[JURIST] Carla Del Ponte [official profile], chief prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website], once again [JURIST report] on Monday strongly criticized Serbia's lack of progress in the capture and arrest of war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounder; JURIST news archive] and discouraged the European Union [official website] from resuming membership talks with Belgrade. Del Ponte called Serbia's erstwhile efforts to arrest the former Bosnian Serb commander, a key participant in the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica [BBC backgrounder, JURIST news archive], a "smokescreen" without "real political will or investigative will." She said Mladic should be among seven Bosnian Serb military and paramilitary officers currently on trial [JURIST report] for charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes in connection with the incident.

Mladic has escaped capture for years and his fugitive status has been a sticking point in Serbia's membership negotiations with the European Union [JURIST report; EU materials]. Mladic is believed to be hiding in Serbia and in June Del Ponte said she would ask the UN Security Council to grant the ICTY power to apprehend Mladic itself. AFP has more.