“My goal, although I cannot promise anything at this moment, is to pronounce the final verdict to the former president of the RS Radovan Karadzic in December 2018,” stated the President of the Residual Mechanism and former President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Theodor Meron.
He also added that they pronounced the verdict in the case Seselj almost a year before it was initially planned.
“My honest condolences, I share the pain of the victims. It is natural for different groups to have a different opinion on our verdicts, but I believe that it is important to be aware that we are an institution that follows the truth and facts. I can tell you that people are increasingly convinced that we are doing the right thing. The reason for that is the fact that we are not servants of any single country or political system. We are servants of law,” stated Meron.
“Our work cannot be guided by whether we fulfilled needs or interests of one group or the other, because we would be politicians in that case. And you do not want me to be a politician, but a law-enforcement judge,” noted Teodor Meron.
Judge Meron believes that he is right when he says that the Hague Tribunal made a great success, and an acknowledgment to that is the fact that the Security Council established the Mechanism.
“The proceedings of war crimes should be numerous, because international courts cannot solve all the cases, and thus it is very important for countries like BiH and other countries in the region to share this task with us and prosecute all war criminals in their country. We can establish a model, we can establish a standard. But we depend on countries to prosecute those cases. Otherwise, we will not be even able to even reach many people who committed war crimes, crimes against humanity and the crime of genocide. Therefore, in the interests of the rule of law, we should work together. Follow our example, allocate funds and efforts to prosecute all of those that can be prosecuted in Sarajevo,” concluded Theodor Meron.
(Source: klix.ba)
