Serge Brammertz

BELGRADE - Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic met with the chief prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals Serge Brammertz on Friday, noting that Serbia was consistent in efforts to attain justice for war crimes and find people who had gone missing in the war conflicts of the 1990s.

"I welcome today's announcement by Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic that Serbia is taking steps to strengthen legal co-operation with Bosnia-Herzegovina on war crimes cases. This is important for building trust between the two countries and supporting justice," Brammertz wrote on Twitter.

The president of International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Carmel Agius, told the UN Security Council on Tuesday evening that the verdict in the retrial of Jovica Stanisic and Franko Simatovic is still on track to be delivered this month.

The session of the UN Security Council will be held after the sentencing of Ratko Mladic, starting at 9 p.m.
Brnabic assessed that the UN Security Council showed great respect for Vucic because they enabled him to join online without all the protocols, "Novosti" adds.

"We confronted him with 167 witnesses - they were brave people."
The final verdict against Ratko Mladic, scheduled for Tuesday (June 8th), is especially important for the victims, says Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor for the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Montenegrin Special Prosecutor Milivoje Katnic (centre) at a press conference in Podgorica. Photo: PR Centar.

"It is based on suspicion that they were committed by Montenegrin citizens," said special prosecutor Sanja Jovicevic.

The Bosnian state court told BIRN that 47 people accused of committing crimes during the 1992-95 war are being sought for arrest, 25 of whom are outside the country.

Twenty-four of those who are wanted have Serbian citizenship, or dual citizenship of Serbia and Bosnia, according to prosecutors.

Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor at the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, told a meeting of prosecutors from former Yugoslav countries about cooperation in war crime cases in Sarajevo on Wednesday that "too little has been done on regional cooperation in the past three years".

A new report by the Belgrade-based Humanitarian Law Centre, published on Wednesday, said there has been no progress this year so far in the implementation of Serbia's national strategy for the prosecution of war crimes.

UN tribunal chief Carmel Agius told a conference entitled 'Stop Genocide and Holocaust Denial' in Sarajevo on Thursday that denial of genocide is unacceptable and those who do it should be prosecuted.

"We must always respond by strongly condemning those who deny it," Agius said.

"It is time to start a big cultural attack. People who deny genocide must be uncovered," he added.