Helsinki Commission applauds Mladic arrest

WASHINGTON-The Helsinki Commission leadership today welcomed the capture and arrest by Serbian authorities of Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb military leader charged by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia with genocide and other war crimes associated with the 1992-95 conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina. Mladic has been at large since 1995.

"Having been to Srebrenica to meet with the mothers of many of those killed in that genocide, my thoughts and prayers are with them today," said Rep. Chris Smith (NJ-04), Chairman of the Helsinki Commission. "Everyone who survived the atrocities perpetrated by Mladic's forces in Bosnia - and especially those who lost family and friends as a result of the savagery he committed - has long awaited his capture and trial." "It is my sincere hope that they will feel that justice is being served as Mladic is finally held to account," Smith said.

"I am enormously pleased to hear that Serbian authorities have arrested Ratko Mladic," commented Senator Benjamin L. Cardin, Helsinki Commission Co-Chairman. "It has taken time and pressure to overcome the numerous hurdles that were placed in the way of his apprehension. I take Serbian President Boris Tadic's reminder that Goran Hadzic is still at-large and must be found as a clear expression of his commitment to put the Milosevic era completely behind Serbia, and he has my full support in that regard. This is a good day for Serbia, Bosnia and all the countries of the region."

The U.S. Helsinki Commission was at the forefront of the earliest international efforts to respond decisively to the Bosnian conflict from 1992-95, including calling for lifting the arms embargo on Bosnia and for the establishment of an international tribunal. Through public hearings, correspondence, legislative efforts, bilateral meetings, country visits and gatherings of parliamentarians from across Europe, the Helsinki Commission has continually and consistently pressed all countries of the region to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), located in The Hague.

(www.csce.gov)

Senator Bob Dole Statement on the Arrest of Serbian War Criminal Ratko Mladic

Today's arrest of Ratko Mladic, the butcher of the Balkans, is long overdue. I am confident that the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague will initiate proceedings against him immediately.

While Serbian authorities allowed Mladic to hide in their country for far too long, this is a critical step that will allow Serbia and its people, who have been oppressed and held back from prosperity, to move forward into the twenty-first century and benefit from integration into Europe.

For its part, the United States should take this opportunity to exercise leadership to restore unity to Bosnia and Herzegovina -- the state that Mladic, Slobodan Milosevic, and Radovan Karadzic tore apart through genocide. Paralyzed in constitutional crisis, Bosnia has not been in as precarious a position since the end of Serbian aggression more than fifteen years ago.

Most importantly today, we must remember Mladic's victims -- the thousands of men, women, and children whose lives he took so savagely. I join countless others across the world in prayer and hope that the victims' families find consolation in the promise of justice and the triumph of good over evil.

Bob Dole

(Bob Dole, former Senate Majority Leader and the 1996 Republican candidate for president, led Congressional efforts to end Serbian aggression against Bosnia and its non-Serb population. From 1997 to 2001, he served as chairman of the International Commission on Missing Persons, which seeks to find and identify missing victims of the genocide in Bosnia.)