Addressing reporters at the War Crimes Court in Belgrade, Brammertz recalled that his latest report criticised the lack of an effective investigation into the helpers of war crimes indictees and that it was very important to establish how they could have hidden for so long.

He said that it was important to establish if the people who had helped the fugitives evade justice for so long were from public services or were members of their families, noting that the investigation into the fugitives' helpers was not directly linked with ongoing trials and that it was not within the jurisdiction of the Hague-based tribunal.

Brammertz said that his office was very glad that in 2011 the remaining fugitives had been arrested, that the cooperation with Serbian war crimes prosecutors and the national council for cooperation with the Hague tribunal was very good, but that those positive aspects did not prevent him from being critical with regard to lack of results and a comprehensive investigation into the fugitives' helpers.

The ICTY chief prosecutor said he would meet in Brijuni, Croatia, on Wednesday with prosecutors from the region, adding that regional cooperation and local war crimes trials were the remaining challenges.

In a few years, the ICTY will close its door, but there will remain a large number of cases and they will have to be dealt with by Serbian, Bosnian and Croatian courts, he said.

Brammertz's regular six-month report on Serbia's cooperation with the ICTY will be presented to the UN Security Council on June 7.

Earlier in the day, Brammertz held talks with officials of the Security-Information Agency (BIA) and Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic. On Wednesday, he is scheduled to meet the chairman of the national council for cooperation with the ICTY, Rasim Ljajic.