MECHANISM STILL WITHOUT COMMENT ON KARADZIĆ'S HEALTH

THE HAGUE, APRIL 29 /SRNA/ - Press service of the International Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals /RMCT/ said that it had no comment regarding the health condition of the first president of Republika Srpska Radovan Karadžić.

When asked by SRNA when the Mechanism will take steps to provide proper health care to Karadžić, the press service replied that there are no further comments and that they "refer to the earlier response from April 12", although the Mechanism did not respond to SRNA's question when the RMCT would take steps to transfer the first president of Republika Srpska from one of the worst prison facilities in Great Britain due to his very poor health. The Prison Service of Great Britain stated that they "cannot comment on anything related to those serving prison sentence in Britain". SRNA sent an earlier inquiry on Tuesday, April 9, following reports of the disastrous conditions in which Karadžić is serving his sentence. Despite numerous requests, including those addressed to RMCT president Graciela Gatti Santana, Karadžić is still in British prison and no steps have yet been taken to transfer him. Sonja Karadžić-Jovičević, the daughter of the first president of Srpska, previously told SRNA that Santana received dozens of letters with evidence of the continuous torture Karadžić has been subjected to for almost three years. She stated that Judge Santana has so far received dozens of letters from lawyer Goran Petronijević with cited examples and evidence of continuous torture. Pointing to the data of the British Government, Karadžić-Jovičević mentioned that it is stated that the prison system is overcrowded, resources are scarce, and timely health care is often unavailable. "They themselves point out that they are neither equipped nor capable of fulfilling the provisions of the Agreement on the reception and accommodation of the Hague Tribunal convicts," Karadžić-Jovičević mentioned. Karadžić-Jovičević emphasized that the Residual Mechanism of the Hague Tribunal is even more responsible for Radovan Karadžić's health condition, failure to provide assistance, examination and adequate therapy, apart from the management of the British prison where he is serving his sentence. "With their decisions on the transfer of prisoners to other countries, they declare themselves to be the 'control mechanism' of the conditions and circumstances in which prisoners are serving their sentences, those whom they have sentenced and transferred. They are the only ones who can and must make a decision on transfer when the prison does not fulfills the conditions guaranteed to them," Karadžić-Jovičević said. Karadžić-Jovičević previously told SRNA that her father is in terrible pain because he was not given the necessary medication or received medical attention, and that she considers all of this to be an attempted murder.