Declaration of Sergio Stanzani and Gianfranco Dell’Alba, President and Secretary General of No Peace Without Justice :
“The arrest of Radovan Karadzic, former president of the Republika Srbska, occurs at a pivotal moment for international justice and for those institutions created to end impunity for warlords who believe they can rely on the obscure machinery of real-politik to evade accountability. After thirteen years as a fugitive, his arrest comes within days of the tenth anniversary of the adoption of the Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and shortly after the arrest in Belgium of former Vice President of Congo Jean Pierre Bemba, indicted by the ICC, and the request by the Prosecutor of the ICC for an arrest warrant for the President of Sudan, Omar Al-Bashir, on counts of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.
Mr Karadzic’s arrest is first and foremost a victory for Belgrade, which has finally chosen to commit itself to the rule of law and to justice, to assume its responsibilities vis-a-vis its own citizens and the international community, as well as to anchor itself ever more firmly to the European Union.
As early as 1993, the Radical Party and No Peace Without Justice, which was founded that year to further the establishment of international tribunals, initiated a campaign directed at European Union governments to act firmly against the regime then in power in Belgrade, collecting over 200,000 signatures on an appeal which sought the indictment of President Slobodan Milosevic.
We commend the resolve and persistence of the European Union in its commitment to ending impunity, by not having compromised itself with a search for alternatives to justice that would only secure an uncertain stability.
The arrest and trial of Radovan Karadzic and the eventual arrest and trial of General Ratko Mladic will be important for setting right the historical record, turning the page for Serbia and bringing justice to victims of the war in Bosnia, as well as for wider progress in the Balkans and Europe as a whole.
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-486-986 235 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3913.
