Prosecutor on obstructions in search for Mladić

War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic says until mid-2008 that there was obstruction in the search for the remaining two Hague Tribunal indictees. According to him, all those who in any way aided former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic and former Croatian Serb political leader Goran Hadzic will be "processed". Prosecutor on obstructions in search for Mladic Vukcevic told Beta news agency in an interview that Chief Hague Prosecutor Serge Brammertz noted that the information send by the tribunal to Serbia was not used in the right way. "We also ascertained that until mid-2008 there were certain obstruction, and we are now checking how that was done," said Vukcevic. He stressed that the search for the Hague fugitives became more intense in the past two years, while it's quality is on a "much higher level". The prosecutor said now, recommendations from Brammertz are being implemented, while some details from the period before 2008 are being analyzed, and said this was new, compared to the previous period. Vukcevic repeated claims that former BIA director Rade Bulatovic "in a certain way" obstructed the possible arrest of Mladic. "I pointed out to Bulatovic's offer that he would possibly negotiate with Mladic, from which I and two of my colleagues concluded that he had information about Mladic's whereabouts," said Vukcevic, adding that an analysis of those events found out that in 2006, "there was indeed obstruction". There was however no official investigation, but Vukcevic said that "everyone will be held responsible for what they did". The prosecutor would not comment on the U.S. diplomatic cables published by whisteblowing website WikiLeaks that said the Serbian authorities "knew exactly at some point in 2008 where Mladic was". Vukcevic only said those were "subjective conclusions made by foreign diplomats". Vladimir Vukcevic (FoNet, file)

Prosecutor on obstructions in search for Mladić

Vukčević told Beta news agency in an interview that Chief Hague Prosecutor Serge Brammertz noted that the information send by the tribunal to Serbia was not used in the right way.

"We also ascertained that until mid-2008 there were certain obstruction, and we are now checking how that was done," said Vukčević.

He stressed that the search for the Hague fugitives became more intense in the past two years, while it's quality is on a "much higher level". The prosecutor said now, recommendations from Brammertz are being implemented, while some details from the period before 2008 are being analyzed, and said this was new, compared to the previous period.

Vukčević repeated claims that former BIA director Rade Bulatović "in a certain way" obstructed the possible arrest of Mladić.

"I pointed out to Bulatović's offer that he would possibly negotiate with Mladić, from which I and two of my colleagues concluded that he had information about Mladić's whereabouts," said Vukčević, adding that an analysis of those events found out that in 2006, "there was indeed obstruction".

There was however no official investigation, but Vukčević said that "everyone will be held responsible for what they did".

The prosecutor would not comment on the U.S. diplomatic cables published by whisteblowing website WikiLeaks that said the Serbian authorities "knew exactly at some point in 2008 where Mladić was". Vukčević only said those were "subjective conclusions made by foreign diplomats".