Belgrade should “reconsider its cooperation with Tribunal”

NEW YORK -- If The Hague repeats another verdict similar to the one in Croat generals case, Serbia should ask itself whether it has gone too far in the cooperation with it.

Ivan Mrkić (Tanjug, file)

This is according to Serbian Foreign Minister Ivan Mrkić who discussed the issue with UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon in New York.

He told Tanjug correspondent that he had informed Ban about the atmosphere in Serbia following the acquittal of Croat generals Ante Gotovina and Mladen Markač.

“We are speaking about a so-called verdict to the generals, since it can hardly be called a verdict, and it all leads to a conclusion that only Serbs are being punished,” he said ahead of Thursday's judgment in the case of Ramush Haradinaj who was acquitted.

“Ban and his team have listened to these arguments with great understanding, and expressed sympathy for the victims,” the minister said.

Mrkić also told Ban that Serbia was dissatisfied with certain elements of his report on Kosovo, since it did not reflect the real situation in the field and the real life of Serbs in Kosovo.

“It does not show what it is like when a Serb wakes up there, and when he goes to sleep,” the minister explained, adding that it had been agreed for such aspects to be more precisely presented in future.

Mrkić underlined that Serbia advocated the greatest possible presence of the UN in Kosovo and urged the secretary general to get fully engaged in this respect.

During the meeting, he informed Ban about the development of the Belgrade-Priština dialogue and the talks also touched on the situation in the region.