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Salzburg: The arrest of Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Radovan Karadzic showed Belgrade's willingness to recognise its international obligations, and more arrests could follow, the Serbian prime minister said on Sunday.
Karadzic, twice indicted by the UN court in The Hague for orchestrating genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnia war, was arrested last Monday after more than a decade on the run.
Serbia's bid to join the European Union had been held up by its failure to comply with demands by the Hague court to hand over Karadzic and other war crimes suspects.
"The arrest of Karadzic was in a way the proof that there is a willingness to cooperate with the UN tribunal, and we believe that cooperation with the tribunal will be essential for our country," Serbian Prime Minister Mirko Cvetkovic said ahead of an annual meeting of the region's prime ministers.
"Karadzic was the number one, so if number one is the proof for the demonstration for willingness, then there is no reason why we wouldn't do that to number two or number seven."
Karadzic's military commander Ratko Mladic and other fugitives are still at large.
Brussels welcomed Karadzic's arrest, saying it was a sign Belgrade was serious about its EU bid, though some states want to see other fugitives wanted for crimes during the Yugoslav wars arrested for Serbia to prove it deserves to join the bloc.
Cvetkovic said Serbia was not expecting a reward for the arrest, though it hoped for improved trading conditions.
EU agreement
"We are doing that because we do believe in international law, but obviously we are expecting that the European Union is giving us this interim agreement to become operational.
The EU signed a long-delayed Stabilisation and Association pact with Serbia in April but vowed not to ratify it or unlock its trade benefits until all 27 member states agreed that Belgrade was in full compliance with the UN tribunal.
Meanwhile, Karadzic is unlikely to be transferred to The Hague before the middle of the week, his lawyer was quoted yesterday as saying.
Lawyer Svetozar Vujacic told the daily Vecernje Novoski he did not expect Karadzic to be transferred before Wednesday or Thursday at the earliest.
He continued to refuse to give details of the appeal he lodged against the transfer on behalf of his client at the last possible minute before the expiry of a deadline at midnight Friday. "I can't tell you what is written in the appeal," he told the paper.
Relationship
'My world collapsed'
The woman described by Serbian tabloids as the mistress of Radovan Karadzic says that her whole world collapsed when she discovered the man she befriended and respected was the war crimes fugitive.
"It was a terrifying shock," said Mila Cicak. "I'm the one in prison now, except there are no bars on my cell."
The 53-year-old single mother recounted what she called the "personal hell" she has been going through since Serbian authorities announced they captured Karadzic on Monday and made public his cover as a self-styled healer named Dr Dragan Dabic.
Soon after the capture, a photo of the white-haired and bearded Dabic in the company of Cicak surfaced on front pages in local Serbian newspapers and tabloids - and prompted a frenzied media hunt for the woman dubbed his mistress.
Since then, Cicak has been hounded by cameras, her apartment in the suburb of Zemun under constant media siege.
- AP
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