Brcko Supervisor Condemns Serb Radio Brcko Broadcast of Statement Calling for Arrests of Municipal Counselors

Supervisor for Brcko Robert W. Farrand condemns the Serb Radio Brcko broadcast November 12 of a public statement issued jointly by the Association of War Veterans and other organizations. The statement lists names of elected counselors of the Brcko Municipal Assembly and calls for their arrest as war criminals. None of the persons cited, however, has been indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), nor have files concerning them been reviewed and found sufficient by the ICTY under the Agreed Measures concluded in Rome in February 1996 by parties to the Dayton Agreement.

The broadcast of this statement by Serb Radio Brcko is a direct attempt by elements of the ruling party in Brcko to create conditions on the ground that will prevent the smooth implementation of the Dayton peace process. It raises a major obstacle to freedom of movement, and threatens democratically elected counselors of the Brcko Municipal Assembly by publicly calling for their arrest.

With this broadcast Serb Radio Brcko violated Media Experts Commission rules on conduct related to elections, which bar media from disseminating reporting that is inflammatory and seeks to create an atmosphere that may lead to acts of violence.

The matter is being referred to the Election Appeals Sub Commission and the Media Experts Commission for further action.

The Supervisor, furthermore, reminds Serb Radio Brcko and other media outlets in Republika Srpska that disseminated this joint statement, that the provisions of Paragraph 70 of the Sintra Conclusions remain in force. Paragraph 70, which has already been applied to SRT in Pale, declares that the High Representative has the right to curtail or suspend any media network or program whose output is in persistent and blatant contravention of either the spirit or letter of the Dayton Peace Agreement.