Serge Brammertz, chief prosecutor of the United Nations’ International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts, said that “we are currently witnessing that new generations have an even more radical view of the past than those who lived at the time.”
On Thursday in Sarajevo, Brammertz was one of the participants in the international conference on the topic “30 years since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, legacy and challenges”.
“When I think about my biggest disappointments during these 15 years, it is certainly the fact that what we established in the courtrooms was not accepted here in the region,” said Brammertz.
He emphasized that it became clear that it is not enough to have only trials, but also to accept what happens outside the courtrooms.
“Apart from what happens in the courtroom, it is important that we have politicians in the region who accept the facts from the courtrooms, and not celebrate the people who are tried in them. Then, we need independent media because today we have a lot of journalists who work as spokespersons for those politicians who deny the facts. And finally, there is schooling, that is, education, and the way we raise future generations. We are currently witnessing that the new generations have even more radical views on the past than those who lived at that time,” said Brammertz.
He stated that those who are responsible for the past as we have, are now placing that responsibility on the future of the next generations.
“Ten years ago, I was much more optimistic about cooperation with regional prosecutors’ offices and the judiciary than I am today. Many potential defendants, who should be prosecuted before regional courts, live safely in Serbia and Croatia, without arrest. There are a large number of individual prosecutors and judges in the region who are doing a good job, but I’m not sure they have the necessary political support to do more about it,” Brammertz said, AA reports.
