Examination of Carla del Ponte’s Moves

Meron formed the special Chamber at a request by former Republika Srpska President Radovan Karadzic, who is on trial for genocide and other crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Karadzic requested Meron to open an investigation against Del Ponte for having conveyed the content of a confidential document from Slobodan Milosevic’s trial to US diplomats in 2004.

Meron ordered members of the special Chamber, judges Christoph Flugge, Bakone Moloto and Burton Hall, to examine whether it was necessary to appoint a prosecutor, who would investigate whether Del Ponte was responsible for contempt of court.

In his request for opening an investigation, Karadzic quoted a diplomatic letter, which the Embassy of the United States of America at The Hague sent to the State Department in April 2004. The letter said that Del Ponte conveyed the names of people included in Milosevic’s list of witnesses to the diplomats. The former President of Serbia submitted the list as a confidential document.

“Reading directly from the list taken out from the motion, she said that the motion covered former President Bill Clinton, State Secretary Madeleine Albright, Defence Minister William Cohen, Ambassador, General Wesley Clark, as well as Ambassadors Christopher Hill and Richard Hoolbroke,” the letter quoted by Karadzic’s Defence said.

Karadzic claims that, by revealing the content of a sealed document to the US diplomats, Del Ponte violated The Hague Tribunal’s rules, suggesting that the then Chief Hague Prosecutor was responsible for contempt of court.

Slobodan Milosevic died at The Hague in 2006 prior to the completion of his trial. The trial of Karadzic is due to continue at the end of this month.