The last Hague war crimes tribunal fugitive, Goran Hadzic, will be tried by the UN court if arrested by 30 June 2012, after which the proceedings will be taken over by the tribunal's Residual Mechanism, spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic said on Thursday.
According to Belgrade media, she said the tribunal maintained that its work should be completed only after all accused were arrested or at least after their trials were over.
Speaking of the case of wartime Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, Jelacic said a ruling could be expected only in 2014 and that appeals would be dealt with by the Residual Mechanism, which becomes operational on 1 July 2013.
Tribunal officials said last week that trials, including that of the recently arrested former Bosnian Serb military leader Ratko Mladic, were expected to be led by the tribunal.
The tribunal indicted Hadzic in mid-July 2004, accusing the former leader of rebel Croatian Serbs in eastern Slavonia of war crimes against Croats and other non-Serbs committed in occupied territories from mid-1991 to the end of 1993.
