Del Ponte says Serbia now working with Hague court
Posted on: Thursday, 29 September 2005, 11:51 CDT
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.
Source: REUTERS
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