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#09BELGRADE1222, SERBIA: WAR CRIMES AMBASSADOR

RAPP HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF

Reference ID CreatedReleased

Classification Origin

09BELGRADE1222

2009-10-2215:03

2010-12-1021:09

UNCLASSIFIED//FOR OFFICIAL USEONLY

EmbassyBelgrade

VZCZCXRO8255 RR RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDFRUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNPRUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSL RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG DERUEHBW #1222/01 2951513 ZNR UUUUU ZZH R 221512Z OCT 09FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 0308

INFO EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE RHEHAAA/NATIONALSECURITY COUNCIL WASHINGTON DC RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOMVAIHINGEN GE RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UKThursday, 22 October 2009, 15:12 UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 03BELGRADE 001222 SENSITIVE SIPDIS DEPT FOR EUR/SCE (P.PETERSON), S/WCI (JOLLES) EO 12958 N/A TAGS PREL, PHUM,PGOV, KAWC, SR SUBJECT: SERBIA: WAR CRIMES AMBASSADORRAPP HIGHLIGHTS IMPORTANCE OF CATCHING RATKOMLADIC/GORAN HADZIC BELGRADE 00001222 001.2 OF 003

1. (U) Ambassador Rapp has cleared this cable.

Summary-------

2. (SBU) In meetings with President Tadic and other Serbiangovernment officials on October 16, Ambassador at Large for WarCrimes Issues Stephen Rapp received updates on the search forInternational Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)fugitives Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic and highlighted theimportance of capturing them, offering U.S. assistance. He also

discussed domestic Serbian war crimes trials and cooperation withregional neighbors. Serbian officials made it clear to AmbassadorRapp their commitment to finding the fugitives, but they avoidedAmbassador Rapps suggestion that they take up the challenge ofinfluencing public opinion about the need for war crimes trials. Bothsides agreed on the clear need for increased regional war crimescooperation.

End Summary.

U.S. Message: Capturing Fugitives Essential

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3. (U) Ambassador Rapp met with Serbian President Boris Tadic,Serbian National Council for Cooperation with the InternationalCriminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Chairman RasimLjajic, War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, War Crimes SpecialCourt President Sinisa Vazic, and War Crimes Investigations Service

Chief Aleksandar Kostic in Belgrade on October 16. 4. (SBU)Ambassador Rapp emphasized to all of his interlocutors thatcooperation with the ICTY, in particular handing over the remainingtwo fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic remained essential.He added that while he would give his assessment of Serbiasefforts to Brammertz, capturing Mladic was the ultimate solution tomaking progress on EU accession. The Ambassador also conveyedthe USGs willingness to help Serbia in any way possible, pointing tothe recently completed FBI assessment as a sign of USGcommitment. Ambassador Rapp suggested there might be otherways the United States could help, such as tracking financialsupport to Mladic. Tadic Meeting -------------5. (SBU) President Tadic told Ambassador Rapp that those wholikely were hiding Mladic had links to organized crime and wealthattributable to 90s wartime profiteering. Tadic therefore wasenthusiastic about his intelligence services cooperation with theU.S. Drug Enforcement Agency in the recent capture of 2.8 tons ofcocaine off the coast of Uruguay(http://www.b92.net/eng/news/crimes-article.p hp?yyyy=2009&mm=10&dd= 19&nav_id=62454). This seizure wouldopen the door to arrests of a number of organized crime figures in

Serbia, as well as in Montenegro and Bosnia-Herzegovina, he said,and perhaps shake the trees of the organized crime elementsinvolved with shielding Mladic. Tadic said he hoped to increase andexpand U.S. intelligence and security links in order to bolsterSerbias role as a pillar of stability in the region.

6. (SBU) Referring to the recent FBI assessment, Tadic thankedAmbassador Rapp and the USG for offering the assistance and saidSerbia very much welcomed the help. Tadic expressed hisfrustration with the Dutch position on blocking Serbian accession tothe EU until Mladic and Hadzic were apprehended and turned over

BELGRADE 00001222 002.2 OF 003 to The Hague. My people arestarting to ask me what I have delivered in terms of EU accessionand as long as the Dutch block us, they are adding to theammunition of the opposition, i.e., the Serbian Progressive Party.Tadic said he also was frustrated with the role his former PrimeMinister Vojislav Kostunicas Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) hadplayed in hiding information about Mladic from Tadic. I believe theyhave violated our law, he said, and when Mladic is caught, we willprove that. Summing up, Tadic said, we are counting on theUnited States to help us.

