In his first address to the UN Security Council as ICTY President, Judge Fausto Pocar gives an assessment of the cooperation by all the states in the region, calling for the pressure to be maintained on Serbia and Montenegro to deliver the remaining fugitives from international justice. The Tribunal's "expiry date" depends on Karadzic and Mladic. As Pocar stressed, "the Tribunal simply cannot close its doors until they have been brought to justice"


The new target date for the completion of all first instance proceedings before the ICTY is the end of 2009 – Judge Fausto Pocar, new ICTY President, said today before the UN Security Council.

Whether this will be achieved depends on a number of factors, the foremost among them being Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. If they are arrested in the near future, the trials could all be completed until the end of 2009, but "the longer their arrival is delayed, the greater the likelihood that trials will continue longer". At any rate, Judge Pocar noted, "the Tribunal simply cannot close its doors until they have been brought to justice".

The cooperation by the states in the region is of major importance for the Tribunal to complete its mandate, Judge Pocar said. The new ICTY President said that the cooperation with Croatia was "now satisfactory", that Bosnia and Herzegovina's "level of cooperation remains very good at both the Federation and State levels". "There are encouraging signs of cooperation" from Republika Srpska, as he said, but it remains insufficient primarily because of the failure to provide information that could lead to the arrest of Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic. In his opinion, Serbia and Montenegro’s "cooperation has improved", but there are grounds for "serious concern" because of the failure to surrender the remaining fugitives from international justice. The ICTY President urged the Security Council and the international community to "maintain pressure" for "Serbia and Montenegro’s expressed good" to be "translated into actions and results".

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