Tadić: Serbia will continue to cooperate

President Boris Tadic said in talks with Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz that Serbia will continue to fully cooperate with the Hague Tribunal. “Tadic reminded that Serbia has extradited 44 indictees for war crimes and stated that our country is intensively working on locating the remaining indictees,” the President’s press office stated. Tadic: Serbia will continue to cooperate Brammertz is in Belgrade on a two-day visit to prepare a report that he will submit to the UN Security Council in mid-June, in which he will evaluate Serbia’s cooperation with the Tribunal. Since there are still two indictees that have to be arrested, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, this cooperation, according to Brammertz’s last report in December, is still not complete, despite the significant progress made with the arrest of Radovan Karadzi last year, Beta news agency reports. Brammertz has also met with Serbian War Crimes Chief Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic and President of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal Rasim Ljajic. Asked whether the report could be expected to contain the phrase “full cooperation” Ljajic said that he only expects that the report will be "objective and positive". Serbia's EU ambition hinges on implementing the frozen SAA it signed with Brussels, which the Netherlands is blocking and conditioning with Belgrade's "full cooperation" with the UN war crimes court. According to B92’s sources, there are no more contentious issues in terms of cooperation over the transfer of necessary documents to the Tribunal, but the meeting saw discussion on the recent conviction and sentencing of Veselin Sljivancanin, and the reaction of Serbia's top political brass. The former JNA officer was recently sentenced to 17 years in prison by a Hague Appeals Chamber, overturning the first instance guilty verdict that sent him to prison for five years. Serbia's ruling and opposition parties criticized this outcome. Ljajic denied all claims that Brammertz made on this topic during their meeting, according to B92’s source. Earlier in the day, Tanjug news agency reported that Brammertz pointed out that his report would reflect the "real situation". This "real situation" is in relation to "all fields of Serbia's cooperation with the Tribunal", as well as the impressions he would get during his stay in Belgrade, Brammertz said in Belgrade on Monday. The chief prosecutor said that the main open question in respect to Serbia's cooperation was the arrest of remaining two indictees. The National Council for Cooperation said in a statement that following Serbia's initiative that the persons against whom the Hague Tribunal has reached final verdicts serve their sentences in their own countries, the Brammertz said that "for the time being", he could not back the idea, noting that one of the reasons for that were the "comments that accompanied the Appeals Chamber verdicts against (Mile) Mrksic and (Veselin) Sljivancanin".

Tadić: Serbia will continue to cooperate

Brammertz is in Belgrade on a two-day visit to prepare a report that he will submit to the UN Security Council in mid-June, in which he will evaluate Serbia’s cooperation with the Tribunal.

Since there are still two indictees that have to be arrested, Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić, this cooperation, according to Brammertz’s last report in December, is still not complete, despite the significant progress made with the arrest of Radovan Karadži last year, Beta news agency reports.

Brammertz has also met with Serbian War Crimes Chief Prosecutor Vladimir Vukčević and President of the National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal Rasim Ljajić.

Asked whether the report could be expected to contain the phrase “full cooperation” Ljajić said that he only expects that the report will be "objective and positive". Serbia's EU ambition hinges on implementing the frozen SAA it signed with Brussels, which the Netherlands is blocking and conditioning with Belgrade's "full cooperation" with the UN war crimes court.

According to B92’s sources, there are no more contentious issues in terms of cooperation over the transfer of necessary documents to the Tribunal, but the meeting saw discussion on the recent conviction and sentencing of Veselin Šljivančanin, and the reaction of Serbia's top political brass.

The former JNA officer was recently sentenced to 17 years in prison by a Hague Appeals Chamber, overturning the first instance guilty verdict that sent him to prison for five years. Serbia's ruling and opposition parties criticized this outcome.

Ljajić denied all claims that Brammertz made on this topic during their meeting, according to B92’s source.

Earlier in the day, Tanjug news agency reported that Brammertz pointed out that his report would reflect the "real situation".

This "real situation" is in relation to "all fields of Serbia's cooperation with the Tribunal", as well as the impressions he would get during his stay in Belgrade, Brammertz said in Belgrade on Monday.

The chief prosecutor said that the main open question in respect to Serbia's cooperation was the arrest of remaining two indictees.

The National Council for Cooperation said in a statement that following Serbia's initiative that the persons against whom the Hague Tribunal has reached final verdicts serve their sentences in their own countries, the Brammertz said that "for the time being", he could not back the idea, noting that one of the reasons for that were the "comments that accompanied the Appeals Chamber verdicts against (Mile) Mrkšić and (Veselin) Šljivančanin".