Serbia Arrests Its Last Fugitive Accused of War Crimes

[jimmy olsen]

About damn time.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/07/21/world/europe/21goran-hadzic.html

Serbia Arrests Its Last Fugitive Accused of War Crimes
By MARLISE SIMONS
Published: July 20, 2011

PARIS — The last Serbian fugitive wanted by a United Nations war crimes tribunal was arrested in a Serbian forest early Wednesday, a quiet event that appeared to remove the final major obstacle blocking the nation's access to Western money and European Union membership.

The suspect, Goran Hadzic, 52, is a former Serbian rebel leader who is accused of committing war crimes and crimes against humanity. He was arrested near the village of Krusedol in northern Serbia as he was about to meet "with a helper, who was supposedly bringing him some money," said Vladimir Vukcevic, the war crimes prosecutor in Belgrade, Serbia's capital.

Mr. Vukcevic said investigators had caught up with Mr. Hadzic recently because he had apparently run out of money after seven years on the run and was trying to sell a painting by Modigliani. "He was penniless," Mr. Vukcevic said.

Investigators in Belgrade said the painting was believed to be "Portrait of a Man," one of several Modigliani works listed as stolen. But it was not clear if the painting was authentic or a fake.

Mr. Hadzic was armed when he was arrested and was carrying documents with a false name, the prosecutor said. He had changed his appearance and shaved off a bushy beard, the police said.

In Belgrade, a judge immediately began the process to hand him over to the tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Mr. Hadzic told the judge that he had lived and worked for long periods in Russia, the Belgrade newspaper Blic reported.

"With this, Serbia has now concluded its most difficult chapter in the cooperation with The Hague tribunal," President Boris Tadic of Serbia said. He said the country had now fulfilled its "legal duties," as well as its "moral duty," for the sake of Serbian citizens, for victims in other nations and for reconciliation.

Mr. Hadzic had long been overshadowed by the more well-known figures on the most wanted list, like Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic, the former Serbian political and military leaders in Bosnia. Mr. Karadzic was arrested in 2008, and Mr. Mladic was captured this year.

Mr. Hadzic, a former warehouse worker, was little known in Serbia before the war that began in 1991, when rebel Serbs, with the help of Belgrade, seized one-third of Croatia to turn it into territory for Serbs only. He was appointed as the ministate's political leader because he was thought to be a figure trusted by Serbia's secret police.

Prosecutors will seek to hold him responsible for atrocities committed by rebel forces, aided by brutal paramilitary groups from Serbia.

The most notorious episode involved a three-month siege and the eventual destruction of the town of Vukovar. As Croatian Serbs overran the town, they seized more than 260 men from a hospital and executed them. An estimated 20,000 non-Serbs were driven from Vukovar.

The tribunal indicted Mr. Hadzic in 2004 and sent a secret arrest warrant to Serbia, but Carla Del Ponte, the chief prosecutor at the time, said in an interview that just hours after the warrant was delivered in Belgrade, Mr. Hadzic was tipped off and disappeared from his villa in Novi Sad.

Toma Fila, Mr. Hadzic's lawyer, said Mr. Hadzic had lived abroad for many years. He denied the police reports that Mr. Hadzic was armed when seized.

In The Hague, the prosecutor's office said it had been aware that Belgrade investigators turned their resources and attention to Mr. Hadzic's case in the past two months, after the capture of Mr. Mladic. Prosecutors had complained for years that Serbia was either blocking the movement of war crimes cases or handing over suspects in fits and starts, depending on who was in power.

Their criticism has delayed Serbia's attempts to join the European Union, which had made cooperation with the tribunal a condition for membership talks. Although most of the 27 countries in the union had softened their stance in recent years, the Dutch government, which hosts the tribunal, was a holdout.

Within hours of the arrest, European Union leaders issued a statement praising the Serbian government. A decision on whether to open membership talks is scheduled for October. If Mr. Hadzic is sent to The Hague, as expected, the tribunal may be able to complete all its cases by 2014, when it is scheduled to close.

Nicholas Kulish contributed reporting from Berlin.

[Slargos]

 

[Martinus]

LOL I kinda love it with Serbians.

