At least according to the information divulged on wire reports, though, it doesn’t seem to have taken much to increase the lackluster efforts at apprehension that had characterized the Serbian government’s history of inaction. In operations that “went smoothly,” EU peacekeepers this morning searched the houses of Mladic’s family members, which, while certainly proactive, seems like a step that should have been taken long ago. Yet, coupled with the confiscation of certain items for investigation, the searches, according to BBC reporter Helen Fawkes, represent a sign for optimism:
She says the last time EU peacekeepers mounted an operation like this was six months ago, when they raided the family home of the former Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic.
Mladic, for various reasons, may be harder to find than Karadzic was, but his arrest is sought perhaps even more urgently by many victims’ families. While Mladic likely has not adopted as bizarre a disguise as the “poet-intellectual” Karadzic, rejuvenating the search with EU, NATO, and Serbian cooperation is an encouraging development for both the long-standing International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the prospect of achieving justice for the horrific crimes committed there.
(image from flickr user Bogomir Doringer under a Creative Commons license)