BELGRADE, Sept 5 (Hina) - Serbian officials have refuted a statement by the UN war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, who said on Tuesday that Belgrade accepted to co-operate in the process of former Bosnian Serb
General Ratko Mladic's extradition to The Hague. Serbia's Premier Zoran Djindjic was quoted by a local radio as saying on Wednesday the name of General Ratko Mladic was mentioned "in one or two sentences" during Tuesday's talks he and Justice Minister Vladan Batic held with ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte, and that the conversation about the general ended with the statement that the Serbian authorities had no knowledge about Mladic's whereabouts and that he was not a Yugoslav citizen. On Tuesday evening Minister Batic also denied allegations about any deal on Mladic's hand-over. "Her (del Ponte's) question about Mladic was whether the general is on Serbia's te
BELGRADE, Sept 5 (Hina) - Serbian officials have refuted a
statement by the UN war crimes tribunal's chief prosecutor, Carla
del Ponte, who said on Tuesday that Belgrade accepted to co-operate
in the process of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic's
extradition to The Hague.
Serbia's Premier Zoran Djindjic was quoted by a local radio as
saying on Wednesday the name of General Ratko Mladic was mentioned
"in one or two sentences" during Tuesday's talks he and Justice
Minister Vladan Batic held with ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla del
Ponte, and that the conversation about the general ended with the
statement that the Serbian authorities had no knowledge about
Mladic's whereabouts and that he was not a Yugoslav citizen.
On Tuesday evening Minister Batic also denied allegations about any
deal on Mladic's hand-over.
"Her (del Ponte's) question about Mladic was whether the general is
on Serbia's territory at present, and we answered in the negative,"
Justice Minister Batic was quoted by the state-run Serbian
television as saying.
Both Djindjic and Batic stressed that during their talks with del
Ponte there was no mention of names, dates, pressure or ultimatums
from the ICTY.
The two officials described yesterday's talks with del Ponte as
constructive.
After marathon meetings with Yugoslav and Serbian officials, Chief
Prosecutor del Ponte left Belgrade for Sarajevo on Tuesday
evening.
She told reporters at the Belgrade airport the Yugoslav authorities
had accepted to cooperate with the Tribunal in the extradition of
the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army, Ratko Mladic, who was
currently, according to the Tribunal's information, on the
territory of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.
(hina) ms