I expected Mladic to be extradited by July 11, the commemoration of the crimes in Srebrenica, but now there is a new deadline, the tenth anniversary of the Dayton agreement, in December this year, Del Ponte said in Belgrade on Thursday after talks with Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica.
She said she was very satisfied with Serbia and Montenegro's cooperation with the Hague tribunal. Over the past year the state union extradited 16 accused and enabled access to witnesses and documents.
We can finally say we have mutual cooperation between The Hague and Belgrade, Del Ponte said, but added she was also very disappointed that six fugitives were still at large, most probably in Serbia.
Kostunica said much had been done in cooperation with the UN court over the past year, but added the most important thing was that mutual trust had been established. As a result, a number of the accused was released pending trial and some cases were referred to the national judiciary.
Kostunica said that an improvement was also achieved in the cooperation of the police forces and state prosecutor's offices in the region.
Del Ponte also met Serbia and Montenegro's minister for human and minority rights, Rasim Ljajic. According to a press release, the chief prosecutor told Ljajic the extradition of Ratko Mladic was the biggest obstacle to the state union's cooperation with the Hague tribunal. She voiced hope this was the last time she was coming to Belgrade because of Mladic.
After Belgrade, Del Ponte flew to Podgorica to meet top Montenegro officials tonight and on Friday morning, after which she will visit Zagreb.