28.6.2007 by admin.

U.N. Official Is Expected to Become Chief Prosecutor for War Crimes Tribunal

THE HAGUE, June 27 — The chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Carla Del Ponte, is expected to be succeeded by the United Nations official leading the inquiry into the killing in 2005 of Rafik Hariri, former prime minister of Lebanon, United Nations officials in The Hague and in New York said Wednesday.

The United Nations official, Serge Brammertz, a well-known Belgian criminologist who has led the Hariri inquiry, has been invited to take up the prosecutor’s post at the United Nations tribunal in The Hague in December when his mandate in Lebanon expires, the officials said. Mr. Brammertz, seen as the strongest candidate for the job, has accepted, the officials said. He could not be reached immediately for comment.

Ms. Del Ponte’s second term expires in September, and she wanted to step down. She has been asked to stay on until the end of the year, or at least until her successor is able to take over, said the officials, who asked not to be identified because the new candidate had not yet been announced.

On Wednesday, in an interview in the office she has occupied for almost eight years, Ms. Del Ponte said that she would be willing to stay on but was awaiting formal approval from the Swiss government, still nominally her employer since her days as the Swiss attorney general.

What Mr. Brammertz will face as chief prosecutor for crimes during the wars of the 1990s in the former Yugoslavia will depend on whether Gen. Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic, the fugitive Bosnian Serb leaders, are arrested soon.

The tribunal is expected to close its doors by 2010 but may continue if one or both of its most notorious fugitives arrive.

Ms. Del Ponte, while often frustrated by the lack of Serbian cooperation, is once again raising expectations that at least one of the two fugitives, General Mladic, will be brought to trial.

Referring to her visit to the Serbian capital this month, she said in the interview: “I was told in Belgrade they will give me Mladic. I know now that they are willing to arrest him, that now the political will exists.”

Mr. Brammertz would not be a newcomer to The Hague. Until January 2006, when he took over the United Nations inquiry into the killing of Mr. Hariri in Beirut, he was deputy prosecutor at the International Criminal Court, which opened in The Hague in 2002 to try the gravest human rights abuse cases. He has also led major inquiries in Belgium, where he has been attorney general.

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/28/world/28hague.html?_r=2&oref=slogin&pagewanted=print 

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28.6.2007 by Lupo.

“New York Times”: Brammertz löst Del Ponte ab
Hariri-Ermittler soll UN-Chefankläger werden
New York/Den Haag/Straßburg - Die langjährige Chefanklägerin des UN-Tribunals für das ehemalige Jugoslawien, Carla Del Ponte, soll nach Informationen der “New York Times” von dem Belgier Serge Brammertz abgelöst werden.New York/Den Haag/Straßburg - Die langjährige Chefanklägerin des UN-Tribunals für das ehemalige Jugoslawien, Carla Del Ponte, soll nach Informationen der “New York Times” von dem Belgier Serge Brammertz abgelöst werden. Brammertz leitet derzeit im Auftrag des UN-Sicherheitsrates die Aufklärung des Mordanschlags auf den früheren libanesischen Ministerpräsidenten Rafik Hariri und weiterer Attentate auf Syrien-Kritiker in Beirut.

Die Zeitung bezieht sich in ihrem Bericht vom Donnerstag auf vertrauliche Angaben aus Den Haag und New York. Eine Bestätigung aus UN-Kreisen lag zunächst nicht vor. Die Amtszeit der Schweizerin Del Ponte beim Jugoslawien-Tribunal geht im September zu Ende. Ihre Sprecherin sagte aber, die Chefanklägerin sei bereit, bis zum Jahresende zu bleiben, wenn der UN-Sicherheitsrat dies wünsche.

Das Mandat von Brammertz als oberster Ermittler des Hariri-Mordes läuft erst im Dezember aus. Erst kürzlich hatte der belgische Jurist sein Amt als stellvertretender Chefankläger beim Internationalen Strafgerichtshof in Den Haag niedergelegt, um sich ganz auf die Ermittlungen im Libanon zu konzentrieren.

Das 1993 eingerichtete Jugoslawien-Tribunal soll nach den Vorgaben des UN-Sicherheitsrates alle Fälle bis 2010 abgeschlossen haben. Noch sind aber vier Angeklagte flüchtig, unter ihnen der ehemalige Führer der bosnischen Serben, Radovan Karadzic, und sein Militärchef, General Ratko Mladic.

Del Ponte sagte am Donnerstag vor der parlamentarischen Versammlung des Europarates, Karadzic und Mladic sollten “spätestens bis Ende des Jahres” ausgliefert werden. Die EU sollte “eine umfassende Zusammenarbeit mit dem Tribunal in Den Haag als Vorbedingung für die Aufnahme von Beitrittsverhandlungen mit Serbien”. (APA/dpa)
Link
New York Times: U.N. Official Is Expected to Become Chief Prosecutor for War Crimes Tribunal
http://balkanblog.org/2007/06/28/un-official-is-expected-to-become-chief-prosecutor-for-war-crimes-tribunal/

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28.6.2007 by admin.

EC urges Bulgaria, Romania to curb corruption

28/06/2007

While stopping short of imposing safeguard clauses against Bulgaria and Romania, the EU said on Wednesday it will continue monitoring its newest members’ progress in reforming their judiciaries and fighting corruption and organised crime.

(Nine o’Clock - 28/06/07; AFP, AP, Reuters, DPA, FT, BBC, RFE/RL, VOA, Euobserver, Sofia News Agency, Mediapool, Dnevnik, European Commission - 27/06/07)

EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini holds a press conference at the EU Commission headquarters in Brussels on Wednesday (June 27th). [Getty Images]

The European Commission (EC) warned Bulgaria and Romania on Wednesday (June 27th) that they must step up efforts in fighting corruption and crime to avoid future sanctions.

“High-level corruption is still one point of weakness; both governments are aware of this,” EU Justice Commissioner Franco Frattini said as the EC released its reports on the two countries’ progress in meeting specific benchmarks that were set out ahead of their entry into the Union at the beginning of the year.

The reports focus mainly on the fulfillment of targets in the areas of judicial reform and the fight against corruption and organised crime. Concluding that both countries have made “some progress”, the EC did not recommend the imposition of safeguard clauses, but said it would continue monitoring them for at least another year.

Bulgaria has “largely met” one of its six benchmarks by adopting constitutional amendments ensuring the independence and accountability of the judiciary, according to the EC. It also has made some progress in improving the transparency of the judicial process and in enhancing the accountability, professionalism and efficiency of its judiciary.

The EC also found that Bulgaria has made substantial progress in preventing and fighting corruption at the border and within local government, but showed little headway in curbing graft at the highest political levels. “Overall, progress achieved in the judicial treatment of high-level corruption cases in Bulgaria is still insufficient,” said the report.

The EC was equally critical of Sofia’s efforts in combating serious and organised crime.

“Contract killings continue to be of great concern, and in particular recent killings of local politicians since January,” the report noted. “To date no prosecution and conviction has taken place.”

The report on Romania concluded that the country “has achieved some progress in the reform of its judicial system” and “substantial progress” in creating a National Integrity Agency, whose responsibilities include verifying assets, incompatibilities and potential conflicts of interest.

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http://www.setimes.com/cocoon/setimes/xhtml/en_GB/features/setimes/features/2007/06/28/feature-01 

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