[JURIST] New International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz [ICC profile; JURIST report] said Wednesday that finding and prosecuting Balkan war crimes suspects will be a top priority under his leadership. Brammertz called on [statement] the states of the former Yugoslavia to cooperate in working toward the arrest of Bosnian Serb leaders Ratko Mladic [BBC profile] and Radovan Karadzic [ICTY indictment], as well as Croatian Serb war crimes suspects Goran Hadzic and Stojan Zupljanin [ICTY indictments]. UN News Centre has more. AFP has additional coverage.

Brammertz took over the court's leadership earlier this month and said that he would continue his predecessor's tough stance on Serbian cooperation [JURIST report]. Former chief prosecutor Carla Del Ponte [JURIST news archive] long criticized Serbia for its seeming reluctance to cooperate with the ICTY. The EU had made Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY a key element of its membership negotiations [EU accession materials].