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Latest update: 26/05/2011
- Ratko Mladic - Serbia - war crimes
Serbian police arrest war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic
Ex-Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic (pictured, centre) was arrested for war crimes on Thursday over his role in the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. Mladic, whose capture is key to Serbia’s EU bid, was indicted in 1995 for genocide.
By News Wires (text)
REUTERS - Serbia said on Thursday it had arrested Bosnian Serb wartime general Ratko Mladic after years on the run from international genocide charges, opening the way for the once-pariah state to seek to join the European Union.
“On behalf of the Republic of Serbia I can announce the arrest of Ratko Mladic. The extradition process is underway,” Serbian President Boris Tadic told reporters in Belgrade.
Tadic said Mladic was arrested in Serbia, which had long said it could not find him.
“This removes a heavy burden from Serbia and closes a page of our unfortunate history,” he said.
Commander of Bosnian Serb forces in the 1992-95 Bosnia war, Mladic was indicted by an international war crimes court in 1995 on genocide charges for the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and 43-month siege of Sarajevo.
A family friend earlier told Reuters Mladic had been taken to the headquarters of the Serbian intelligence agency after an interior ministry official said police had arrested someone thought to be Mladic and were checking his identity.
“He has some physical features of Mladic. We are analysing his DNA now,” the official said on condition of anonymity.
Mladic kept a low profile after the Bosnia war—Europe’s worst fighting since World War Two—and then faded from public view in the early 2000s. Yet the fugitive continued to cast a long shadow over Serbia, as the EU made Belgrade’s integration contingent upon his arrest.
The European Union said his arrest would show the country wanted to move forward on European Union membership.
Mladic, seen by many Serbs as a hero for his loyal and fearless service to the Serb cause, is expected to quickly be transferred to the Hague court to face a trial.
The prosecutor’s office at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague said it could not comment on operational issues.
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Comments (1)
Ratko Mladic
C’est une bonne chose pour les victimes de Srebrenica, mais également pour la Serbie, car une grande majorité de la population serbe ne supportait pas la guerre qui avait déchirée l’ex Yougoslavie.
Je souhaiterai néanmoins exprimer quelques détails concernant votre journal dédié à cette arrestation. Ratko Mladic est né en 1943 et non pas en 1942 comme vous l’avez annoncé. La réaction de la représentante du HRW Géraldine Millioli , cet organisme qui se dit « objectif », se mettant à pleurer publiquement pour « montrer ses fortes émotions », et son « souhait » de continuer faire la pression sur la Serbie, n’est ni professionnel ni sérieux. On aurait dit que cette arrestation était le succès de HRW Un criminel de guerre était arrêté un autre va suivre.
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