• E-mail
• Print
• Comment
• Font Size
• Digg
• del.icio.us
• Discuss article

Mladic still at large, Del Ponte urges arrest

Posted on: Wednesday, 22 February 2006, 07:23 CST

THE HAGUE (Reuters) - Chief U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte on Wednesday denied rumours that top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic had been arrested and urged Serbia to find him or risk hurting its bid to join the European Union.

She dismissed reports that negotiations were under way for his surrender, but said Serbia must arrest the former Bosnian Serb commander soon or damage its EU membership talks.

"There is no indication at all that negotiations about his surrender are currently under way," she told a news conference.

"Ratko Mladic is in Serbia, there is no doubt about this. He has been there since 1998. During all this time he has been, and he remains within reach of the Serbian authorities. He can and must be arrested immediately," she told a news conference.

Despite official denials by Serbia, rumours have been swirling since Tuesday that the 63-year-old fugitive was either under arrest or being talked into surrender to salvage Belgrade's membership talks with the European Union.

"Serbia knows that negotiations may be suspended or may never conclude if Belgrade fails to cooperate fully with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia)," she said.

It is up to the EU to decide on any membership bid but del Ponte has influence as she gets to rule whether states are "cooperating fully."

The EU decides next week on whether to continue talks with Belgrade or freeze them as punishment for not arresting Mladic. His handover is increasingly seen by many Serbs as a necessary sacrifice, but others view him as a blameless soldier.

Del Ponte urged the EU to keep pushing Belgrade over Mladic.

"I need now a stronger support of the European Union to have Mladic in The Hague very, very soon. Clear deadlines associated with clear sanctions will produce early results," she said.

Mladic was indicted along with his political boss Radovan Karadzic in 1995 for genocide for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, which claimed 12,000 lives, and for orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 unarmed Muslims at Srebrenica.

Source: REUTERS

More News in this Category