Del Ponte says Serbia now working with Hague court

BELGRADE (Reuters) – United Nations war crimes tribunal
chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte said on Thursday she was very
pleased Serbia had now established cooperation with The Hague
tribunal — a key element in its bid for eventual European
Union membership.

“We are very pleased with the cooperation we received from
Belgrade,” del Ponte told reporters after talks with Serbian
leaders. “Finally we can say we have a reciprocal cooperation
between The Hague and Belgrade.”

Del Ponte praised Serbia for the handover of 16 fugitives
since October last year plus the delivery of documents and
access to witnesses.

“Of course, my big disappointment is that six fugitives are
still at large, most probably in Serbia. And of course,
Mladic,” del Ponte said after talks with Serbian Prime Minister
Vojislav Kostunica.

Former Bosnian Serb Army commander Ratko Mladic is one of
the two most wanted men on del Ponte’s list, accused along with
his former boss Radovan Karadzic of genocide in the Bosnia war
from 1991 to 1995.

She said she had expected Mladic to be in detention by July
11, in time for the 10th anniversary commemoration of the 1995
Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims.

“Now we have another deadline,” she said. “It will be the
Dayton accord … we spoke about if it is possible to have
Mladic transferred to the Hague before the commemoration
celebration of Dayton.”

Serbia and Montenegro Foreign Minister Vuk Draskovic said
he was told at the United Nations in New York this month that
Mladic must be behind bars by November 20, the date the Dayton
accords ended the Bosnia war.

Del Ponte spoke an hour after European Union ambassadors in
Brussels confirmed the EU was going ahead with a decision to
start Serbia on the road to EU membership, despite the fact
that Mladic was still free.

In the past, a failing grade from del Ponte on Serbia’s
cooperation with the Hague tribunal might well have stopped the
EU from taking such a step.

She declined to take questions.