Press release: Prime Minister Zeljko Sturanovic meets with Prosecutor of International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia Carla Del Ponte

Prime Minister Zeljko Sturanovic met with the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, in Podgorica today.

Having welcomed Mrs. Del Ponte, the Prime Minister took the opportunity to reiterate the commitment of the Republic of Montenegro, as a sovereign and independent state, to continue its open and full cooperation with the Hague Tribunal as before. He noted that it was in the best interest of all countries of the region, and the international community as a whole, for the Tribunal to complete the mission entrusted to it by the Security Council.

Prime Minister Sturanovic pointed out that the relevant authorities of the Republic of Montenegro were ready to provide logistic and other support to the Tribunals representatives on the Montenegrin territory and cooperate in discovering and bringing war crime indictees before the Tribunal, if they proved to be on the territory of the Republic of Montenegro.

Mrs. Del Ponte thanked the Republic of Montenegro for its full cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague. She emphasized the necessity of designing a special action plan for joint efforts by relevant authorities and services in the region, aimed at carrying out coordinated activities focused on discovering and bringing indictees before the Tribunal.

According to Mrs. Del Ponte, Montenegro needs to prepare for carrying out investigations and trials for war crimes within its own judicial system in the coming period.