CONVICTED SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RADOVAN STANKOVIC STILL AT LARGE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (November 1,2007) - Due to an alleged lack of cooperation between the investigative authorities in Bosnia and Serbia, there is still no information about the runaway Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic convicted by the Bosnian State Court.

Although Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic escaped from prison in Foca at the end of May this year, there is still no information concerning his whereabouts. The Bosnian authorities, who believe that he is in Serbia, have accused the Serbian authorities of being uncooperative.

On May 25, 2007 Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic escaped from the Correctional Facility in Foca, where he was serving the 20-year prison sentence handed down by the Bosnian State Court for war crimes. From the very moment of his escape, the Bosnian authorities considered that he ran away either to the neighbouring Montenegro or Serbia, whose citizenship he possesses.

But,by Serbia's constitution, the country cannot extradite its citizens to other countries, no matter what charges they face.

Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic was originally indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for crimes committed in the eastern Bosnian town of Foca during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, and in 2005 the tribunal decided to refer his case to the Bosnian State Court for further processing.

The indictment, filed in The Hague and admitted in Sarajevo, charged
Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic with having committed severe war crimes during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia, including the mass rape of Bosnian girls and women.

In the course of the proceedings, it was proven that Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic personally raped three Bosnian women.

The Bosnian authorities claim that "there is almost no cooperation with Serbia concerning the search for Stankovic".

"The entire 'Stankovic case' has hardly received any attention in Serbia. Therefore, it is possible that he currently resides on the territory of this country," said Dejan Anastasijevic, a journalist with the "Vreme" magazine from Belgrade.

"The Stankovic case" and his escape are not of interest to the Serbian media, which, according to Anastasijevic, "provided very few pieces of information when he escaped" and then "forgot" about it.

The Bosnian State Prosecution is still conducting investigations against six Serbians living in Bosnia considered to have helped Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic escape. However, no indictments have been filed so far.

According to the available data, Stankovic obtained medical documentation in order to be able to leave the prison. On his way to the hospital, he managed to run away from the guards and enter a car, which was waiting for him at the parking lot in front of the hospital.

The car allegedly used for the escape was discovered near the border between Bosnia, Serbia and Montenegro borderline a few days after the escape. These are the only details available to the public at present.

On several occasions, the ICTY has expressed concern over the fact that Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic has still not been arrested. In summer this year, expressing its dissatisfaction, the tribunal said that this situation "has undermined the reputation of the judicial and other institutions in Bosnia".

In July this year, the ICTY asked Bosnia to submit a special report on all its activities concerning Serbian war criminal Radovan Stankovic's arrest.

The Bosnian Ministry of Justice of Bosnia prepared the report and submitted it, as a "strictly confidential" file, to The Hague. The comments on the report have not been made available to the public.