Brammertz due in Belgrade to discuss co-operation with Hague tribunal

10/09/2008

BELGRADE, Serbia -- Hague tribunal chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday (September 10th) for a two-day visit with senior officials. Brammertz will discuss Serbia's co-operation with The Hague, ongoing efforts to locate and extradite the two remaining war crimes fugitives, Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, and the transfer of documents from state archives to the tribunal. Belgrade wants a positive report from Brammertz later this month, insisting the July arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic proves that Serbia intends to fulfil all its obligations to the tribunal, a key condition for continuing the country's European integration process.

On Tuesday, war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said Serbia is intensifying the search for Mladic and Hadzic, as the government wants to "close the Hague issue". "The work of our services is practically invisible, but a lot is being done," he told the AFP news agency. (Politika, Danas, RTS - 10/09/08; Beta, AFP, B92, Tanjug - 09/09/08)