"We submitted to the Prosecutor's Office in The Hague in 2003 all the necessary materials with a proposal that the crimes committed in Croatia be included in the existing indictment," Bajic told the press in Fazana after a regional conference of state prosecutors, commenting on Thursday's arrest of former Bosnian Serb military leader Mladic.

Bajic said the proposal "was probably not considered at the time because Mladic was on the run," voicing hope that things would significantly change now that he was arrested.

Bajic said his office published on its website yesterday that it submitted to the Prosecutor's Office in The Hague in 2003 photocopies of all Croatian cases against Mladic, including a conviction to 20 years' imprisonment and indictments for crimes in Peruca, Pozega and Zadar.

Bajic said that during preparations for Mladic's transfer to The Hague, which he said would happen "in the next 7-8 days maximum", the Croatian State Prosecutor's Office would again contact the Prosecutor's Office at the hague tribunal about adding the crimes committed in Croatia to the indictment.

"That's our primary task at this moment, because Mladic's arrest is only the first step towards bringing justice to his victims not only in Srebrenica, but also to our victims between 1991 and 1995."

Asked how come Croatia was not mentioned in the indictment, although the crimes committed there preceded those covered by the indictment, Bajic said the question should be put to the Hague tribunal's Prosecutor's Office, reiterating that his office submitted all the necessary materials in 2003.

"(Goran) Hadzic is the last remaining fugitive. Institutions in Croatia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Serbia are working on his arrest. It's an important task, as the indictment and the crimes he committed are very serious and he should be brought to justice," said Bajic.

Of the 161 people indicted by the UN tribunal in The Hague, only wartime Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic remains at large after the apprehension of Mladic in Serbia on Thursday morning.

Goran Hadzic, 52, a former premier of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serb Krajina, a statelet set up by rebel Serbs in the occupied areas of Croatia in the early 1990s, is indicted on 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity and violations of laws or customs of war.

He disappeared from his home soon after the Hague tribunal issued an indictment against him in July 2004 and has been on the run since.