"Positive report on cooperation with Hague"

BELGRADE -- Bruno Vekarić says he is convinced that the report to the UN Security Council on the country's cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will be positive.

"Positive report on cooperation with Hague"

BELGRADE -- Bruno Vekarić says he is convinced that the report to the UN Security Council on the country's cooperation with the Hague Tribunal will be positive.

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Appearing on Pink TV, Vekarić said the positive report was made possible by a European Commission report which for the first time does not state that Serbia needs to do more to prosecute collaborators of Hague fugitives and commends a regional cooperation protocol with Bosnia-Herzegovina recently signed in Brussels.

"There are no more open issues," said Vekarić, after Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz's meeting with officials in Belgrade this week.

One matter discussed on Thursday are the 1,500 proceedings "against Serbian citizens in Croatia," Tanjug reported, and further quoted Vekarić as saying that "Serb refugees hesitate to return to Croatia in fear they will be arrested."

He explained that liaison officers from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina are at the Hague preparing cases which will be transferred to national courts.

The point is to make national justice systems more efficient at prosecuting war crimes and establish good cooperation between prosecutor's offices in the region, he said.

Vekarić noted that the Hague should close down by 2015, and in the meantime it will be decided whether its archives will be moved to New York or will remain in The Hague.