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UN's Del Ponte expects Mladic handover by October 5

Posted on: Wednesday, 14 September 2005, 10:09 CDT

By Emma Thomasson

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) - Chief U.N. prosecutor Carla del Ponte expects Belgrade to hand over former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic by the fifth anniversary of Slobodan Milosevic's fall from power on October 5.

"The prosecutor expects that Serbia will live up to its promises given to her during her last visit in Belgrade and deliver Mladic before that date," Del Ponte's spokeswoman said in a statement on Wednesday.

Del Ponte plans a visit to Serbia, Montenegro and Croatia on September 29 and 30 on the eve of that anniversary, she said.

After an opposition campaign of strikes and civil disobedience following disputed elections in September 2000, Milosevic was forced to step down as Yugoslav president and was handed over to the Hague tribunal for trial the following year.

Del Ponte's spokeswoman said the prosecutor welcomed recent calls by the United States, the European Union and NATO for Mladic and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic to be in custody before the 10th anniversary of the Dayton peace deal.

Following NATO air strikes against Bosnian Serbs, Milosevic joined the presidents of Bosnia and Croatia at Dayton, Ohio on November 21, 1995 to sign a peace agreement at U.S.-sponsored talks that ended the civil war that broke out in Bosnia in 1992.

"All these calls are important as they recall our duties toward the victims and toward the law. These words are necessary but useless if concrete actions are not taken at the same time," the spokeswoman said.

DEADLINE LOOMS

The spokeswoman reiterated that if Mladic and Karadzic are not arrested before the end of the year, the tribunal will not be able to meet the deadline set by the U.N. Security Council for it to complete all trials by 2008 and close by 2010.

Karadzic and Mladic are indicted for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo that killed 10,000 people.

Del Ponte said earlier this month the EU should not begin talks in October with Belgrade on an accord that could lead to EU membership unless Mladic has been handed over.

NATO has expressed hope in recent weeks that Karadzic could soon be caught, while speculation has also swirled that Serbian authorities could be negotiating for Mladic to surrender.

Del Ponte's spokeswoman said she expected Russia to transfer former Bosnian Serb military policemen Dragan Zelenovic to the tribunal soon. He is wanted for atrocities committed by Serb forces in Bosnia and was arrested in Russia last month.

Sredoje Lukic, a Bosnian Serb former policeman accused of crimes against humanity who surrendered to Bosnian Serb authorities late on Tuesday, should also be transferred to The Hague in the coming days, she said.

Source: REUTERS

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