(7 Mar 2003)
Pale
1. Serb Council in Pale
2. Sign reading 'City of Serb Sarajevo'
3. Outside of bank owned by Momcilo Mandic
4. Various inside of room searched by SFOR
5. SFOR helicopter
Sarajevo
6. Wide press conference
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Clifford Bond, US Ambassador to Bosnia:
(Interrupted for Serbo-Croat translation)
"Today the US government has acted to add two more individuals and companies they own to its executive order. These individuals were Momcilo Mandic and Milovan Bjelica. And their their companies ManCo Oil and the Privredna Bank of Srpsko Sarajevo. This action means that all assets of these two person, the bank and the oil company held in the jurisdiction of the United States have been blocked."
7. SOUNDBITE (English) Paddy Ashdown, EU High Representative in Bosnia:
(Interrupted for Serbo-Croat translation):
"Momcilo Mandic has close connections with the financing of the Radovan Karadzic operation. His association goes back to the early 1980s when he allegedly helped Karadzic avoid justice in an earlier corruption scandal. He is a well know war profiteer and we have clear information that links him to the financing of the Karadzic operation."
8. Sign of Office of High Representative
9. SOUNDBITE (English) Paddy Ashdown, EU High Representative in Bosnia:
"Bjelica is also close to the invisible structure behind Karadzic's security operation."
10. SOUNDBITE (Serbo-Croat) Milovan Bjelica, President of Serb Sarajevo Council:
"I didn't have anything which was of interest to those who were looking for stuff, which connects me with the destruction of the Dayton Peace agreement. It is correct that they accused me on several occasions that I am financing the security of former president Karadzic. I have responded on several occasion and I say it again: I have nothing to do with that. Nor have I done anything in the past in connection to the allegations."
11. Wide of press conference
STORYLINE:
International officials froze assets allegedly linked to top war crimes fugitive Radovan Karadzic on Friday in a strike against the support network which has helped the wartime leader of Bosnia's Serbs evade arrest for years.
Bosnia's top international official, Paddy Ashdown, ordered that bank accounts and assets of two alleged Karadzic associates, Momcilo Mandic and Milovan Bjelica, be frozen in Bosnia and abroad.
The two suspects allegedly led a network that supported Karadzic by raising money through criminal activities, corruption and tax evasion, Ashdown said.
Ashdown said Mandic was widely regarded as the financial controller of Karadzic's secret network, while Bjelica was
Karadzic's main communications link to the outside world.
The NATO Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Bosnia raided Bjelica's offices as the announcement was made and seized documents.
Meanwhile, the US ambassador to Bosnia, Clifford Bond, announced that Washington had ordered the freezing of any property and interests Mandic and Bjelica might have in the United States and had urged other countries to do the same.
Karadzic was indicted in 1995 by the United Nations war-crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, for genocide and other war-crimes committed during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. He has evaded arrest ever since and is believed hiding in the Bosnian
At a news conference in Pale on Friday, Bjelica denied any links with Karadzic.
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