ICTY prosecution looks forward to meeting Serb prosecutors (Extra)

Jul 30, 2008, 12:14 GMT

The Hague - Chief Prosecutor of the International Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) Serge Brammertz said Wednesday he was looking forward to meeting his Serbian colleagues in Belgrade 'in the coming weeks.'

He declined to give an exact date of his visit to Belgrade.

Speaking at a news conference at the ICTY in The Hague, Brammertz praised the Serbian civil authorities for their 'excellent cooperation' with the ICTY in the past months.

'During the last assessment, in June, of the level of cooperation between the Serb authorities and the ICTY, we still concluded that further improvement was needed,' he said.

Asked whether the the arrest of Karadzic was a reason to make a new assessment, Brammertz said this would not be the case before the next one, scheduled in December.

Brammertz also said he looked forward to meeting the new Serbian government in September.

Among the 25 members of the European Union, only the Dutch and Belgians insisted on their demand that Serbia must first extradite those indicted by the ICTY before the European Union would enter into talks with Serbia about closer cooperation and possible EU membership.

Asked whether the continued Dutch position to uphold this demand had contributed to Karadzic's arrest by the Serb authorities, Brammertz said 'every national and international effort, including that of the EU, has contributed to this success.'