Milomir Stakic transferred to the ICTY.

Milomir Stakic transferred to the ICTY

The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Judge Claude Jorda, and the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, welcome the arrest and transfer of Milomir Stakic, to The Hague.

Mr. Stakic was indicted on 13 March 1997, together with two other accused, Simo Drljaca and Milan Kovacevic, for crimes allegedly committed in the municipality of Prijedor between April 1992 and January 1993.

Specifically, Mr. Stakic is charged with one count of genocide, both with regard to his individual criminal responsibility and his superior criminal responsibility (Articles 7 (1) and 7(3) of the Statute of the Tribunal respectively).

According to the indictment, "in his role as a member of the Crisis Staff, Milomir Stakic was a part of the body that held executive power in the municipality of Prijedor at all times relevant to this indictment. The members of the Crisis Staff acted in concert in planning and deciding the complete range of operations related to the conduct of the hostilities and the destruction of the non-Serb community in the municipality. The Crisis Staff worked in concert with the military and police authorities involved in the attack upon the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat people of the municipality and had the authority to control the actions of the police forces involved in those attacks. In addition, the Crisis Staff planned and authorized the establishment of the camps at Omarska, Trnopolje and Keraterm, supported the continued operation of those camps, and had authority to control the conduct of those camps."

"As the President of the Municipal Assembly of Prijedor, Milomir Stakic occupied the most important position on the Crisis Staff, in terms of de jure authority. He had the final voice and authority in deciding all issued within the municipality."

According to the indictment, the condition in the camps "were abject and brutal. Bosnian Serb military and police personnel in charge of these facilities, their staff, and other persons who visited the camps, all of whom were subject to the authority and control of the Crisis Staff, killed, sexually assaulted, tortured, and otherwise physically and psychologically abused the detainees in the camps."

Furthermore, the indictment alleges that, "At Omarska and Keraterm, the camps were operated in a manner designed to inflict upon the detainees conditions intended to bring about their physical destruction with the intent to destroy, in part, the Bosnian Muslim and Bosnian Croat people as national, ethnic or religious groups."

The President of the Tribunal, Judge Claude Jorda, made the following remarks in reaction to the news:

"It is an encouraging sign coming from the new authorities in Belgrade and we certainly hope that it will be followed by the arrest and surrender of all those indicted by the Tribunal who are residing on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia."

The Prosecutor, Carla Del Ponte, stated that, "this is the first concrete sign of cooperation. I am satisfied and hope that this will continue and that all indictees living on the territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia will be handed over in the near future."

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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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