Serbia PM: Catching Mladic priority

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Published: November 5, 2009

BELGRADE, Serbia (AP) — Serbia's leaders told a U.N. war crimes prosecutor Thursday that capturing Ratko Mladic is a priority for the Balkan country whose EU bid has been stalled because Europe's most wanted fugitive remains at large.

The chief prosecutor for former Yugoslavia Serge Brammertz is in Serbia to review government efforts to arrest former Bosnian Serb military commander wanted on genocide charges by the court in The Hague, Netherlands.

Brammertz's assessment is important for EU officials when they decide on Serbia's integration into the bloc. Brammertz will report to the U.N. Security Council in December.

Belgrade officials have insisted that they are doing all they can to capture Mladic. But the Netherlands has blocked Serbia's EU path until Mladic is in The Hague.

President Boris Tadic said in a statement issued after his meeting with Brammertz on Thursday that "our country is searching intensively" for Mladic and another fugitive, former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, Tadic said.

Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic also said catching the fugitives is a "priority for the Serbian government." He added that Serbia is "fully committed" and "searching continuously" for the suspects.

Brammertz has made no comment.

Mladic is wanted for the massacre of more than 7,000 Muslims in Srebrenica in 1995 and other crimes of the Bosnian war. He had lived freely in Serbia for years, under protection from the hardliners in the army and police.

A government official said earlier this week that a majority of Serbs still are opposed to his extradition to The Hague.