Serbs finally closing net on Mladic

Serbia: The arrest of several alleged aides to Ratko Mladic has raised the hopes of many Serbs that the fugitive former general will be captured this week, before the expiry of a deadline set by the European Union.

Brussels has given Belgrade until next Sunday to catch the wartime Bosnian Serb commander, who has been on the run since his indictment for genocide over the massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in July 1995.

Extending an earlier deadline, the EU threatened this month to sever talks on closer ties with Serbia unless Gen Mladic is caught by April 30th. A breakdown in talks would cast Serbia deeper into international isolation, starve it of foreign aid and investment and stall its bid for eventual EU membership.

Top Serb officials say the government is now fully committed to finding Gen Mladic, and former military helicopter pilot Col Stanko Ristic and his son Pedrag were arrested last week on suspicion of having helped him evade capture.

The Belgrade district court spokeswoman, Marina Klaric-Zivkovic, confirmed that the two were detained "for aiding a fugitive after he committed a criminal act." The pair's lawyer, Milomir Salic, said he could not provide further details.

Col Ristic was questioned earlier this year after the arrest of Jovo Djogo and Sasa Badnjar, former Bosnian Serb officers during the country's 1992-1995 war, who are considered to be key allies of Gen Mladic.

"Stanko Ristic and Jovo Djogo are suspected of having rented apartments in Belgrade since the summer of 2002 in which Mladic hid," said Serbia's Blic newspaper. It also quoted a "reliable source" as saying: "The arrest of Stanko Ristic fully tightened the noose around Mladic. We can expect his arrest soon."