Serbian defence minister urges Mladic, Hadzic to surrender

07/08/2008

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Defence Minister Dragan Sutanovac is urging the two remaining Serb war crime fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, to surrender. He is quoted in Wednesday's (August 6th) daily Blic as saying they are "holding the whole country for ransom", adding they must turn themselves in soon or face arrest in accordance with international law. Blic cites government sources who say Belgrade will apprehend Mladic and extradite him to The Hague tribunal by the end of this month, before parliament returns from its summer recess.

At The Hague, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic has asked the tribunal to order former US envoy Richard Holbrooke and former US Secretary of State Madeleine Albright to testify about an alleged secret deal. In his submission circulated by the tribunal Wednesday, Karadzic reiterated his claim that Holbrooke promised him immunity from prosecution by the UN tribunal in a 1996 deal under which he stepped down as president of Republika Srpska and withdrew from public life. He says Albright also made offers concerning immunity from prosecution. (FoNet, Blic, B92, Vecernje novosti, AP, Reuters, BBC, RTS, Makfax, Reuters, AFP, RIA Novosti - 06/08/08)