"There is a possibility that the Hague tribunal refers the cases of Mrksic, Sljivancanin and Radic, who are charged with war crimes in Ovcara, to Croatia's judiciary. That is unacceptable for me and I will do everything to prevent this from happening," Tadic said after a meeting with representatives of courts and prosecutor's offices in the Belgrade District Court on Wednesday. He said this would depend on Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY.
"The credibility of the War Crimes Court in Belgrade also depends on the Ovcara war crimes trial which is being conducted before that court," Tadic stressed and added that those who obstructed cooperation with the ICTY were jeopardising the country's future in the political sense.
Tadic, who has been advocating unconditional cooperation with the ICTY, stressed that the treatment of the accused would also depend on cooperation with the Hague tribunal, including the arrest and transfer of ICTY indictees. He stressed that national courts for war crimes and organised crime as well as the successful completion of trials before those courts were of crucial importance for the country's future.
The Serbian president said that a lot of people who took part in mass killings during the recent wars had not yet been brought to justice.
"They must be arrested and put on trial," Tadic said and added that the country's joining civilised nations would depend on that.
The president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Theodor Meron, has reiterated that the state union of Serbia and Montenegro is not cooperating with the tribunal. The spokeswoman for the ICTY Chief Prosecutor, Florance Hartmann, recently told the media in Serbia that there was a possibility that the case of the Vukovar Three be referred to Croatia's judiciary.