Letter to Carmel Agius, President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals - Reps. Zeldin, Engel Urge Judge to Reject Early Release for Official Connected to Bytyqi Brothers' Murder

Letter

Dear Judge Agius,

We write to express our strong opposition to the early release of Vlastimir Djordjevic, who was found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity committed during the Kosovo conflict two decades ago. Djordjevic will be eligible for early release on 17 June, having served two thirds of an 18-year sentence imposed by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

As a senior official at Serbia's Ministry of Internal Affairs in the late 1990s, Djordjevic was responsible for the murder of hundreds of innocent civilians and the forced displacement of hundreds of thousands more. He oversaw the creation and concealment of mass graves containing the remains of many victims.

Djordjevic has been connected to crimes in addition to those for which he was found guilty, including the July 1999 execution-style murder of the three Bytyqi brothers, U.S. citizens who were apprehended when they strayed across the unmarked border between Kosovo and Serbia. He also has information on the location of additional mass graves sites. Vlastimir Djordjevic should not be granted an early release until he cooperates fully regarding these crimes and otherwise demonstrates his rehabilitation.

International justice serves to facilitate post-conflict reconciliation by clearly identifying those individuals criminally responsible for atrocities committed and offering a degree of satisfaction and closure to victims. An early release of Vlastimir Djordjevic, which likely would be followed by a warm welcome back to Serbia, would undermine these aims and miss an opportunity to obtain information that could lead to justice in additional, unresolved cases. We hope you agree and will reject a request for early release at this time.

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