Serbia: "We don't know where our war criminals are. sorry."
EU: "Ok, Serbia, until you find your war criminals, you don't get in."   
Serbia: 
Three months later.
Serbia: "Ok, now that we have managed to catch all our war criminals, can we get in?" 
EU: 

[Viking]

About fucking time.

The whole Serbia/Former Yugoslavia mess has convinced me that what really would avoid much war and conflict in the future is some clear and explicit rule for dictators about what behavior is acceptable and at what level of evil they will be destroyed.

When we (the Occident) have both bombed them and funded the opposition then they must go. Whether it is a villa complex in Saudi Arabia, Burma or Panama can remain their choice, but go they must. We more Dick Holbrooks (who ended the war by threatening to bomb serbia) rather than Thorvald Stoltenbergs (who prolonged the war by promising not to bomb serbia) in international politics.

[Martinus]

It kinda proves the effectiveness of the EU diplomacy. We may not have many tools but the one we have is pretty sweet. If only there was a way to escalate it somehow so it can remain useful - right now, once they are in, it loses power (as the case of Bulgaria and Romania proves).

[CountDeMoney]

We more Dick Holbrooks (who ended the war by threatening to bomb serbia)

He would've been Al Gore's Secretary of State in 2000.

[Razgovory]

It kinda proves the effectiveness of the EU diplomacy. We may not have many tools but the one we have is pretty sweet. If only there was a way to escalate it somehow so it can remain useful - right now, once they are in, it loses power (as the case of Bulgaria and Romania proves).

So is that how the EU plans to deal with Libya?  Refuse to let them in the EU?

[Slargos]

It kinda proves the effectiveness of the EU diplomacy. We may not have many tools but the one we have is pretty sweet. If only there was a way to escalate it somehow so it can remain useful - right now, once they are in, it loses power (as the case of Bulgaria and Romania proves).

So is that how the EU plans to deal with Libya?  Refuse to let them in the EU?

Hey, let's not jump to the MAD option immediately, you inhuman pigdog. 

[Warspite]

LOL I kinda love it with Serbians.

Serbia: "We don't know where our war criminals are. sorry."
EU: "Ok, Serbia, until you find your war criminals, you don't get in."   
Serbia: 
Three months later.
Serbia: "Ok, now that we have managed to catch all our war criminals, can we get in?" 
EU: 

The timing is funny to be sure, but on the other hand they've been plainly told that EU membership progress is linked to the handover of these suspects since the early 2000s.

The real significance of the capture of Mladic, Hadzic and Karadzic is that there is an internal battle being won in Serbia by civilisation. These guys did not hide without some powerful friends.

[Razgovory]

We more Dick Holbrooks (who ended the war by threatening to bomb serbia)

He would've been Al Gore's Secretary of State in 2000.

That would have been sweet.  Now it can never happen.

[derspiess]

That would have been sweet.  Now it can never happen.

Would have given us 4 more years of sex scandals, I guess.  For the last 10 years we've been stuck with two presidents who are so faithful to their wives it bores you to tears.

On the other hand, we might've been forced to see him sexually assault his wife with an awkward creepy kiss more than just that one time.

[derspiess]

We more Dick Holbrooks

Screw that.  We need more Hal Holbrooks.

[Razgovory]

That would have been sweet.  Now it can never happen.

Would have given us 4 more years of sex scandals, I guess.  For the last 10 years we've been stuck with two presidents who are so faithful to their wives it bores you to tears.

On the other hand, we might've been forced to see him sexually assault his wife with an awkward creepy kiss more than just that one time.

More living American soldiers as well.

[Slargos]

That would have been sweet.  Now it can never happen.

Would have given us 4 more years of sex scandals, I guess.  For the last 10 years we've been stuck with two presidents who are so faithful to their wives it bores you to tears.

On the other hand, we might've been forced to see him sexually assault his wife with an awkward creepy kiss more than just that one time.

More living American soldiers as well.

Depends. Would he also have increased recruitment?

[IE Fewer dead, sure, but more living? Not necessarily.]

[Neil]

That would have been sweet.  Now it can never happen.

Would have given us 4 more years of sex scandals, I guess.  For the last 10 years we've been stuck with two presidents who are so faithful to their wives it bores you to tears.

On the other hand, we might've been forced to see him sexually assault his wife with an awkward creepy kiss more than just that one time.

More living American soldiers as well.

On the other hand, when soldiers aren't fighting and dying, they're a waste.