SERBIA: Trial for 11 people accused of helping war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic continues in Belgrade

The 11 alleged aides of top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic returned to court in Belgrade on Tuesday (November 28) to continue their trial. The suspects, seven men and three women, are accused of helping the former Bosnian Serb general hide in various rented flats in the Serbian capital Belgrade from mid-2002 to January this year. Most of the accused were arrested in the spring of 2006 as part of an investigation into the support network of Mladic, who is thought to have strong connections with hardline officials in the army and secret services. "I think there is no basis for these accusations," said Dragoslav Ognjanovic, the lawyer of one of the accused. "The court is here to decide, that's all I have to say," Ognjanovic said. For Serbia to make progress towards European Union membership, Mladic must be arrested. Serbia insists it is doing all it can to find the fugitive, but Brussels suspended association talks in May (2006) as a punishment for Belgrade's failure to bring him to justice. Mladic and his wartime political boss, Radovan Karadzic, who is also at large, are wanted for genocide for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys and for the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.

ITN Source | November 29, 2006

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