Hunt for Hague fugitives continues

Belgrade, Bela Crkva, October 24 (Source: B92) - Carla Del Ponte arrives in Belgrade tomorrow, while the military police last night conducted searches of Army facilities. As coordinator of the government Action Plan Rasim Ljajić confirmed to B92 that search operations for the remaining war crimes fugitives had been carried out in Bela Crkva during the day Tuesday.

The searches were performed in the barracks and officers club in Bela Crkva, said Ljajić, and added that it was a part of their regular activities of searching military facilities. Ljajić claims that the operation "had nothing to do with the forthcoming visit of the Hague chief prosecutor to Belgrade." Similar operations were carried out last week in Pančevo and Zrenjanin, and the Defense Ministry at the time said that they had been nothing more than routine searches.

Meanwhile, Democratic Party of Serbia (DSS) spokesman Branislav Ristivojević reacted Director of the Humanitarian Law Center Natasa Kandić's recent remarks that Serbia knew where the Hague fugitives hid, by dubbing the statements "glaringly misleading the public." "By making such false claims, Kandić intends to prevent the initialing of the agreement on stabilization and association with the European Union and to cause direct harm to Serbia," Ristivojević told Tanjug news agency.

"Kandić must immediately present proof of her claims or apologize and admit that she has misled the public," he said. Kandić said earlier that the Serbian Security and Information Agency (BIA) had full information about the whereabouts of Hague indictees Ratko Mladić and Stojan Župljanin.

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