Brammertz says he is satisfied with Serbia's recent co-operation

20/11/2008

Although Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz expressed satisfaction with Serbia's level of war crimes co-operation this week, Belgrade officials doubt European integration can continue without fugitive Ratko Mladic's capture and extradition.

By Igor Jovanovic for Southeast European Times in Belgrade – 20/11/08

Serbian President Boris Tadic (right) met with UN chief war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz (left) in Belgrade on Tuesday (November 18th). [Getty Images]

UN war crimes tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz visited Belgrade for two days earlier this week, gathering information for his next report. Those findings, slated for the UN Security Council's December 12th agenda, could be crucial to the continuation of Serbia's European integration process.

Although Brammertz expressed satisfaction with Belgrade's co-operation over the past few months, few Serbian officials believe integration will continue without the arrest and extradition of former General Ratko Mladic, who is indicted for genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Just two of the 27 EU members, the Netherlands and Belgium, blocked implementation of the interim trade agreement with Belgrade in September. The agreement is the economic part of the Stabilisation and Association Agreement, which the EU signed with Belgrade on April 29th. That same day, the agreement went into suspension until Serbia achieved full co-operation with The Hague tribunal.

The European Commission encouraged Serbia to start implementing the deal unilaterally. Belgrade said it would do so as of January 1st 2009, by reducing certain customs duties on EU imports.

Brammertz met with top Serbian officials in Belgrade, including President Boris Tadic and Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic, on Tuesday (November 18th).

Brammertz did not address the media during his visit, but a news release from the prime minister's office said the chief prosecutor had described co-operation between the tribunal and Serbia in the past few months as very good.

Cvetkovic said he expected Brammertz's December 12th report to the UN Security Council to be positive.

Tadic contends Serbia is vigorously searching for the remaining indictees and is working on successfully finalising co-operation with the UN tribunal. He added "the Serbian state bodies are fully co-operating with the tribunal", as clearly demonstrated by Radovan Karadzic's arrest near Belgrade on July 21st.

However, the head of the national council for co-operation with the tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, predicts the Netherlands will insist on Mladic's arrest nonetheless.

Serbian officials also briefed Brammertz on an investigation into the alleged trafficking of organs removed from Kosovo Serbs captured during fighting in 1999. Serbian investigators recently handed the same evidence to Tirana, suspecting the Serbs' abductors spirited them to northern Albania.

Tirana refused to launch an investigation of its own, which prompted Serbia's war crimes prosecutor to accuse Albanian Prime Minister Sali Berisha and former Kosovo Prime Minister Ramush Haradinaj of overseeing the destruction of evidence in that case.