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  SPIEGEL Interview With War Crimes Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte: 'Politics Have Interfered With Our Work'

SPIEGEL Interview With War Crimes Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte 'Politics Have Interfered With Our Work'

Part 2: 'I Got No Response Whatsoever'

Del Ponte: We have some of the tapes. I called on all countries to provide me with the recordings concerning this case. But I got no response whatsoever.

SPIEGEL: Many trial observers think that the main reason the proceedings against Milosevic never came to a close was because you overloaded it with too many charges. Some even believe that Milosevic would have been acquitted.

Del Ponte: I am absolutely certain that he would have been convicted. If the Security Council had asked me, however, to reduce the charges in order to achieve a more rapid conviction, I would have done it. Then we would have tried Milosevic for just Srebrenica or the sniper terror of Sarajevo. But the fact of the matter is that I'm the public prosecutor who represents all the victims. The tribunal can only contribute to achieving peace if all the facts are on the table.

SPIEGEL: Serbia still feels that it is the victim of a one-sided campaign of political justice. There is virtually no sense of guilt.

Del Ponte: The question of other defendants' guilt will be resolved in other trials. For instance, the former chief of the Bosnian army Rasim Delic is currently on trial. This case deals with violent mujahideen units. We can prove that the Muslim Bosnian president at the time, Alija Izetbegovic, even paid money for them to enter the country. He needed weapons and soldiers.

SPIEGEL: The assassinated Serb premier Zoran Djindjic was your only real ally. Shortly before his death, he had promised to promptly hand over Mladic to you. Is that why he had to die?

Del Ponte: That could be -- but the trial couldn't settle this question. Djindjic wanted to reorganize the military, the police and the intelligence services. Thus, the very same people who were afraid of losing power were those who protected Mladic.

SPIEGEL: If the mandate of the tribunal is not extended, Serbian courts will have to prosecute Karadzic and Mladic. Would that even be possible?

Del Ponte: For Heaven's sake, no. That would lead to unimaginable political turmoil. More than half the Serbs still revere both of them as heroes.

SPIEGEL: And the charges brought by the tribunal haven't succeeded in changing that?

Del Ponte: No, unfortunately.

SPIEGEL: In Kosovo over the past few months, a number of witnesses have been murdered who were going to testify against war crimes defendant and former premier Ramush Haradinaj.

Del Ponte: I'm losing witnesses right and left in the case against Haradinaj. They are being seriously threatened. The Albanians are worse than the Serbs in this respect. We have a witness protection program that provides such people with a new identity in another country, but most Albanians don't want to leave Kosovo.

SPIEGEL: Now Haradinaj is even campaigning for the upcoming elections from his cell in Scheveningen prison …

Del Ponte: … which absolutely infuriates me.

SPIEGEL: But the tribunal itself is to blame: It let him go until the trial began, and allowed him to be politically active.

Del Ponte: The tribunal judges made that decision. Over my strongest objections.

SPIEGEL: Things could get worse -- he could be acquitted due to a lack of witness testimony.

Del Ponte: I hope not. There is no doubt about his guilt. I have the evidence to prove it.

SPIEGEL: Can international courts achieve a deterrent effect as long as the US refuses to allow its military personnel to stand trial before such tribunals? For example, for crimes committed in Iraq?

Del Ponte: The International Court of Justice has a mandate to intervene only if the country concerned takes no action itself. In my opinion, this is the wrong approach. First a country is accused of not bringing its war criminals to justice, and then it is asked to cooperate. That can lead to difficulties.

Interview conducted by Renate Flottau