Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Carla del Ponte said Monday that Serbia's cooperation with the court was still "too slow" and "not yet sufficient.
"I confirm that the situation today is better than it was a year ago. However, cooperation is still too slow and not yet sufficient," said del Ponte when making an assessment of Belgrade's cooperation with the ICTY to the meeting of the foreign ministers of the European Union (EU).
"The fact that Ratko Mladic is still at large after all the promises and declarations that have been made over the years clearly demonstrates that fact," she added.
She stressed that she would not give "a positive assessment of full cooperation" until Mladic, who was the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander, is arrested and transferred to the Hague-based ICTY.
The EU has set as a precondition Serbia's full cooperation with the ICTY for signing the "Stabilization and Association Agreement," which serves as the first step for West Balkan states to join the EU. Serbian leaders, including Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica, have repeatedly promised full cooperation with the ICTY.
Del Ponte urged Serbia to provide quick access to documents and archives in preparation of the trials for war criminals, and step up its efforts to arrest the remaining four ICTY fugitives.
"Although there has been some progress when it comes to the delivery of documents, I still have a number of very important outstanding requests for assistance and my staff is still denied access to crucial archives," she said.
"Moreover, four fugitives remain at large and the search for them appears to be extremely slow," she added.
The prosecutor said the level of assistance provided by Belgrade in providing documents remains "insufficient" and does not match their declared political commitment.
However, the prosecutor said she welcomed the decision by the National Security Council of Serbia last week to reward those providing information leading to the arrest of three ICTY fugitives, describing it as "an encouraging sign" of Serbia's commitment to cooperate in the regard.
The Serbian authorities have offered a 1-million-euro (1.4-million-U.S. dollar) reward for information leading to the capture of Mladic, and 250,000 euros (350,000 dollars) for the arrest of each of another two suspects -- Bosnian Serb Stojan Zupljanin, a former senior police commander and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.
Del Ponte thanked the international community, the EU in particular, for their support in hunting down the ICTY fugitives.
She said she would return to Belgrade on Oct. 25-26 to assess the progress of Serbia's cooperation, and will be back to the city again prior to her briefing to the UN Security Council in December.
"I therefore demand that the Serbian authorities increase the intensity of the search operations and improve coordination of their services in the coming weeks," she said.
Source:Xinhua
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