BELGRADE, Serbia, April 25 (UPI) -- A Serbia-Montenegro minister has advised Serbia to double its efforts to hand over war crime suspect Ratko Mladic to the U.N. court by April 30.
Human Rights Minister Rasim Ljajic Tuesday said pressure from the European Union and the United States would increase significantly if the Serbian government fails to arrest the Bosnian Serb military leader.
Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica has promised Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor of the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, he will hand over Mladic by the end of April.
Mladic is sought on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 1995.
Ljajic said if Belgrade fails to hand over Mladic, "it would not be bad only for the credibility of our country, but it would significantly increase pressure on us.
"Therefore we ought to do all in our power to additionally strengthen efforts that we make and finally complete the task we are doing," Ljajic said in an interview to Dnevnik newspaper of Novi Sad.
If Kostunica fails to keep his promise, the EU is likely to delay association talks with Belgrade.
