SERBIAN WAR CRIMINAL RATKO MLADIC CAN FACE TRIAL EVEN AFTER 2011

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (December 3,2008) - Former commander of the genocidal paramilitary fascist formations of the Serbians living in Bosnia,Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic could face trial at the Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal even after 2011, when the tribunal is scheduled to close, UN judge Fausto Pocar said yesterday.

Addressing a conference on war crimes trials in Belgrade, Pocar said that 2011 did not have to mark the end of the work of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"The UN Security Council can extend the mandate of the court and I believe that they will do so," said Pocar, who was president of the ICTY until last month.

Serbian war criminal Ratko Mladic has been charged by the ICTY with genocide, extermination, murder, deportation, inhumane acts, and other crimes against Bosnian civilians,committed during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

The ICTY was set up by the UN Security Council in 1993 as a temporary court designed to deal with the atrocities of the Balkan wars.The tribunal is expected to shut down in the next few years.
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