The transfer of the case of Mile Mrksic, Veselin Sljivancanin and Miroslav Radic would have a favourable effect on the voluntary surrender of the remaining accused in the future and on the process of reconciliation, the minister said in his letters.
"On the other hand, the possible referral of indictments against citizens of Serbia and Montenegro to other countries in the region may have an additional negative impact on the perception of the Tribunal in the public," Ljajic said in his letter to del Ponte.
"Serbia and Montenegro is capable and willing to try all perpetrators of war crimes regardless of their position, ethnic background or any other criterion," the minister said in the letter to Meron, adding that his country's criminal legislation provided for the jurisdiction of domestic courts in all crimes committed by citizens of Serbia and Montenegro, regardless of the place where a certain crime was committed.
Serbian media have reported that the trial of the three former Yugoslav army officers, accused of atrocities committed in Vukovar in late 1991, may be referred to the Croatian judiciary, because the Tribunal's rules say that jurisdiction over a crime is assigned to a country where it was committed. In this context they also cited a recent report by Meron to the United Nations, in which he described Serbia and Montenegro's cooperation with the tribunal as nearly nonexistent.