Are Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina’s (BiH) adequately complying/cooperating with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia)? Prosecutor Serge Brammertz delivered his assessment to the UN Security Council. Croatia: “With no ongoing trials involving Croatian accused persons, the Prosecutor’s Office is making far fewer requests for assistance to the Croatian authorities, and the limited requests that were made were adequately dealt with by the authorities. However, Mr. Brammertz expressed concern over statements by high-level Croatian authorities that question the validity of the ICTY’s work, including officials at the highest level continuing to glorify illegal war-time conduct and questioning the impartiality of the court’s judgements”. (From UN News Centre) Serbia: With arrests of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, the major obstacle with Serbia’s cooperation according to Mr. Brammertz has been satisfied: “The arrests also mean that an important and problematic chapter in Serbia’s cooperation with the ICTY has been closed, even if it took too long and redress for the victims was much too delayed,” “The arrests mean that no individual has ultimately escaped the ICTY’s reach and the final impediment to completing our mandate has been removed,” (All 161 persons indicted have been apprehended and/or surrendered). Bosnia & Herzegovina: “Day-to-day cooperation with his office is proceeding well. At the same time, the National War Crimes Strategy is struggling and urgent action is required to turn the situation around.” Mr. Brammertz expressed fear that “significant challenge(s are) looming”, noting that national war crimes strategies in the region, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, “are floundering.” Brammertz said that “if they are left to fail, the ICTY’s legacy, along with reconciliation and the rule of law, will be endangered.” My assessment is neither as positive or optimistic as Mr. Brammertz's. The historical record has been dealt with more like an effort at arrangement or interior decoration. The prosecution of Florence Hartmann unfortunately indicates an inclination to fashion history rather than read it fully so that lessons can be truly absorbed and the process of genuine reconciliation and good neighborliness moved substantively forward. Maintaining the confidentiality of evidence and worse, destroying it, by the ICTY is inconsistent with one of the Tribunal’s fundamental mandates. ICTY opted to keep secret evidence delivered to it by Belgrade in order to deny such in context of BiH's "genocide case" against Serbia before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Read: - “Guilt & Transparency at Ex-Yugoslav Tribunal” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/blog_post/guilt-justice-transperency-at-ex-yugoslav-tribunal-by-ambassador-mo/41865 I also remain concerned that the Tribunal has never looked to investigate alleged complicity, recklessness and/or recklessness of non-Yugoslav parties in the betrayal of Srebrenica, the fall of the safe areas and the subsequent massacres/genocide.One might assess the cooperation of "big power" capitals, from Washington to Moscow, to have been spotty or more more accurately selective. Whether motivated by opportunism or desire to keep the windows closed on their role during the "Yugoslav wars" and genocide, unfortunately the quest for justice, truth and a full historical record will not be satisfied by the ICTY when it finally closes its doors. See Film Report – “NEW INQUIRY on SREBRENICA GENOCIDE”- diplomaticallyincorrect.org/films/movie/new-inquiry-on-srebrenica-genocide/19068 By Ambassador Muhamed Sacirbey Facebook – Become a Fan at “Bosnia TV” and/or “Diplomatically Incorrect” Twitter - Follow us at DiplomaticallyX More Related Reports – “Srebrenica Genocide Channel” - diplomaticallyincorrect.org/c/the-genocide-of-srebrenica/most_recent/6