Slovenian President receives President of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia

Ljubljana, 23.6.2008  |  press release

The President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, today received Fausto Pocar, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The ICTY President assessed his visit as important and useful in terms of the exchange of views on the functioning of the Tribunal and the prospects for its work in future.

In their talks, Dr Türk and Dr Pocar touched on the previous work of the ICTY which, in the 15 years of its existence, has fulfilled an important role as a judicial authority specialising in prosecuting the perpetrators of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The Tribunal has convicted 113 defendants out of the 161 prosecuted, and is currently engaged in criminal proceedings in eight cases against 28 defendants. The Slovenian President and the ICTY President agreed that the Tribunal had, thus, already accomplished the majority of its work. They also, however, stressed the need for criminal proceedings against Radovan Karadžić, Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić, who are currently still at large. Dr Turk and Dr Pocar noted that the latter defendants stood accused of extremely serious criminal offences that should not go unpunished.

Later, the conversation between the two men focused in particular on the international community’s efforts to integrate the Western Balkan countries into the European Union. They agreed that, in this context, resolute action was needed with a view to apprehending the remaining defendants, thereby enabling the Tribunal to complete its work and, through the trial process, to disclose the whole truth about the genocide in Srebrenica and the crimes against humanity in the conflicts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia.

The Slovenian President emphasised the importance of all countries cooperating with the International Criminal Tribunal, particularly those whose nationals were defendants in cases before the Tribunal. He took the view that the extradition of the remaining defendants should be accomplished as soon as possible, enabling the Tribunal to proceed to the next phase of its activities. Dr Türk explained that the Tribunal’s assistance in the form of practical instructions and advice would be particularly beneficial to the Western Balkan countries, since they were in the process of assuming full jurisdiction for the prosecution of persons whose responsibility for war crimes, or crimes against humanity, in the conflicts on the territory of the former Yugoslavia remained to be established.