Serbia Arrests Last War Crimes Fugitive Still Sought By UN Tribunal

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Serbia Arrests Last War Crimes Fugitive Still Sought By UN Tribunal

20.07.2011 13:46

By RFE/RL

The former leader of ethnic Serbs in Croatia during the Yugoslav wars and the last fugitive in the eyes of the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Goran Hadzic, has been arrested.

Serbian President Boris Tadic made the announcement at a special press conference in Belgrade on July 20, saying that Hadzic's arrest in the Fruska Gora region meant that Serbia had now "ended all the most difficult chapters in its cooperation with the Hague tribunal."

Hadzic is expected to be extradited to the tribunal in the near future.

Drago Hedl, a journalist in the Croatian city of Osijek, told RFE/RL's Balkan Service that Hadzic's capture could help bring some closure.

"Goran Hadzic was a significant figure during the war. The trial that will soon begin at The Hague could reveal where and in which areas the victims are buried so the families could bury them decently," Hedl said.

"Hadzic also used his political position for personal business. It is known that a lot of oil is being smuggled from Djeletovci [an oil field in eastern Croatia] when Serbia was under sanctions. It is well known that the Salvonia forests were exploited. This was Goran Hadzic's big business."

The 52-year-old Hadzic has been sought since he was indicted in 2004 on 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity stemming from atrocities that occurred in Croatia from 1991 to 1995.

The indictment particularly mentions a 1991 massacre in Vukovar in which 250 people were killed. It was one of the earliest atrocities of the bloody conflicts in Yugoslavia.

Manda Patko, an activist with the Vukovar Mothers Association whose husband disappeared during the massacre, welcomed the news of Hadzic's arrest.

"He is accountable for the crimes and offenses that were committed in Vukovar," Patko said. "Maybe he didn't personally commit these crimes, but he ordered them."

More than 10,000 people were killed in fighting in Croatia, which ended when Croatian forces regained control of Serb-held territories in 1995.

Serbia 'Closing A Painful Chapter'

Hadzic's arrest comes less than two months after the arrest in Serbia of former Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic. The two arrests had long been sought by the international community and are seen as now paving the way for Serbia's further integration into European structures and the international community.

Serbia hopes to apply for candidate status with the European Union later this year.

EU officials welcomed Hadzic's arrest, calling it "a further important step for Serbia in realizing its European perspective" in a statement. "The Serbian nation is in the process of confronting the past and turning the page to a better European future," the statement added.

Lithuanian Foreign Minister Audronius Azubalis, who is chairman-in-office of the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe, issued a statement commending Belgrade for the arrests of Hadzic and Mladic.

NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen said that "this arrest will allow for the most painful chapter in recent European history to be closed." He added that NATO remains committed to facilitating security in the Balkans.

Croatian President Ivo Josipovic also welcomed Hadzic's arrest, saying it was "delayed, but we can say that justice is slow but achievable."

Josipovic added that that it was "good that the Serbian government is finally fully cooperating with The Hague. It's good for justice. It's good for our neighborly relations, and, above all, it's good for Serbia itself."

In A Monastery Or Military Base?

Hadzic was nearly arrested shortly after his 2004 indictment, but escaped capture after reportedly being tipped off by contacts within Serbia's security apparatus.

With Hadzic's arrest, the war crimes tribunal has seen the capture of all 161 war-crimes suspects that it has indicted since it was established in 1993.

Tadic noted that Hadzic's arrest marks the end of a long process, adding that "Serbia will continue fulfilling its international obligations" and Hadzic's arrest meant that the country had fulfilled a "legal obligation and moral duty."

Hadzic was arrested in the village of Krusedol, just a few kilometers from the Croatian town where he was born. The holiday region is home to 16 Serbian Orthodox monasteries and early media reports on Hadzic's arrest said he had been detained either in a monastery or a military base.

Tadic denied those reports, but did not divulge additional details about the arrest.

In Krusedol, RFE/RL's Balkan Service correspondent Milos Teodorovic said locals there couldn't imagine where Hadzic was hiding if he was not in the local monastery or the military base.

Teodorovic said that, standing at the crossroads where Hadzic was arrested, there is a military barrack to the left and the monastery of Krusedol on the right.

"If Hadzic came by foot to this spot, he could have come only from three directions: the military barrack, Krusedol, or the nearby village," he said. "The village has a few thousand inhabitants, and people to whom I spoke told me that Hadzic was not there."

with RFE/RL's Balkan Service and agency reports

Source: http://www.rferl.org/content/serbia_arrests_last_war_crimes_fugitive_still_sought_by_un_tribunal/24270980.html

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