SERBIAMONTENEGRO/FILE: NEWSPAPER SAYS SERBIAN GOVERNMENT IS ABOUT TO ARREST WAR CRIMES FUGITIVE RATKO MLADIC.

Record ID: 647746

  • Title: SERBIAMONTENEGRO/FILE: NEWSPAPER SAYS SERBIAN GOVERNMENT IS ABOUT TO ARREST WAR CRIMES FUGITIVE RATKO MLADIC.
  • Date: 11th June 2005
  • Summary: (EU) BELGRADE, SERBIAMONTENEGRO (JUNE 10, 2005) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 1. GV: STREET SCENE 0.06 2. GV/CU: NEWSAGENT STAND; NEWSPAPER HEADLINES; FRONT PAGE OF DAILY NEWSPAPER "DANAS" READING IN SERBIAN "MLADIC LOCATED" (3 SHOTS) 0.16 3. GV/PAN/CU: OFFICE OF DAILY NEWSPAPER "DANAS"; JOURNALISTS WRITING (4 SHOTS) 0.34 4. (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) GRUJICA SPASOVIC, EDITOR-IN-CHIEF OF THE DAILY NEWSPAPER "DANAS" SAYING: "We received the information from a very reliable source. We even know the name of the town he (Mladic) is in and since when he has been under control of certain security bodies. The source has never betrayed us so far. The source is not from those ruling structures but it is very close to them and knows a lot of people. So we decided to trust the source like in all previous situations and I do hope that this time it will be the real end of the story of Ratko Mladic." (SPASOJEVIC'S HANDS CUTAWAY) SPASOVIC, SAYING: "We have not said these were their (the government's) men and their services (involved in the action). There is a number of security services, both, civilian and military, secret and public still operating in this country. The situation is still not transparent, some work without the knowledge of others, or even against each other, so I am not surprised by the reaction of Ministers (Serbian Interior Affairs Minister, Dragan) Jocic and (State Union Human and Minority Rights Minister, Rasim) Ljajic." (4 SHOTS) 1.38 5. GV: PEOPLE IN THE STREET 1.43 6. (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) YOUNG BELGRADER SAYING: "They should arrest him. The man has to bear responsibility for everything he has done, Srebrenica and the rest. They should absolutely arrest him, they should have done it long ago." 1.55 7. (SOUNDBITE) (Serbian) AN OLDER MAN FROM BANJA LUKA (BOSNIA) LIVING IN BELGRADE, SAYING: "I am not in favou of his (Mladic's) arrest. If he surrenders by his own free will, than fine. But for them to arrest him, that is not fair." 2.07 8. GV: STREET SCENE 2.13 (EU) MOUNT OZREN, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA (FILE - MAY 19, 1994) (REUTERS - ACCESS ALL) 9. CU/GV/PAN/MV/CU: FORMER BOSNIAN SERB COMMANDER RATKO MLADIC WALKING UP HILLSIDE WITH SERB SOLDIERS; MLADIC AND SERB OFFICER POINTING TO FRONT LINE; MLADIC AND BOSNIAN SERB LEADER RADOVAN KARADZIC LOOKING AT FRONT LINE; MLADIC'S FACE (5 SHOTS) 2.51 Initials Script is copyright Reuters Limited. All rights reserved
  • Embargoed: 26th June 2005 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: BELGRADE, SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO/MOUNT OZREN, BOSNIA HERZEGOVINA
  • Country: Bosnia and Herzegovina
  • Topics: Conflict
  • Reuters ID: LVA7Z35HI0OS4BRR4ZGKFBTF2DAH
  • Story Text: The Serbian government is about to arrest top war
    crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, Belgrade newspaper Danas
    reports.



    According to the Belgrade daily "Danas" the Serbian
    government knows where fugitive war criminal Ratko Mladic
    hides and is about to arrest the former General of Bosnian
    Serbs.

    The newspaper quoted on Friday (June 10) what it said
    was an impeccable source as saying the former Bosnian Serb commander
    wa
    s hiding in a big town in Serbia. Danas said,
    it knew the name of the town but had decided not to publish.

    "We received the information from a very reliable
    source. We even know the name of the town he (Mladic) is in
    and since when he has been under control of certain
    security bodies. The source has never betrayed us so far",
    Danas' editor-in-chief Grujica Spasovic told Reuters.

    "So we decided to trust the source like in all previous
    situations and I do hope that this time it will be the real
    end of the story of Ratko Mladic."
    Its source said negotiating a surrender with Mladic, as
    widely rumoured, wasn't a serious option for the
    government. But Belgrade was no longer hesitant about
    arresting Mladic, but rather about how to do so without
    casualties.

    Mladic has been twice indicted for genocide, for the
    Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslims in July 1995 and the
    43-month siege of Sarajevo that claimed some 12,000 lives.

    He is rumoured to have the protection of hardline
    factions in the Army and secret service, providing
    heavily-armed security. The government flatly denied Danas'
    story.

    Information on direct negotiations with Mladic and his
    location in a town in the Serbian heartland were absolutely
    untrue, said Rasim Ljajic, head of Serbias National Council
    for Cooperation with The Hague.

    He spoke to the Beta news agency after the Council was
    briefed by Interior Minister Dragan Jocic on the issue.

    Mladic is one of the two men most wanted by the U.N.

    court in The Hague. The other is his wartime political
    master, former president of the serb republic in Bosnia,
    Radovan Karadzic, believed to be hiding in Bosnia.

    Serbia's failure to arrest Mladic has been a main
    obstacle in Belgrade's path towards the European Union and
    delivering him to The Hague is seen as a key to further
    progress.

    Speculation mounted on Thursday (June 9) when a U.S.

    envoy visiting Belgrade said, he was confident that the
    fugitives' days in freedom were numbered.

    mb/jrc /cr
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