We are very glad to see that after so many years, those two remaining fugitives were arrested and transferred to The Hague, Brammertz told a news conference in Belgrade after meeting Serbian President Boris Tadic and other officials.
This does not mean that Serbia's cooperation with the tribunal is over, it is necessary to clarify how it was possible for those two men to be in hiding so long and who helped them to evade justice, Brammertz told the news conference he held together with Tadic.
It is a historical fact that Mladic and Hadzic managed to evade justice for years. It is logical that we want to know who failed to meet international commitments, who is responsible for the fact that they were not arrested earlier, the ICTY chief prosecutor said after commending the Serbian authorities for their success in the arrests of Mladic and Hadzic in May and July respectively.
Brammertz said that the second reason for his arrival in Belgrade was his talks on topical issues with Rasim Ljajic, chairman of the Serbian national council for cooperation with the ICTY.
According to the tribunal's chief prosecutor, the ICTY still needs assistance from the Serbian authorities in seven cases, two of which are the proceedings against Mladic and Hadzic.
The third reason of my visit, which I discussed with Serbian war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic this morning, is how we can further support the investigations under way in Serbia, Brammertz said.
He recalled that the UN tribunal in The Hague would close its doors in a few years' time and that there were "hundreds, if not thousands of victims" in countries in the area of the former Yugoslavia awaiting justice.
All those proceedings should be held at the national level in Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and this will be a difficult and responsible job both for the state prosecutorial authorities and the police in charge of investigations. I hope that responsible politicians in Serbia and in its neighbouring countries will be here to provide the necessary political support, he added.
President Tadic said that investigations were now under way into what had happened in the past 16 years and who aided and abetted fugitives in hiding.
For me it is extremely important to explain once again that we did it (made the arrests) not because of conditions set by international institutions but because we really believe that it is in the interest of our people and in the interest of justice, reconciliation and common values, confident that we can build a better society in Southeast Europe, the Serbian president said.
Brammertz arrived in Belgrade on Monday evening for a two-day visit.