Human rights activists react to extradition

Natasa Kandic says that Karadzic’s extradition represents Serbia’s position towards most serious war crimes. But Kandic, who heads the Humanitarian Law Center NGO, told B92 that the reasons for his indictment were not fully discussed in public. Human rights activists react to extradition “Finally, the issue of the reasons for Karadzic’s arrest needed to be raised, and every count of the indictment needs to be made public, so that the uninformed youth should be prevented from joining extremist groups who were in the streets last night,” according to her. She added that it was necessary to create a positive social environment, so that the arrest of Ratko Mladic would not be interpreted the same way, with a note of treason about it. “The society needs to understand and accept it as an obligation towards the victims, the domestic laws, but also as an obligation to fulfill international standards which state that no person who has committed war crimes can be freed from criminal responsibility,” she said. Vojin Dimitrijevic, director of Belgrade Center for Human Rights, said that he feared the arrest of Karadzic could have turned into a domestic political event. He said that the timing of Karadzic’s extradition was good. Journalist Misa Brkic told B92 that the extradition was expected. He said that it was done at the last moment, because in the past couple of days, Karadzic’s lawyers "tried to turn the entire thing into a circus". He added that Serbia had “better things to do than to deal with Radovan Karadzic".

Human rights activists react to extradition

“Finally, the issue of the reasons for Karadžić’s arrest needed to be raised, and every count of the indictment needs to be made public, so that the uninformed youth should be prevented from joining extremist groups who were in the streets last night,” according to her.

She added that it was necessary to create a positive social environment, so that the arrest of Ratko Mladić would not be interpreted the same way, with a note of treason about it.

“The society needs to understand and accept it as an obligation towards the victims, the domestic laws, but also as an obligation to fulfill international standards which state that no person who has committed war crimes can be freed from criminal responsibility,” she said.

Vojin Dimitrijević, director of Belgrade Center for Human Rights, said that he feared the arrest of Karadžić could have turned into a domestic political event. He said that the timing of Karadžić’s extradition was good.

Journalist Miša Brkić told B92 that the extradition was expected. He said that it was done at the last moment, because in the past couple of days, Karadžić’s lawyers "tried to turn the entire thing into a circus". He added that Serbia had “better things to do than to deal with Radovan Karadžić".