Prosecutors have filed an amended indictment against fugitive Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic in an effort to speed his trial if he is caught, the chief UN war crimes prosecutor has confirmed.
Serge Brammertz said the new indictment listed 11 criminal counts against Mladic, who led the Bosnian Serb army during the wars in the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
He is indicted for genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo in which 10,000 people were killed.
The earlier 2002 indictment had 15 total counts against Mladic, so the latest version appears to be an effort to streamline some charges against him and avoid a drawn-out trial like that of the late Serbian leader Slobodan Milosevic.
Mr Brammertz arrived in Belgrade on Wednesday to assess the government's cooperation with the Hague-based war crimes court before his next report to the U.N. Security Council. The issue is vital to Serbia's aspirations of joining the European Union.
Mr Brammertz repeated that he is "cautiously optimistic" that Mladic will be arrested.
"I still have no reason to believe that he is outside of Serbia," he said. "This is also the impression that is shared with all my interlocators."
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia said in a statement: "As set out in the indictment, Ratko Mladic together with Radovan Karadzic was a key member of an overarching joint criminal enterprise, the objective of which was the permanent removal of Bosnian Muslims and Croats from the territory in Bosnia and Herzegovina that Bosnian Serbs claimed for themselves." said.
The court is particularly mindful of the length of the trial of Milosevic, who died in 2006 before a verdict could be handed down. His trial had lasted four years and called 300 witnesses.
Prosecutors had initially wanted to try former Bosnian Serb president Karadzic and Mladic together but separated the case last October prior to the start of Karadzic's trial.
The European Union ministers will look closely at Brammertz's report before meeting in June to decide whether to allow Serbia to advance towards membership in the bloc.
Serbia in December officially applied for EU membership, but further progress is pending on its ability to come to terms with its war time past and arrest two fugitives, Mladic and Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, indicted for crimes against humanity.
During a recent visit to Srebrenica, Mr Brammertz said Serbia had no alternative but to arrest Mladic and Hadzic if it wants to proceed with its EU bid. Serbian authorities said they had stepped up efforts to arrest Mladic.
"We will inform prosecutor Brammertz about all our activities and I believe that his report in June will be positive," said Rasim Ljajic, Serbia's liason with the Tribunal.
Reuters