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Del Ponte welcomes Hadzic arrest

The Swiss former chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia has hailed the arrest of Serbian war crimes suspect Goran Hadzic.

Carla Del Ponte, who was at the ICTY from 1999-2007, was quoted by news agencies as saying that the arrest was a great success for the Belgrade authorities, which would help Serbia’s path towards the European Union.

For its part, the ICTY said on Wednesday that it looked forward to the “expeditious” transfer of Hadzic following the completion of legal proceedings required under Serbian law.

In an interview with swissinfo.ch following the arrest of Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic in May, Del Ponte had predicted that Hadzic would soon face justice.

The last of 161 suspects charged by the ICTY during Del Ponte’s eight-year-term, Hadzic was indicted for crimes against humanity committed during the 1991-95 Croatian war.

He is charged with ordering the killing of hundreds and the deportation of thousands of Croats and other non-Serbs from a region of Croatia seized by Serb forces.

After her term as ICTY prosecutor, Del Ponte served as Swiss ambassador to Argentina from 2008 until her retirement earlier this year.

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SWI swissinfo.ch - a branch of Swiss Broadcasting Corporation SRG SSR