Logic of ICTY judgments flawed, Moscow expect it to end its work before end of 2017 - Foreign Ministry
MOSCOW. Nov 23 (Interfax) - Moscow sees the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia's (ICTY) logic in convicting former Bosnian Serb Gen. Ratko Mladic as flawed, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova said.
"In particular, the Tribunal's logic is also flawed in that, by declaring Mladic guilty of confining UN personnel to defense facilities to protect them from NATO airstrikes, the ICTY did not even mention that NATO's military operations in the Balkans were unlawful," Zakharova said at a news briefing in Moscow on Thursday.
"We expect the ICTY to conclude its activities before the end of 2017," she said.
"We expect that, in hearing all cases submitted to the tribunal, including a possible appeal against Mladic's conviction, the Residual Mechanism will display maximum efficiency, professionalism, and impartiality, which are so essential for ensuring peace and stability in the Balkans," she said.
The ICTY "has objectively failed to perform its primary duty of impartially bringing to justice all those guilty of grave crimes during the relevant conflict," she said.
"In a way, the ICTY's selective justice gave its blessing to a number of individuals to engage in politics and granted them freedom that the innocent victims will never have," she said.
"It's also indicative that the ICTY, and then a Bosnia and Herzegovina court that copied its mistakes, did not find any crimes in the actions of the notorious Bosnian field commander [Naser] Oric, whose fighters took refuge in Srebrenica in 1992-1994 and from where they conducted raids on Serbian civilians," she said.
The ICTY "has also proven to be too far from observing the commonly accepted standards of duration of judicial proceedings and ensuring fundamental rights to life, healthcare, and medical aid," Zakharova said.