JURIST - Paper Chase: EU threatens to suspend membership talks with Serbia over Mladic

[JURIST] EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn [official profile] said Monday that the European Union [official website] will suspend membership negotiations [JURIST report] with Serbia and Montenegro [JURIST news archive] if it did not fully cooperate in apprehending war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; BBC profile], echoing a formal statement [Austrian Presidency press release] made at the end of an EU foreign ministers meeting in Brussels. Mladic faces charges [indictment text] brought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes in connection with the execution of over 8,000 Muslim prisoners and civilians at Srebrenica and the siege of Sarajevo [BBC report]. Serbia defense minister Zoran Stankovic [official profile], who many hoped would be the one to capture Mladic, has promised to resign if he does not deliver Mladic by the end of the year.

While Serbian officials say they have identified those individuals who have helped Mladic [JURIST news archive] evade capture, they continue to deny [JURIST report] Serb media reports that Mladic has already been arrested and ICTY officials confirmed that he is still at large [JURIST report]. BBC News has more.

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