Serbian President Boris Tadic has expressed his belief that ICTY fugitive Ratko Mladic will be located and arrested "in due course," adding that all those involved in his hiding will be most severely punished.

I want Serbia to be freed from the ballast of war criminals, to become a candidate for the EU membership and turn to the solving of everyday problems of its citizens, Tadic said in an interview for the Belgrade-based daily Blic.

According to Tadic, the arrest of Ratko Mladic did not become the country's top priority until 2008, that is until the establishment of the current Serbian government. "I am convinced that the majority of the Serbian citizens believe that all war criminals should be put on trial and justly punished. I would like to reiterate that, even if the ICTY was to discontinue its work, this government would continue its active search for Mladic. That is our obligation, above all, to the innocent victims and their families," Tadic underscored.

Tadic said that the authorized state bodies still do not know Mladic's whereabouts, but are doing their best to find and arrest him, adding that Belgrade was commended for its efforts by the United States and the EU.

"It is common knowledge that Mladic is not a regular fugitive, but rather a soldier with considerable war experience. According to our information, the persons who had earlier helped Ratko Mladic to hide are former and retired military officers with vast experience in intelligence and security services," Tadic pointed out.

When asked who is responsible for the fact that Mladic has not yet been arrested, Tadic said that, once the cooperation with the ICTY is successfully completed, the political background of the issue will be examined.

"Now I can regretfully say that, in the past 15 years, the political will for Mladic's arrest was not always present. Furthermore, by the year of 2000, Mladic was not even hiding, and not before 2002 did Serbia pass the Law on Cooperation with the ICTY. Unfortunately, the previous governments did not attach enough significance to this matter," Tadic underscored.