The Hague expects full cooperation from Belgrade on war crime suspects

The Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Thursday urged the Serbia-Montenegro government to arrest and extradite top Bosnian Serb war crimes suspects.

"From Serbia-Montenegro I expect full cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, which entails the arrests and extradition of Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic," Carla del Ponte said after meeting with Serbia-Montenegro President Svetozar Marovic.

Former Bosnian Serb President Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic are accused of war crimes in the 1990s when the region is known as former Yugoslavia which is now divided into several republics -- Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina and Serbia-Montenegro.

The two are widely believed to be hiding in Serbia.

"I hope that my next visit here will be a courtesy visit, and that cooperation with the Tribunal will be completed," Del Ponte said.

The chief prosecutor of the ICTY last visited Belgrade in early October 2004, when she tried to convince the local authorities of the need of a full cooperation with The Hague-based tribunal.

Del Ponte said she is "thankful" for the efforts Belgrade has made in the last year in cooperating with the international court and the great number of surrenders that have been achieved.

But she said she still expects full cooperation, which means the arrest and extradition of all indictees.

"There exists no doubt" that the transfer of all Hague fugitives is the sole responsibility of the Serbian government, she said.

In this talks with del Ponte, Marovic said that the future of the state union of Serbia-Montenegro depends on the arrest and extradition of Mladic.

"Mladic is at this moment that question which Serbia's European future, perspective and survival as a federal union will all depend on," Marovic said, adding that the extradition of Mladic would lead to a speeding up of the process of Serbia-Montenegro's Euro-Atlantic integration.

Del Ponte arrived in Belgrade Thursday to prepare a report to the UN Security Council, which is due to be delivered on June 13.

Also on Thursday, Del Ponte met with Serbian President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.

She will travel to Zagreb Thursday afternoon to meet with Croatian Prime Minister Ivo Sanader and will be in Sarajevo on Friday.

Source: Xinhua