War crimes prosecutor Del Ponte ordered not to publish book
Deutsche Presse-Agentur - April 8, 2008 Tuesday 1:08 PM EST

Berne, Switzerland - Switzerland has imposed a gag on revelations contained in a book by one time UN chief war crimes prosecutor for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte.

She was told by the Swiss Foreign Ministry that her book, The Hunt: Me and War Criminals, contained "statements" that could not be made by a government representative.

Also activities and events surrounding the publication were incompatible with her work as an ambassador.

Del Ponte, from Italian-speaking Ticino in Switzerland, served eight years at the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague from 1999 to 2007 before being appointed Swiss ambassador at the start of 2008.

She was called back to Buenos Aires on Sunday shortly before a scheduled presentation in Milan, Italy.

The book, which looks at the difficulties she faced hunting down suspected war criminals, reportedly makes a number of potentially explosive claims concerning politicians in the former Yugoslavia.

Apr 08 08 1308 GMT
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