SERBIA: Serbian authorities begin investigations into alleged aiding of war crime fugitives

Record ID: 602837

  • Title: SERBIA: Serbian authorities begin investigations into alleged aiding of war crime fugitives
  • Date: 23rd June 2012
  • Summary: BELGRADE, SERBIA (JUNE 22, 2012) (REUTERS) SPECIAL COURT BUILDING EXTERIOR WINDOWS ON BUILDING SERBIAN WAR CRIMES CHIEF PROSECUTOR, VOJISLAV VUKCEVIC (LEFT) AND DEPUTY WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR, BRUNO VEKARIC, AT NEWS CONFERENCE PHOTOGRAPHER TAKING PICTURES (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) SERBIAN CHIEF WAR CRIMES PROSECUTOR, VOJISLAV VUKCEVIC, SAYING: "Ratko Mladic resided in mili
  • Embargoed: 8th July 2012 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Serbia
  • Country: Serbia
  • Topics: Conflict,International Relations,Politics
  • Reuters ID: LVAC2EQ6IK0HXCJDBSNENS2TK5K
  • Story Text: Serbian authorities initiated investigations against thirteen people for their role in helping war crime fugitives evade justice, including ex-Bosnian Serb wartime commander Ratko Mladic, the country's war crime prosecutor said on Friday (June 22).
    Authorities also implicated an associate of Carla Del Ponte, a former United Nations war crimes prosecutor in helping Goran Hadzic, the 1991-1995 wartime leader of Croatian Serbs avoid arrest in 2004.
    Uncovering war crime fugitives' networks is not only important for Serbia to speed up its European Union membership bid, but also to come to terms with its role in bloody 1991-1999 Balkan wars.
    Until the ouster of former strongman Slobodan Milosevic in 2000, Mladic lived openly in Belgrade, attending weddings, visiting restaurants and soccer games. After Milosevic's demise, Mladic hid in the Yugoslav Army's barracks until 2002, aided by hardliners from the military and state security service.
    "Ratko Mladic resided in military barracks after Slobodan Milosevic arrest and extradition to The Hague, with the permission, the then Chief of General staff General Nebojsa Pavkovic, until the adoption of a law on cooperation with The Hague war crimes tribunal on April 28 2002. Then on May 9 2002, a warrant was issued by the investigative judge of the high court in Belgrade. Before leaving the military barracks, and during his stay there, he (Mladic) was helped by one high official of the Military Intelligence," Vojislav Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor, said.
    Serbian prosecutors have in the past questioned retired General Aco Tomic, the former head of military intelligence agency in connection with the Mladic case. In 2006, Serbian police uncovered a network of Mladic's wartime comrades who helped him get around Belgrade. That group is still on trial.
    "So, I want to point out that after leaving military barracks, Ratko Mladic was hiding in 11 apartments in and around Belgrade, with the help of Jovo Djogo, Stanko Ristic and others who are accused for helping. According to our knowledge, from a place near Belgrade, Ratko Mladic went to the village of Lazarevo where he was arrested and according to our investigation he was hiding there for more than 5 years," Vukcevic added.
    Prosecutors also want to interview Rade Bulatovic, the former head of Serbia's state security agency (BIA) over his role in Mladic's escape and "premature arrest of helpers" in 2006.
    Mladic was also aided by his family members until last year when he was caught at his cousin's farm in Serbia's north.
    Karadzic, the wartime Bosnian Serb president, lived openly Belgrade for years, disguised as a bearded new-age guru who lectured about healthy lifestyle throughout the country, published poetry books and ran a website, until his arrest in 2008.
    "Where Radovan Karadzic is concerned, members of his family were helping him. But in line with legal provisions, they can not be processed because they are his close relatives," Vukcevic said.
    Both Mladic and Karadzic are indicted for their role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war and ensuing atrocities including the 1995 Srebrenica genocide and the three-year siege of Sarajevo.
    Vukcevic said Hadzic, indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes, received the information from a Del Ponte's "close and well known associate."
    "Information that (Goran Hadzic) was accused, leaked from a tribunal's (The Hague War Crimes Tribunal) very close and very well known associate of Carla del Ponte (at that time chief prosecutor at the war crimes tribunal) who informed a very prominent Belgrade lawyer, in the restaurant of the Hotel Metropol that (Goran) Hadzic was indicted," he said.
    Hadzic remained at large until his arrest last year.
    Last month, Serge Brammertz, the top UN war crime prosecutor, asked Serbia to explain how these most wanted fugitives could evade justice for more than a decade.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2012. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register