After it was stated in Belgrade that General Milan Gvero, former deputy of Ratko Mladic’s, would surrender voluntarily to the Tribunal on Thursday, OTP spokesperson Florence Hartmann confirmed that his name was on one of the last six indictments signed late last year by Carla Del Ponte.

Retired general Milan Gvero - former deputy of Ratko Mladic’s in the Republika Srpska Army and a member of the Yugoslav Army’s Commission for Cooperation with the ICTY until 2003 - is the first indictee in the December collection of indictments whose name was made public - first in Belgrade and only then in The Hague.

After it was stated in Belgrade that General Milan Gvero would surrender voluntarily to the Tribunal on Thursday, 24 February 2005, the OTP spokesperson Florence Hartmann confirmed that his name was on one of the last six OTP’s indictments. They were signed by Carla Del Ponte late last year and then confirmed by the judges. Hartmann refused to reveal any details from the indictment against Gvero; this could indicate that it contains another name, or names from the top echelon of the Bosnian Serb Army.

The names of the other indictees from Carla Del Ponte’s December collection are expected to be made public in the next few days or week. As in Gvero’s case, their names will most probably first be made public in Belgrade, Sarajevo, Banja Luka, Pristina or Skopje, together with the news that the accused have gone to The Hague voluntarily or that the legal procedure for their surrender has been initiated. The indictments have been placed under seal by the Tribunal to give the authorities a chance to either persuade the accused that it is better for them to surrender voluntarily or, in case they refuse, to arrest and hand them over to the Tribunal. Otherwise, the names will be made public in at the Tribunal only if the relevant authorities fail to take this opportunity.

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