BELGRADE, Oct 21 (Hina) - The handover of Bosnian Serb wartime military commander Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague would make it possible for Serbia and Montenegro to try four military and police generals
indicted by the tribunal before its domestic courts, a United States envoy has said.
BELGRADE, Oct 21 (Hina) - The handover of Bosnian Serb wartime
military commander Ratko Mladic to the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague would make it possible for Serbia and Montenegro to try four
military and police generals indicted by the tribunal before its
domestic courts, a United States envoy has said. #L#
Pierre Richard Prosper, ambassador-at-large for war crimes issues,
told the Serbian Beta news agency that the arrest and transfer of
General Mladic to the Hague tribunal would completely change the
circumstances.
In that case, Serbia and Montenegro should be given an opportunity
to show to the Hague tribunal that it was capable of conducting
proceedings against those accused of war crimes before local
courts, he said.
The US administration expects a partner approach to the issue with
the government in Belgrade. We want to work together and locate
Mladic wherever he may be. The point is, when Mladic is in The Hague,
this will be an enormous weight off the shoulders of Serbia and
Montenegro, and as far as the US is concerned, it can try the rest of
the cases before local courts, he added.
Prosper said he was confident that the people of Serbia and the
government in Belgrade understood that the arrest of Mladic was an
obstacle that needed to be removed. He added that he hoped the
people of Serbia were determined to put the problem of war crimes
behind them once and for all.
(hina) vm