BIDEN ISSUES STATEMENT ON THE ARREST OF WAR CRIMES FUGITIVE RADOVAN KARADZIC

Washington, DC – Chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee Joseph R. Biden, Jr. (D-DE) issued the following statement regarding the arrest of war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic:

“I hope that Radovan Karadzic’s arrest – and the prosecution that must follow – will mark a turning point in the struggle to bring peace and reconciliation to the people of the Balkans. Troops acting on Karadzic’s orders carried out some of the most depraved actions perpetrated in Europe since the Holocaust. His capture cannot bring back the thousands of unarmed men and boys slaughtered at Srebrenica or erase the suffering inflicted during siege of Sarajevo. But it will bring the war’s guilty one step closer to justice, and help set Serbia on a path toward a prosperous future as part of the Euro-Atlantic community. With Karadzic captured, the failure to arrest war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic is now the only thing standing between Serbia and the full respect of the international community. I hope that a similar announcement regarding Mladic will soon follow.”