Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic

BELGRADE, September 4 (Beta) - Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic and Justice Minister Vladan Batic denied on Tuesday a statement made by Hague Tribunal Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte that Yugoslav authorities had consented to cooperate in the handing over of former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic.

"The Hague Tribunal has received information that Mladic is in Yugoslavia and we need cooperation with Yugoslav authorities on his arrest. Yugoslav authorities have consented to cooperate in Mladic's handing over," said Del Ponte at Surcin Airport prior to leaving Belgrade.

The Serbian Prime Minister said that he was surprised by Del Ponte's statement. Djindjic told Radio B92 that during the talks that he, Justice Minister Vladan Batic and representatives of the Prosecutor's Office and police held with Del Ponte, Mladic had indeed been mentioned. However, they concluded that Serbian authorities had no information on his whereabouts, and that Mladic was not a Yugoslav citizen and therefore the Serbian government did not have any authority in the matter.

"There were one or two sentences spoken on that issue," Djindjic said and assessed, "perhaps Del Ponte is employing some sort of tactics when she mentions Mladic."

"Maybe that's a message to him," Djindjic said.

"Carla Del Ponte clearly said in our presence that we hadn't talked about any specific individuals. That's true. We only talked about the dynamics of cooperation, the approach to witnesses, documentation and the possibility that at some time in the near future our courts would take over some of the cases," Djindjic said.

He added that his feeling was that "both parties avoided issues on which no progress could be made, such as discussing individual cases."

Minister Batic told Radio Television Serbia that Del Ponte only asked whether Mladic was on in the territory of Serbia, which government representatives denied.

"That is the only name which we mentioned during the discussions," Batic said, adding that no names, dates, conditions or ultimatums had been given.