It has been claimed that French President Jacques Chirac negotiated de facto immunity from prosecution for the second greatest post-WWII war criminal in Europe west of the former Soviet border, Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic, in return for the Bosnian Serb military releasing two captured French pilots.
The claim, dismissed as “hearsay” by Paris, was contained in the transcripts of a telephone conversation between the former Yugoslav president, Zoran Lilic, and the head of the Yugoslav armed forces in Belgrade.
They described Mr Lilic explaining in December 1995 that Gen Mladic would be safe from extradition after the Dayton Accords that ended the Bosnian conflict, even though he had already been indicted for war crimes.
“He will not be delivered to anyone from the tribunal. He has got the guarantee by Chirac and Slobodan [Milosevic],” said the transcript. “Accordingly, he has to deliver these men to us, if he wants to, or he should come with us and place the men at the place of his choice.”
If this is true, then Chirac is nothing less than an accessory after the fact to mass murder. The fact that both General Mladic and the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic have both remained at large does rather suggest this report is true. Oh… and where are these two indicted mass murderers at large? In the French controlled sector of Bosnia, of course.
Britain has its own amoral creatures like Douglas Hurd who disgracefully equated murder victims with their murderers in the Balkans, so it would be fair to say that this particular shit sandwich is large enough for much of the political class on both sides of the English Channel to take a bite… but next time your hear a member of the French establishment lecture anyone about anything on ‘moral grounds’, tell them to drop dead, preferably in Srebrenica.
It’s because the French are more sophisticated, don’t you know.
Didn’t Douglas Turd have business interests in Serbia?
David,
As of 14 December 1995 (tête-à-tête in Paris), Jacques The Crook of France mentioned to Bill The (What?) of the USA that French intelligence were seriously contemplating the assassination of both Radovan Karadzic & Ratko Mladic as Dayton agreements were being signed.
The consideration surely wasn’t very moral, or was it?
I have a suspicion that french attitude in this, as in so many other similar situations, derives from them not wanting their own dirty dealings aired in public.
Kodiak: Well they didn’t contemplate it hard enough, obviously, as instead they decided to give them a safe haven in Bosnia.
It is never wrong to kill tyrants.
I would only point out that saying something is “hearsay” is not exactly the same thing as saying it isn’t true. Hearsay refers to second-hand information, which can be perfectly accurate.
VIVE LA FRANCE !
VIVE LA REPUBLIQUE !
VIVE L’EUROPE !
VIVE LA PLANETE !
VIVE LA LIBERTE !
I whish you all the merriest July 14 ever.