7. (SBU) In response Ambassador Rapp said he doubted the Dutch

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position would change without the capture of Mladic. He encouragedthe president to emphasize the atmospherics in Serbia surroundingMladic and the war crimes tribunal in general. You need to get outthe message that the court is good, and members of thegovernment need to speak respectfully of the institution. Fugitive

Hunt -------------

8. (SBU) Other Serbian officials told Ambassador Rapp that it wasthe governments priority to deliver the two remaining fugitives toThe Hague Tribunal and thus close this painful chapter of Serbiashistory. ICTY Cooperation Chair Ljajic and others asked for USGassistance convincing the Dutch of Serbias efforts. Ljajic said thatthe government was in a difficult position, with no support for ICTYcooperation among a public which saw it as simply an extracondition for EU accession; what he described as enormousinternational pressure made it more difficult to explain the need forcooperation to the public. Ambassador Rapp told Ljajic it wasimportant that government officials not speak out against the ICTYsdecisions, because doing so sent the wrong message. Ljajic said theICTY was very unpopular and had issued many strange decisions,such as seemingly extra harsh sentences for Serbs such as Lukic,although he agreed the message had to be balanced. Ljajic addedthat on other issues of ICTY cooperation, Serbia was fulfilling allrequests for witness subpoenas, witness protection, and archiveaccess.

9. (SBU) Despite many challenges, the Action Team responsible forcapturing Mladic and Hadzic would be successful because of itsefforts, officials told Ambassador Rapp. Difficulties included theyears that had passed since the former government had had goodinformation on the fugitives whereabouts in 2006, the likelihoodthat both had altered their appearance and were using falseidentities, the vast number of useless tips called into the police thathad to be investigated, difficulties tracking how the fugitivescommunicated with family, and financial support, according to warcrimes police head Kostic and war crimes prosecutor Vukcevic.Kostic noted that Radovan Karadzic had been supporting himself

with only 450 Euros a month immediately prior to his apprehensionin 2008. Ljajic said the Action Team had approached Russia for helpon both fugitives, since there was evidence they had travelled to orcontemplated travel to Russia. Domestic War Crimes Trials--------------------------

10. (SBU) Ambassador Rapps interlocutors also noted thesuccesses of Serbias domestic war crimes trials in the Serbian WarCrimes Special Court. They all expressed thanks for the USGsstrong and continuing support to the court and the police War

Crimes Investigation Service. Ambassador Rapp noted theimportance of having trials in national courts, which facilitated

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reconciliation. Kostic said the domestic trials had been important inhelping the Serbian public understand that Serbs had committedwar crimes and not just been victims of them. Ambassador Rapptold Judge Vazic he was concerned that the Supreme Court hadoverturned many of the Special Courts convictions. Vazic noted that

Supreme Court judges BELGRADE 00001222 003.2 OF 003 lackedthe specialized training to understand war crimes cases. Underprovisions of the judicial reform package (Ref A), the Appeals Courtswould hear war crimes appeals and those judges would be requiredto obtain training, resulting in better appeals outcomes.Ambassador Rapp asked Vukcevic about the acquittals in the Bytyqitrial for killings of three American citizen brothers (Ref B). Vukcevicsaid his office would appeal the acquittals. Both he and Kostic notedthe difficulties getting police with information on the case to talk.Regional Cooperation --------------------

11. (SBU) Regional cooperation on war crimes was mixed, officialstold Ambassador Rapp. While Kostic said cooperation with EULEX,the Croatian police, and Bosnian intelligence services had helpedcollect evidence on the ICTY fugitives, Ljajic said the monthlymeetings with regional intelligence agencies were no longer useful,and he asked for USG support in emphasizing the need forcooperation in the fugitive search. On domestic cases, Vukcevicnoted that evidence transfer agreements with Croatia andMontenegro had been successful, helping Serbia to try 28 caseswith evidence transferred from Croatia; USG-aided efforts to

establish a similar agreement with Bosnia had stalled, however. Akey problem, Vukcevic said, was that Bosnia wanted to try thosecases in which the crimes had occurred in Bosnia, whereas Serbiawanted to try individuals who were present in Serbia and could notbe extradited because of the lack of extradition agreements. Serbiahad just passed a law allowing extradition if a bilateral agreementexisted, but Croatia and Bosnia still had constitutional prohibitions.In the meantime, evidence transfer was the only way to prosecutethese cases, said Vukcevic. Ambassador Rapp pledged his officescontinuing support to the negotiations with Bosnia and to otherregional cooperation efforts. Comment -------

12. (SBU) Conversations with Serbian officials confirmed thatSerbia is making strong efforts to capture the fugitives, but officialsinvolved in the fugitive search know that they need a lucky breakthat could come soon or not. Serbian officials were clearly hopingAmbassador Rapp would attempt to convince the Dutch to droptheir objections to implementation of Serbias Stabilization andAssociation Agreement. With the exception of ICTY CooperationChair Ljajic, who frequently speaks publicly about the importance ofICTY cooperation, interlocutors did not respond to Ambassador

Rapps message that public sentiment about ICTY cooperationwould not change without strong messages from the leadership. The

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visit also highlighted the need to continue to work withgovernments in the region to improve cooperation on the fugitivesearch and on domestic trials. End Comment.

BRUSH