Goran Hadzic, last Serbian war criminal, arrested

Serbia's last war crimes fugitive arrested
Goran Hadzic was last of 161 people indicted by UN court in The Hague for crimes against humanity during 1991-95.
Last Modified: 20 Jul 2011 08:26

Serbia's last major war crimes fugitive, a Croatian Serb wartime leader indicted for crimes against humanity during the 1991-95 Croatian war, has been arrested, a Serbian official has told Reuters news agency.

Boris Tadic, Serbia's president, scheduled an urgent news conference for 11am local time [0900GMT] on Wednesday to speak about Goran Hadzic's arrest.

He was a key figure in the breakaway Krajina Serb republic in Croatia and was also Serbia's last remaining figure sought by the United Nations war crimes tribunal in The Hague.

In all, the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) indicted 161 people and Hadzic is the last to be arrested.

His detention follows the arrests of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic in May and that of Radovan Karadzic in August 2008.

Mladic is now on trial at The Hague for his role in atrocities committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.

Officials at the tribunal in The Hague, where Hadzic would be extradited, said they could not yet confirm or deny his arrest.

In Brussels, the European Union was still trying to verify the report, a spokesman said.

If it is confirmed, EU enlargement chief Stefan Fule will likely comment on how it would affect Serbia's future prospects for membership in the bloc.

NATO is also waiting for official announcement of the arrest, officials said.

Evaded justice

Hadzic was indicted in 2004 for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including "persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, extermination, murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer" as well as "wanton destruction ... or devastation".

The indictment alleged that Hadzic committed the crimes with an aim to drive the Croats and other non-Serbs from the territories controlled by his self-styled authorities.

Hadzic has managed to evade justice for years, despite international pressure for his arrest. He narrowly escaped arrest in northern Serbia, apparently thanks to a tip from within the Serbian security authorities.

The country's post-war authorities have for years faced accusations that they were not doing enough to hunt down the war crimes suspects.

The issue had also blocked Serbia's bid at European Union (EU) membership. The EU, which hailed Belgrade for finding Mladic in May, had continued to insist on the arrest of Hadzic for Serbia to make progress towards EU membership. The country now hopes to become a candidate for entry later this year.

More than 10,000 people died in the Croatian war which ended when Zagreb, the Croatian capital, retook the territories held by the Serbs in 1995.

Serbia's wartime president Milosevic was extradited to the Hague tribunal in 2001 and died there in 2006, while on trial for genocide.

Good; another one accounted for.