U.N. prosecutor hints of possible progress towards arrest of Bosnian Serb leader

In this story: Hopes Krajisnik will fill in picture of events Inquiries under way into Kosovo atrocities RELATED STORIES, SITES

THE HAGUE, Netherlands (CNN) -- The chief prosecutor for the U.N. war crimes tribunal has hailed the arrest of senior Bosnian Serb political figure Momcilo Krajisnik as "very important" and hinted that progress was being made towards an arrest of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic.

In an interview with CNN, chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said she hoped it would be possible to arrest Karadzic in time to hold a joint trial of him and Krajisnik, who stand accused of war crimes and genocide.

Del Ponte said she was particularly happy that the arrest of Krajisnik had been made by NATO troops in a timely manner, within a month of the warrant being issued.

The prosecutor said she was also gratified that French troops made the arrest following her meetings with French President Jacques Chirac and French authorities in January.

"I hope that will be now possible also to arrest Karadzic, so we can have only one trial with both," said Del Ponte, a Swiss national who has been chief prosecutor since September 1999.

U.N. and NATO officials say that between July 1, 1991, and December 31, 1992, Bosnian Serb forces, under the direction and control of Krajisnik, then a leading member of the Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina, secured control of several municipalities that had been proclaimed part of the Serbian Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

With the arrest by French NATO troops Monday of Krajisnik, the tribunal has nearly 40 suspects in custody.

Still at large are Karadzic, the No. 1 war crimes suspect in Bosnia, and his top general, Ratko Mladic. Krajisnik, Karadzic's senior aide for most of the Bosnian war, replaced him as the leader of Bosnia's Serbs after Karadzic was forced to give up public functions because of his indictment by the war crimes tribunal.

Asked about the progress of efforts to bring Karadzic to trial, Del Ponte smiled and said, "I believe strongly that he will be arrested as soon as possible."

She declined to elaborate on reasons for her apparent optimism and would only add, "let's say that we will speak about (it) after the arrest of Karadzic."

Later in the interview Del Ponte said, "I will not tell you details about that, but as you can see I am traveling a lot ... I have a lot of meetings with NATO states."

Hopes Krajisnik will fill in picture of events

The prosecutor said she hoped that following his arrest, Krajisnik would help provide to the tribunal new information about events during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"It is important to know the real truth about what happened," she said. "We are here to know the truth and each individual person must be sentenced for what really happened."

Del Ponte said that as the tribunal in the Hague turned its attention to more senior figures, arrangements were being made for junior-level suspects to be prosecuted at the local level in Bosnia.

Asked about the case of two Bosnian Serbs who have waited two years for trial, Del Ponte said that in the light of the detail needed to prepare a case for the tribunal, "two years waiting for trial is not too long."

"We have three court rooms, we have only 14 judges, five of them appeal judges and so you cannot go faster."

Inquiries under way into Kosovo atrocities

The U.N. tribunal is conducting inquiries into allegations of both Serb and ethnic Albanian atrocities in Kosovo.

"In Kosovo our pending inquiries are now almost concerned with the exhumations because we have more than 300 graves and mass graves to exhume this year," Del Ponte said.

But she added that it was difficult to pursue evidence of alleged Kosovo Liberation Army crimes because the Serb victims were in Serbia, and communication with them was very difficult.

"We hope we can find a way to speak to these victims," she said, adding that she had recently sent messages to the Serb authorities via the Italian embassy in Belgrade, in a bid to interview Serb victims.

CNN Correspondent Nic Robertson contributed to this report.

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War Criminal Watch - Coalition for International Justice
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
CIA: The World Factbook 1999: Bosnia and Herzegovina
Embassy of Bosnia and Herzegovina
Bosnian Congress Web Site
NATO official site

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