Malta hails Ratko Mladic’s arrest

The arrest of Ratko Mladic, former head of the Bosnian Serbian army, brought Serbia closer to EU candidacy, Foreign Affairs Minister Tonio Borg said.

His arrest was a “very, important breakthrough” for the Serbian authorities and should lead to justice being done for those who suffered “brutal crimes”, Dr Borg said.

Mr Mladic, a former general, was the most prominent war criminal suspect still at large until his arrest on Thursday. He was indicted by the Special Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia for the genocide in Srebrenica and in the Balkan wars of the early 1990s.

Dr Borg underlined the strong political will and maturity shown by the Serbian government and reiterated that Malta was always at the forefront in emphasising that Serbia’s accession to the EU remained the foremost catalyst for change in the Western Balkans.

Serbia’s candidacy for EU membership has been made subject to Mr Mladic’s arrest and its cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia at The Hague.