BELGRADE -- Defense Minister Dragan Šutanovac has called on Hague fugitives Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić to turn themselves in.
Source: FoNet, Blic
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“I personally would like for Mladić to surrender as soon as possible. I've called on him to do so on a number of occasions, and this time I'm calling not just on him, but on Hadžić too, to turn themselves in. They are holding the whole country to ransom,“ he said.
The minister said that surrender would be “in the interests of Serbia and its citizens, and in Mladić’s too, as well as all those who care about him“.
He did not wish to either confirm or deny whether the military security services, under his control, had taken part in the arrest of Radovan Karadžić.
“It’s irresponsible that certain people are insisting on identifying exactly who did that job, as it leads to destabilizing the service and the police. One day, someone will ask for the names of the people who took part in the operation, but that’s not published anywhere in the world, as the safety of those people and their families has to be guaranteed,“ Šutanovac explained.
Asked whether Karadžić’s arrest had been the result of Saša Vukadinović’s arrival at the head of the security services (BIA), the minister said that he would not link that activity with anyone personally.
He said that it had been a result of the change in government and all the promises given during the election campaign.
Šutanovac said that claims that former BIA Chief Rade Bulatović had known of Karadžić’s whereabouts the whole time, and that former Prime Minister Vojislav Koštunica had blocked the arrest, were “at the level of speculation that could be, but don’t have to be true.“
Asked whether he had full control over the military intelligence services and whether it was they who were hiding Mladić, the minister replied that no-one had said that military agencies were harbouring Mladić, “not [Hague Chief Prosecutor Serge] Brammertz, nor any of the witnesses or accomplices“.
“I can assure you that military intelligence works in accordance with the law. I don’t say that there isn’t a fraction of a possibility that one of the 37,000 members of the army isn’t working alone, but he certainly does not have the support of the system,“ he stressed.