[JURIST] Serbia's Security Information Agency [official website] has located former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic [BBC profile; JURIST news archive] and is considering apprehending him, Serbian human rights activist Natasa Kandic [Business Week profile] said Tuesday. Once captured, Mladic can be turned over to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], which originally indicted [ICTY case backgrounder] him on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity in 1995. Kandic told AP that representatives from Serbia's intelligence agency have confirmed to ICTY chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [official profile] that Mladic will soon be arrested. AP has more.

Last week, Del Ponte chided [JURIST report] Serbian authorities for failing to bring Mladic and three other accused war criminals who are believed to be hiding in that country to justice, saying that Serbia's cooperation with the tribunal is "still too slow and not yet sufficient." Serbia said in September it would increase efforts [JURIST report] to locate and arrest Mladic, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [ICTY case backgrounder], former Croatian Serb rebel leader Goran Hadzic [JURIST report], and Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin [ICTY indictment] in order to receive a favorable report from Del Ponte during her meeting with EU officials concerning the EU's pending pre-membership deal with the country. The EU has made Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY a key element of its membership negotiations.