| Press Release |
CHAMBERS
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 30 May 2001
JL/P.I.S./594-e
Transmission to the FRY of Warrants of Arrest and Orders for the Surrender of Radovan Stankovic and Dragan Zelenovic.
On 29 May 2001, Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson, issued warrants of arrest and orders for the surrender of Radovan Stankovic and Dragan Zelenovic to the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY).
Both Stankovic and Zelenovic have been charged in an amended indictment dated 7 October 1999 with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war for their part in the detention, torture and sexual assault, including rape, of Bosnian Muslim women and girls after Serb forces overran the town of Foca in south-eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina in 1992.
These latest warrants and orders issued by Judge Robinson follow a motion from the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) on 28 May 2001, which noted that the original warrants of arrest for Stankovic and Zelenovic had been transmitted in June 1996 to the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to the Republika Srpska, but not to the FRY where the OTP now believes the accused likely to be. The OTP therefore requested that the warrants for arrest and orders for surrender be sent to the authorities in the FRY.
In his orders, Judge Robinson "directed the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to search for, arrest and surrender to the International Tribunal" Radovan Stankovic and Dragan Zelenovic, and to advise them in a language that they understand of their rights as set out in the Tribunal’s Statute and Rules of Procedure and Evidence.
Judge Robinson further requested that the FRY authorities, upon the arrest of the accused, notify the Registrar of the International Tribunal, for the purposes of their transfer pursuant to Rule 57 of the Rules.
Finally, Judge Robinson requested that the FRY "report forthwith to the Registrar of the International Tribunal if they are unable to execute the present warrantSsC of arrest, indicating the reasons for its inability pursuant to Rule 59(A) of the Rules".
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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