In an interview with the Sarajevo daily Dnevni Avaz published on Tuesday, the US Ambassador for War Crimes Issues, Clint Williamson, said that the US government fully supported the ICTY and wanted the two fugitives to be tried by the UN court.
Since the ICTY plans to complete its work in 2010, the US diplomat indicated the possibility of establishing another international body to try Karadzic and Mladic.
There's a possibility of founding a body that will succeed the tribunal and work on cases of war crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and any other case of criminals trying to evade international justice, Williamson said.
The Hague tribunal might extend its work beyond 2010 if Karadzic and Mladic were arrested in 2008 or 2009 in order to complete their trials.
Williamson said that it was absolutely unacceptable to the United States for Karadzic, Mladic and other ICTY fugitives to be put on trial in Belgrade. He said that by all indications Mladic was hiding in Serbia, while Karadzic was also believed to be spending most of his time there, occasionally crossing over to the Serb entity of Bosnia and Herzegovina and to Montenegro.
Williamson again resolutely rejected the existence of any agreement that would protect war criminals.