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Tribunal Chief to Request Sanctions Against Bosnian Serbs By Jovan Kovacic SARAJEVO, June 6 (Reuters) -- The head of the U.N. war crimes tribunal said on Thursday he will request at an upcoming conference that sanctions be reimposed against the Bosnian Serbs for their failure to hand over indicted war criminals. "In Florence, I will request that (international mediator Carl) Bildt should trigger sanctions against (Bosnian Serbs) Republika Srpska," U.N. tribunal president Antonio Cassese told reporters in Sarajevo. "It is my strong request," Cassese added. He was referring to a ministerial meeting to review the implementation of the Dayton accord in Florence on June 14, six months after it was signed in Paris. The accord stipulates that all signatories should extradite those charged as war criminals by the tribunal. Asked whether sanctions could be imposed against rump Yugoslavia, patron of the Bosnian Serbs, Cassese said: "Yes, probably, why not?" Western powers say the Bosnian Serbs and rump Yugoslavia, comprised of Serbia and Montenegro, have dragged their feet on obligations to cooperate with the U.N. tribunal. Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic has so far failed to keep his promise under the Dayton peace accord to oust Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his army commander General Ratko Mladic, despite warnings by the United States that sanctions could be slapped on Belgrade. Most economic sanctions against Belgrade were suspended after Milosevic signed the Dayton accord, with "an outer wall" of sanctions on Belgrade still in place. But the sanctions can be automatically reimposed if Bildt reported to the Security Council that Serbia or the Bosnian Serbs were not complying with the peace process. The U.N. Security Council suspended sanctions on Bosnian Serb territory in March after NATO commanders concluded the Serbs had abided with military terms of the peace pact. Since then, Bosnian Serb hardline politicians have reasserted themselves and drawn international condemnation for blocking implementation of civilian aspects of the accord, including free movement and repatriation of refugees. The tribunal chief failed on Wednesday to win a firm pledge from Belgrade to adopt a law on extraditing suspected war criminals and called this "a blatant violation not only of the Dayton agreement but also of two U.N. Security Council resolutions." Yugoslav authorities said a special law was not needed, arguing its own criminal code was in keeping with international law. But the code bans extradition to other countries. Croatia and Bosnia have already adopted laws to extradite indicted war criminals, as required by the Dayton pact. Cassese praised Bosnia as the only country which has fully cooperated with the Hague tribunal. The tribunal, created by the U.N. Security Council in 1993, has indicted 58 people on war crimes charges and holds six at its detention centre at The Hague.

Antonio Cassese Biography
Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia The United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Major War Criminals/Suspects CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia CalTech's Bosnia Site

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