Serbian Minister of Public Administration and Local Self-Government and member of the National Council for Cooperation with The Hague Tribunal Zoran Loncar is taking part in a discussion in The Hague concerning a request of the Tribunal's Prosecutor's Office to transfer the case against a group headed by Zeljko Mejakic, indicted for crimes in Prijedor, to the Serbian judiciary.
Zoran Loncar
On the first day of the discussion, Loncar said that Belgrade has an advantage when it comes to transferring cases of war crimes in Prijedor's prisoner camps to domestic courts because those crimes were not committed in Serbia and therefore there are no negative feelings or difficulties that could obstruct the trials and influence the impartiality and independence of the court, the Serbian government stated.
The Minister stressed that in order for the peoples on the territory of former Yugoslavia to reach a reconciliation of the past, it is very important that each country tries its own citizens. In that way, the Minister underscored, it would demonstrate maturity and the readiness to face the past and the crimes that were allegedly committed in its name.
Loncar said that the Serbian government's position is that the cases of war crimes committed in the former Yugoslav republics by Serbia-Montenegrin citizens should be tried in Serbia-Montenegro. He presented facts which show that the Serbian judiciary is competent to conduct trials against all war crimes indictees.
To confirm his statement, Minister Loncar cited the opinion of the Tribunal's Prosecutor's Office, which in the case of indictee Vladimir Kovacevic established that Serbia-Montenegro has political will and is adequately prepared to prosecute indictees before domestic courts.
The Prosecutor's Office of the International Criminal Tribunal believes that the Belgrade District Court, its judges and the special prosecutor for war crimes have the ability and are technically equipped to process cases that are not only in line with internationally recognised judiciary standards but that also will give fair trials to the accused.