite him if they wish for Serbia to become an EU member," Hartmann concluded.