The President of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe (PACE), Lluís Maria de Puig, this morning welcomed the arrest of the former political leader of the Bosnian Serbs, Radovan Karadzic, according to a PACE press-release, forwarded to UNIAN.
His statement reads as follows:
"Now justice can at last be done. The memory of thousands of victims of the Srebrenica massacre, the siege of Sarajevo and many other atrocities can at last be honoured. I would like to pay sincere tribute to all these victims.
This arrest sends out a clear, unequivocal signal of the determination of the Belgrade authorities to bind Serbia ever more closely to the European institutions. We are receiving this message loud and clear in Strasbourg, and I am sure Brussels will take account of this fact very practically and very quickly. This is a great day for the future of Serbia.
However, this major stride forward for international justice must now be rapidly followed up with further progress. Ratko Mladic, the former military leader of the Bosnian Serbs, and Goran Hadzic, the former leader of the Croatian Serbs, must also answer for their crimes before the Hague International Criminal Tribunal (ICT) as soon as possible.
The perpetrator of the worst massacre in Europe since World War II will now be judged by an international court. This is a red-letter day for law and for justice".
