Serbia extradites last war criminal Goran Hadzic to the Hague

Serbia extradites last war criminal Goran Hadzic to the Hague

2011-07-23 01:50:47 GMT+7 (ICT)

THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS (BNO NEWS) -- Goran Hadzic - the last fugitive being sought by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) who was arrested on Wednesday - was extradited to the Hague, Netherlands on Friday.

Hadzic, 52, was admitted to the United Nations (UN) Detention Unit in the Hague, and his initial appearance, at which he will be asked to enter a plea to the charges he faces, will be announced in due course.

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 Serbian 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 Vukovar massacre of around 250 prisoners, mostly Croats.

According to the indictment, "virtually the whole Croat and non-Serb population of this area was forcibly transferred, deported or killed." He is charged with the deportation to Serbia of at least 5,000 inhabitants from Ilok, 20,000 inhabitants from Vukovar and the forcible transfer to locations within Croatia of at least 2,500 inhabitants from Erdut.

Serbian President Boris Tadic made the announcement on Hadzic's arrest during a press conference in Belgrade, Serbia on Wednesday, saying the country had completed the most difficult chapter in cooperation with the tribunal in the Hague and closed a difficult page of its history.

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

Among the members of the joint criminal enterprise were Jovica Stanisic, Franko Simatovic and Vojislav Seselj, who are currently standing trial at the Tribuna,l as well as Milosevic.

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