VZCZCXRO3214
PP RUEHAG RUEHAST RUEHDA RUEHDBU RUEHDF RUEHFL RUEHIK RUEHKW RUEHLA
RUEHLN RUEHLZ RUEHNP RUEHPOD RUEHROV RUEHSK RUEHSR RUEHVK RUEHYG
DE RUEHBW #0379/01 1201441
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 301441Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY BELGRADE
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 1239
INFO RUEHZL/EUROPEAN POLITICAL COLLECTIVE
RHEHNS/NSC WASHDC
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHDC
RUCPDOC/USDOC WASHDC
RUZEJAA/JAC MOLESWORTH RAF MOLESWORTH UK
RHMFISS/HQ USEUCOM VAIHINGEN GE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BELGRADE 000379 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O.12958: N/A 
TAGS: PGOV PREL KWAC SR
SUBJECT: SERBIAN WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR WANTS MORE REGIONAL 
COOPERATION 
 
REF: 08 BELGRADE 1156 
 
Summary 
------- 
 
¶1. (SBU) Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic told the 
Ambassador on April 27 that there is good cooperation with Croatia 
and Montenegro, but he would like more cooperation with others -- 
particularly Bosnia -- in order to solve and prosecute war crimes 
cases more effectively.  End Summary. 
 
Good Cooperation with Croatia and Montenegro 
-------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) War Crimes Prosecutor Vukcevic told the Ambassador on April 
27 that cooperation in the region is very important to his work. 
Vukcevic said that under Serbian law, Serbia had jurisdiction to 
prosecute any war crimes that had occurred anywhere in the former 
Yugoslavia, but each country, including Serbia, tended to prosecute 
only those individuals located on its soil, largely because of 
governments' unwillingness to extradite their citizens to face 
prosecution elsewhere.  Thanks to formal transfer of evidence 
agreements with Croatia and Montenegro, Vukcevic had been able to 
receive from those countries sufficient evidence to prosecute dozens 
of cases against individuals located in Serbia for war crimes. 
Vukcevic cited the Slunj case as an excellent example of cooperation 
among the 22 cases he had prosecuted with evidence from Croatia. 
(Note: In the Slunj case, a Serbian court convicted Serb 
paramilitary member Zdravko Pasic and sentenced him to eight years 
imprisonment in 2008 for shooting a Croatian doctor to death after 
luring him away from the Slunj hospital, on the pretext that victims 
needed his care.) 
 
¶3. (SBU) In addition to Croatia and Montenegro, Vukcevic said there 
was some cooperation with other organizations in the region.  For 
example, NATO in Bosnia had provided information useful for the hunt 
for International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) 
indictee Ratko Mladic.  He was also discussing the organ trafficking 
case with EULEX, despite some opposition from Foreign Minister 
Jeremic, but with the support of President Tadic (reftel). 
 
More Cooperation Needed, Especially with Bosnia 
--------------------------------------------- -- 
 
¶4. (SBU) Serbia needed a similar transfer of evidence agreement with 
Bosnia, however, according to Vukcevic and his staff.  War Crimes 
Prosecutor's Office spokesman Bruno Vekaric said there were 
currently several alleged perpetrators of crimes in Bosnia who were 
hiding in Serbia.  Bosnia could not prosecute them because they were 
in Serbia, and Serbia could not prosecute them because Vukcevic did 
not have the evidence.  Vukcevic said war crimes cases in Bosnia 
were difficult because the Bosniaks considered all acts committed by 
fellow Muslims to have been self-defense, and therefore no Bosniaks 
were ever indicted.  In response to this, the Bosnian Serb 
government in Republika Srpska refused to send evidence it gathered 
to Sarajevo and instead sent information directly to Belgrade, 
angering Bosnia's central government. 
 
¶5. (SBU) To resolve the problem with Bosnia, Vukcevic had invited 
Bosnia's Chief Prosecutor and Deputy Chief Prosecutor to Belgrade to 
discuss how to proceed.  Vukcevic said he had also asked ICTY Chief 
Prosecutor Serge Brammertz and the European Commission for 
assistance in convincing Bosnia that a formal agreement could help. 
Vukcevic asked that the USG do what it could to facilitate an 
agreement.  The Ambassador responded that regional cooperation was a 
USG priority and he would pass on Vukcevic's examples of how such an 
agreement could help. 
 
Cooperation within Serbian Government 
------------------------------------- 
 
¶6. (SBU) Vukcevic also spoke about his relationship with the 
Interior Ministry.  He said Interior Minister Ivica Dacic was 
surprisingly good to work with compared to previous ministers and 
was one of the best ministers in the cabinet.  Dacic had intervened 
in a dispute with police in Leskovac who had threatened a mass 
protest against the arrest of police officers for alleged war 
crimes.  Vukcevic said Dacic had tried to calm the situation without 
pressuring Vukcevic to back off.  At the same time, Vukcevic said he 
needed more support from Dacic for the special War Crimes Police 
Unit, which did not attract the best police officers.  Vukcevic 
wanted more direct control over the unit and sought the extra war 
crimes pay the unit's officers should be receiving, which would 
attract better personnel. 
 
 
BELGRADE 00000379  002 OF 002 
 
 
¶7. (SBU) Vukcevic said that prosecuting security personnel was 
challenging because most would not testify against fellow officers. 
For example, Vukcevic had solved to a large extent the Bytyqi 
brothers case, but he needed officers to testify against some of 
those he believed were involved.  There were also 10 cases against 
security personnel for war crimes in Kosovo that he had prepared, 
but he needed Dacic's support to choose the right timing and 
approach and to encourage officers to testify.  Vukcevic wanted to 
work with Dacic in these cases to avoid possible police protests 
that could serve as a springboard for greater social unrest during 
the economic crisis. 
 
Comment 
------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Vukcevic is well respected for examining all evidence and 
leads, regardless of the ethnicity or nationality of the 
perpetrators or the victims, and he and his staff have come under 
personal attack for their efforts.  His desire to increase regional 
cooperation in an effort to uncover the truth, even if that search 
reveals Serbian perpetrators, is encouraging.  We are pleased to see 
that despite internal wrangling over concrete cooperation with 
EULEX, he is engaging EULEX in practical ways.  End Comment. 
 
MUNTER