Serbia captures last war crimes fugutive Goran Hadzic

[News_Editor]

Serbia captures last war crimes fugutive Goran Hadzic

2011-07-20 22:12:20 GMT+7 (ICT)

BELGRADE, SERBIA (BNO NEWS) -- Former President of Serbia, Goran Hadzic, also the last fugitive being sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was arrested on Wednesday, officials said.

Serbian President Boris Tadic made the announcement during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia, confirming that Hadzic, 52, was arrested by members of the Security Information Agency at around 8:24 a.m. local time in an area in the Fruska Gora mountain, Tanjug news agency reported.

"Serbia has completed the most difficult chapter in cooperation with the tribunal in the Hague and closed a difficult page of our history," President Tadic said, adding that Serbia had fully cooperated with the ICTY during the whole process.

Tadic underlined the importance of Serbia's legal obligation during Hadzic's search, saying that it is also an important condition in its joint effort to establish an integrated Europe. Serbia, which is expected to seek candidacy as a European Union member sometime in the near future and as soon as December, could extradite Hadzic to the Hague in the upcoming weeks.

Hadzic, who had been sought for seven years, has been accused of 14 war crimes and crimes against humanity for his participation in the killing of thousands of Croats under former President Slobodan Milosevic between June 1991 to December 1993 during the Yugoslav wars. Their violent target was eliminating the non-Serb population in a large part of Croatia, and his indictment includes the 1991 massacre of around 250 prisoners, mostly Croats, in Vukovar.

Around two months ago, Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic was arrested, who has been indicted for a number of crimes including genocide, extermination and murder, inflicting terror upon civilians, and taking hostages.

-- © BNO News All rights reserved 2011-07-20