Serb minister sees Mladic in Hague "in a few days"

BELGRADE (Reuters) - Top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic could be in detention at the Hague tribunal "in a few days", a Serbian government minister said on Thursday.

Zoran Loncar, who is a member of Serbia's National Council for Cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as well as Minister for Local Government, said he was optimistic and hopeful that the wartime Bosnian Serb Army commander would be handed over soon.



"A pensive-looking Loncar wanders into the
high stakes arena of promise-making over Mladic,
that for Serbia, has all but lead to promise-breaking..."

Addressing a news conference after a cabinet meeting, he said he hoped "no one will be surprised" if "fulfillment of the Hague obligation" is completed within the next few days, Beta news agency reported.

"I express optimism and hope that this can happen in a few days," Loncar said. He added that his optimism was based on the facts given to ministers as well as information received by the National Council.


Mladic's handover to international justice is a key condition for the eventual admission of Serbia to European Union and NATO membership, and the foreign investment that accompanies international endorsement of its democratic credentials.

However, there have been dozens of hints, nudges and speculative pronouncements about the imminent handover of the man wanted for the genocide of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995, and he is still at large.

The EU this month suspended talks with Belgrade on closer ties because Mladic had not been delivered to the United Nations war crimes court, and the United States is again warning that its 2006 aid to Serbia is also conditional on that action.

Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, under fire by pro-Western critics at home for failing to deliver Mladic in time to avoid the EU talks suspension, said once again on Thursday that he would keep his promise and insisted he had never given or set himself any deadline.

Kostunica made no mention of delivery "in a few days".

© Reuters 2006. All Rights Reserved.

ICTY sentences Bosnian Croat to 12 years in prison for war crimes

09/05/2006 - found on Southeast Europe Times.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The UN tribunal on Monday (8 May) sentenced former Bosnian Croat militia commander Ivica Rajic to 12 years in prison for war crimes committed in the central BiH village of Stupni Dol in 1993. Rajic was convicted in relation to the deaths of 31 Bosniak civilians -- including women and children -- and the destruction of the village, as well as the detention and inhuman treatment of 250 Bosniaks in the town of Vares. In October, Rajic pleaded guilty to four of the ten charges against him, and is expected to testify for the prosecution in several other cases involving Bosnian Croat officials.

In other news Monday, the Osijek regional court in Croatia sentenced Croat Serb Petar Mamula to four years and ten months. He was convicted of the 1991 torture and abuse of Croat civilians in Baranja. (ICTY Web site, HRT, AFP - 08/05/06)



- vidimo se u dvanajsti

Jocic on Mladic: Expect arrest in weeks! or maybe even days!

consider these dueling stories issued May 5th - one from Reuters, and one from CBS quoting Reuters.

First, the original Reuters...

"Mladic could be arrested in days: Serb minister"

Fri May 5, 2006 7:33am ET

VIENNA (Reuters) - Genocide suspect Ratko Mladic, whose capture is a key precondition for Serbia boosting its ties with the European Union, could be under arrest by Sunday, Serbian Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said on Friday.

Asked when Mladic could be arrested, Jocic told reporters at an EU meeting in Vienna: "The question of Mladic will be solved very soon." Pressed to be more precise, he added: "I think that maybe on Sunday."

The EU on Wednesday broke off talks with Belgrade aimed at eventual EU membership for Serbia, citing its failure to hand over Mladic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

..and the CBS article:

"Mladic could be arrested in weeks: Serb minister"



May 5, 2006 — VIENNA (Reuters) - War crimes suspect Ratko Mladic, whose capture is a key precondition for Serbia boosting its ties with the European Union, could be arrested within weeks, Serbian Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said on Friday.

Asked when Mladic could be arrested, Jocic told reporters at an EU meeting in Vienna: "The question of Mladic will be solved very soon."

Pressed to be more precise, he added, speaking through a translator: "I cannot give you the exact time … it could be weeks."

Due to a mistranslation by an interpreter, Reuters earlier reported erroneously that the minister expected Mladic's arrest could come by Sunday.

The EU on Wednesday broke off talks with Belgrade aimed at eventual EU membership for Serbia, citing its failure to hand over Mladic to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Copyright 2006 Reuters News Service. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.


So who is right? Lets ask Ratko!


Mladic: "Neka bude CBS!"

Rasim Ljajic: Mladic not Arrested after Milosevic for Fears about Ruling Coalition Stability

7 May 2006 | 13:34 | FOCUS News Agency

Belgrade. Serbia and Montenegro’s Minister of Human and Minority Rights and Chairman of National Council for Cooperation with The Hague Tribunal, Rasim Ljajic said that after the authorities delivered Slobodan Milosevic to the Tribunal, they feared that a possible arrest of Ratko Mladic could threaten the stability of Serbia’s ruling coalition, Serbian newspaper Glas Javnosti reported.
Rasim Ljajic was explaining the reasons why the former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic had not been arrested when it was possible.
“The second reason is that there was not a complete control over the military and civil security services. There were fears that clashes might erupt between the army and police, because at that time Mladic was strictly guarded by members of the army”, the minister said.

linked here