Mladic and Serbia

Norbert Mappes-Niediek uses the conflicting reports about Ratko Mladic's arrest as an opportunity to praise the UN war crimes tribunal and its chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte. "The tribunal in the Hague is the only foreign institution to put the pressure on the right people. Firstly, on the war criminals themselves. If they're arrested and brought to trial it will give people in the Balkans the feeling that there is such a thing as historical justice – if not between peoples, then at least between murderers and respectable people. Secondly, The Hague is stepping up the pressure on those who are protecting the criminals: the shady remnants of repressive apparatus and the nouveaux riches who made their fortunes during the war and whose demonstrations of power are now taking on the form of sentimental devotion. Western governments are reluctant to put the same amount of pressure as The Hague on former Yugoslavia. They're protecting their own interests, as they always have done."

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