The New York Times

Tuesday, January 25, 2000

SFOR Grabs Bosnia Serb War Crimes Suspect

By Reuters

SARAJEVO (Reuters) - NATO-led peacekeeping troops detained Tuesday Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Mitar Vasiljevic, accused of atrocities against Muslims in the eastern town of Visegrad during the Bosnian conflict.

NATO Secretary-General Lord George Robertson said the U.N. war crimes court in The Hague had indicted Vasiljevic for crimes committed between April 1992 and October 1994.

Vasiljevic, charged under a sealed indictment, was a member of a paramilitary unit called the White Eagles which operated around Visegrad.

``While a member of this unit, Mitar Vasiljevic is believed to have committed serious crimes, including murder and inhumane treatment of Bosnian Muslim and other non-Serb civilians,'' Robertson said in a statement issued in Brussels.

Bosnian Serb forces and paramilitaries overran Visegrad and other towns in eastern Bosnia early in the conflict, killing or expelling the Muslim population to ``ethnically cleanse'' the region.

A spokesman for the NATO-led Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia said Vasiljevic was being transferred to the court's detention center in The Hague.

He said there had been no SFOR casualties during Tuesday's operation in southeastern Bosnia. The area is under the command of French-led troops.

NATO said Tuesday's action was another step in its drive to arrest remaining fugitives indicted for war crimes.

Many remain at large, including Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander Ratko Mladic.

``Each one sent to The Hague makes it easier to build a lasting peace in the Balkans,'' the NATO statement said. ``There will be no hiding place for anyone accused by the International Criminal Tribunal of these horrific crimes.''

``Let today's arrest, the third in two months, serve as a warning to those with guilty consciences. It's time to turn yourself in,'' NATO added.

On December 20, SFOR detained retired Bosnian Serb Gen. Stanislav Galic, charged with crimes against humanity in the siege of Sarajevo. Four days later, it arrested another Serb war crimes suspect, Zoran Vukovic.