Dačić adviser “devastated” if Mladić was arrested

Interior Minister Ivica Dacic’s adviser Toma Fila says that “it would be a shame if (Ratko) Mladic was arrested.” Fila, who said he and Dacic “are friends who have known each other for a long time,” told daily Vecernje Novosti that Serbia should do everything it could to prove that Radovan Karadzic had nothing to do with the genocide in Srebrenica. Dacic adviser “devastated” if Mladic was arrested He said that if in the cases of either Karadzic or General Momcilo Perisic there was confirmation that Serbia had been involved in the events in Srebrenica, there could be revision of the verdict in the case before the International Court of Justice, where Serbia was cleared of genocide in Bosnia. “There is great danger concealed within Karadzic’s indictment. It mentions the role of Serbian police in the events in Srebrenica,” Fila said. “It is most important to try and prove that Karadzic had nothing to do with what happened there. And that it was not done with his knowledge or approval. If that is proven, there would be no danger for our country,” the lawyer said. Asked whether it was strange for him to be advising someone whose chief task was to arrest his good friend Mladic, Fila said that he would be devastated if the general was arrested. “All other solutions are acceptable to me. I met him and Goran Hadzic when they were still fighting and had not been indicted. Being indicted does not mean being guilty,” Fila said, adding that cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was, in fact, an obligation that should be completed. He also said that he wished Vojislav Seselj all the best, though he does not expect him to be released in the coming year. Fila said that he was not getting paid for his advisory services and that he was offering his services to Dacic as an old friend, and because he does not know what he would do if he retired, the daily concluded.

Dačić adviser “devastated” if Mladić was arrested

He said that if in the cases of either Karadžić or General Momčilo Perišić there was confirmation that Serbia had been involved in the events in Srebrenica, there could be revision of the verdict in the case before the International Court of Justice, where Serbia was cleared of genocide in Bosnia.

“There is great danger concealed within Karadžić’s indictment. It mentions the role of Serbian police in the events in Srebrenica,” Fila said.

“It is most important to try and prove that Karadžić had nothing to do with what happened there. And that it was not done with his knowledge or approval. If that is proven, there would be no danger for our country,” the lawyer said.

Asked whether it was strange for him to be advising someone whose chief task was to arrest his good friend Mladić, Fila said that he would be devastated if the general was arrested.

“All other solutions are acceptable to me. I met him and Goran Hadžić when they were still fighting and had not been indicted. Being indicted does not mean being guilty,” Fila said, adding that cooperation with the Hague Tribunal was, in fact, an obligation that should be completed.

He also said that he wished Vojislav Šešelj all the best, though he does not expect him to be released in the coming year.

Fila said that he was not getting paid for his advisory services and that he was offering his services to Dačić as an old friend, and because he does not know what he would do if he retired, the daily concluded.