DATE=1/25/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BOSNIA WAR CRIMES (L ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258435
BYLINE=LAUREN COMITEAU
DATELINE=THE HAGUE
INTERNET=YES
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: A Bosnian Serb charged with murdering and
exterminating Muslims has been arrested by NATO-led
troops in eastern Bosnia. He's now in the custody of
the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, from
where Lauren Comiteau reports.
TEXT: Forty-five year old Mitar Vasiljevic didn't
know he was wanted for war crimes before his arrest
Tuesday morning in the eastern Bosnian town of
Visegrad. The charges against the former waiter-
turned-paramilitary fighter were kept secret until his
capture. But prosecutors say the crimes Mr. Vasiljevic
committed in and around Visegrad were some of the
earliest and worst of the Bosnian war.
Visegrad became infamous for the corpses that floated
down the Drina River--and prosecutors are charging Mr.
Vasiljevic with the murder of five Muslim men on the
river's banks. He is also charged with extermination,
persecution, and the mass murder of some 135 Bosnian
Muslims. Prosecutors say Mr. Vasiljevic was one of
the men who locked the Muslims--including young
children and babies--in two houses before setting them
on fire. As they tried to escape, Mr. Vasiljevic
shined a light so his partner could shoot them. All
but six people locked in the house were killed,
including 46 members of a single family.
Tuesday's arrest is the third by NATO-led troops in
the past two months--a warning to other war crimes
suspects, said NATO's Secretary General Lord George
Robertson, that it's time to surrender. (Signed)
NEB/lc/gm
25-Jan-2000 17:41 PM EDT (25-Jan-2000 2241 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
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