Massacre widows demand karadzic arrest

Widows of victims of Europe’s worst massacre since the Second World War today asked the UN war crimes tribunal’s top prosecutor to create a unit of volunteers to hunt down the two top suspects.

Bosnian Serb troops in 1995 killed up to 8,000 boys and men in Srebrenica, which had been declared a “safe zone” by the United Nations.

Carla Del Ponte visited the Srebrenica memorial centre together with 50 widows and mothers of victims.

“Make them arrest the perpetrators! Speed it up, Carla,” the nervous widows yelled as Del Ponte walked between the graves. Some victims’ remains have been exhumed from mass graves and reburied here.

The widows prayed with Del Ponte for the souls of the victims before handing her a letter accusing her of failing to see to that Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his top general, Ratko Mladic, are arrested. Both have been charged with genocide in relation to the massacre.

“You are not capable of fulfilling our requests, so we now want you to ask the European Parliament to approve the establishment of a special unit of volunteers who will arrest Karadzic and Mladic,” the letter read.

Del Ponte did not answer that demand, but she earlier told the widows she has to rely on local authorities and Nato troops to deliver suspects because her court has no mechanism to perform arrests. She has insisted for years that the two be arrested.

Karadzic is believed hiding in the Serb part of Bosnia, which has failed to arrest and hand over any war crimes suspects to the Hague-based tribunal. But authorities there earlier this week promised Del Ponte they would now start arresting suspects.

She told the widows she was “sure” that Bosnian Serb authorities would arrest Karadzic “by the end of the year”.

Mladic is believed hiding in Serbia, but Belgrade authorities there claim he is not there.

Karadzic and Mladic are two of 20 suspects from the former Yugoslavia the court wants arrested, Del Ponte said.

“We need your support,” she told the widows. “You are a motive for us the reason for our activities.”

So far, about 5,000 bodies of Srebrenica massacre victims have been found and experts continue to search for more mass graves in the area.