"If in Serbia, Mladić will be arrested"

President Boris Tadic said on Sunday in Belgrade that Ratko Mladic and all other fugitives will be arrested, "if they are in the territory of Serbia". However, he noted that lately, a trend had developed to redefine EU's explicit condition that Serbia, in order to become a candidate for membership in this organization, must solve the problem of the full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal. "If in Serbia, Mladic will be arrested" This cooperation, Tadic continued, comes down to the issue of extraditing one man, Ratko Mladic, "which could bring Serbia to face a problem difficult to solve". "If the final condition for the progress toward the EU is an obligation to arrest Mladic even if he is not in Serbia, then we are facing an impossible mission," the president concluded. "In my opinion, full cooperation means to sincerely and in fact search for the Hague indictees, and to, eventually, when they have been arrested, extradite them. Today, no one can complain that Serbia is not cooperating with the Hague Tribunal and that maximum efficiency in that sense is not being shown." "I hope that the cooperation will be finalized with the arrests of the remaining indictees, but we are facing a problem of not being able to locate the remaining indictees," Tadic warned.

"If in Serbia, Mladić will be arrested"

This cooperation, Tadić continued, comes down to the issue of extraditing one man, Ratko Mladić, "which could bring Serbia to face a problem difficult to solve".

"If the final condition for the progress toward the EU is an obligation to arrest Mladić even if he is not in Serbia, then we are facing an impossible mission," the president concluded.

"In my opinion, full cooperation means to sincerely and in fact search for the Hague indictees, and to, eventually, when they have been arrested, extradite them. Today, no one can complain that Serbia is not cooperating with the Hague Tribunal and that maximum efficiency in that sense is not being shown."

"I hope that the cooperation will be finalized with the arrests of the remaining indictees, but we are facing a problem of not being able to locate the remaining indictees," Tadić warned.