SERBIA: Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz meets Serbian Prime Minister and President on the second day of his visit to Serbia

Record ID: 644662

  • Title: SERBIA: Chief U.N. war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz meets Serbian Prime Minister and President on the second day of his visit to Serbia
  • Date: 12th September 2008
  • Summary: SERBIAN PRESIDENCY BUILDING
  • Embargoed: 27th September 2008 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement,War / Fighting
  • Reuters ID: LVA7UGSJLFJJUFC1T4JOKJEWXT2W
  • Story Text: Serge Brammertz, UN chief prosecutor met Serbian Prime minister Mirko Cvetkovic and Serbian President Boris Tadic on Thursday (September 11).
    The meetings came on the second day of Brammertz's first trip to Belgrade since the July arrest of genocide suspect Radovan Karadzic, a breakthrough in Serbia's cooperation with the Hague-based war crimes court after years of patchy progress.
    On Wednesday he said he was optimistic that Serbia would succeed in its efforts to arrest remaining war crimes fugitives like Ratko Mladic.
    The UN court wants to bring to justice Bosnian Serb General Mladic, who is indicted of genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which around 14,000 people were killed.
    Serbian officials have said they have intensified efforts to capture both Mladic and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, in order to help Serbia's move toward EU membership, a government priority.
    Serbia signed an association agreement with the EU in April but the 27-nation bloc said it would wait for Brammertz's report on whether Serbia fully cooperates with the tribunal before allowing it to gain trade benefits.
    The formal move by the EU could come as early as September 15 at the foreign ministers' meeting.
    Diplomats say most EU member states want Serbia to move ahead on the EU path for the sake of stability in the Balkans. But the Netherlands, where the tribunal is based, insists that the remaining fugitives should be arrested before the accord benefits come into force.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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