The Serbian army isn’t hiding top war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic and has made his capture a priority, the chief of military intelligence said in an interview published Friday.

The Serbian army, as well as a network of former military officers linked to nationalist groups, has often been accused of assisting Mladic during the wartime Bosnian Serb army commander’s 15-year flight from justice.

But in a rare interview with a Belgrade daily, army intelligence chief Svetko Kovac denied that the military was helping to shield either Mladic or Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic, who is also wanted for war crimes.

“Neither of the two war crimes suspects is hiding in premises under control of the defense ministry or the army,” Kovac told the Danas daily.

Kovac insisted that “no ministry official or army member is taking part in any way in hiding” Mladic and Hadzic.

Mladic is wanted on charges of genocide for his key role in the 1992-95 war in Bosnia. He is considered to be the mastermind behind the slaying of 8,000 Muslim men from Srebrenica and the 44-month siege of Sarajevo which killed 10,000 people.

The army intelligence chief said locating and arresting the two fugitives is a priority for his agents.

“Every day we receive information from various sources about alleged sites” where Mladic and Hadzic are hiding and “their protection network.”

“I can state that Mladic left military premises on July 1, 2002, and since then, we have no information that he has resided in military premises or apartments belonging to army officers or defense ministry officials,” Kovac said.

In early November, police searched three sites belonging to people who are believed close to the former Bosnian Serb general. Also, the Serbian government announced it has increased the reward for information leading to Mladic’s arrest tenfold to EUR10 million.

Mladic’s arrest is seen as the ultimate proof that Belgrade is cooperating with the The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. Cooperation with the U.N. court is a key condition for Serbia to join the European Union.

ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz is due to visit Serbia Monday to meet with the government and Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor about the efforts to finally nab Mladic and Hadzic.

November 12, 2010
AFP

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