Fugitive general who led massacre is seized: Mladic 'must face justice'

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12 April 2012

The Bosnian Serb general accused of leading the massacre of more than 7,500 people in one of the world's most notorious war crimes was arrested today after 16 years on the run.

Ratko Mladic, who allegedly ordered the killing of thousands of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, was seized in northern Serbia by security forces. Agents swooped on the war crimes suspect - who also led the siege of Sarajevo that claimed 10,000 lives - in the early hours after an anonymous tip-off.

He was carrying papers bearing the name Milorad Komadic but was confirmed to be the former army chief after DNA tests were carried out.

His arrest marks the end of a brutal period in European history and opens the way for Serbia to join the European Union. The news was announced at a hastily convened press conference by the Serbian president Boris Tadic.

"On behalf of the Republic of Serbia we announce that Ratko Mladic has been arrested," he said. "We have ended a difficult period of our history and removed the stain from the face of the members ofour nation wherever they live. Mr Tadic said an extradition process to send Mladic to The Hague to be tried for war crimes "is under way".

He added: "This removes a heavy burden from Serbia and closes a page of our unfortunate history."

As news of the arrest brought acclaim from around the world, David Cameron said Mladic should be made to face justice. The Prime Minister said: "He is accused of the most appalling war crimes both in terms of what happened in Srebrenica but also in Sarajevo.

"There is a very good reason why the long arm of international law had been looking for him for so long."
Nato chief Anders Fogh Rasmussen also hailed the detention, saying it finally offered "a chance for justice to be done", while the EU's foreign policy chief Baroness Ashton said Mladic should be sent to The Hague without delay.

"This is an important step forward for Serbia and for international justice," she added.
Croatia's media, which broke the story of Mladic's arrest, said police there had been told by their Serbian colleagues that DNA analysis confirmed the former army chief's identity.

Belgrade's B92 radio said Mladic was arrested in a village near the northern Serbian town Zrenjanin. President Tadic would only confirm the arrest was "on Serbian soil".

Mladic has been the most notorious Bosnian war crimes suspect at large since the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in 2008 and had evaded capture despite a number of alleged sightings.

This led some to suspect the Serbian authorities of sheltering him, with the chief UN war crimes prosecutor complaining in the past that the Serbs were not doing enough to capture him.

He had been on the run since 1995, when he was indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague for genocide over his role in the Srebrenica slaughter and other crimes by his troops during Bosnia's 1992-95 war.

The arrest also comes only months after the army chief's family tried to have him declared dead, claiming there was no evidence that the 68-year-old general was alive.

In the Srebrenica massacre, Bosnian Serb forces bombarded the town with heavy shelling and rocket fire for five days before Mladic entered the town accompanied by Serb camera crews.

Buses arrived the following day to take women and children to Muslim territory, but all Muslim men and boys aged from 12 to 77 were detained for "interrogation for suspected war crimes". In the following days at least 7,500 were killed.

After the war ended, Mladic remained a popular figure in Serbia and was initially able to live openly in Belgrade under the protection of the country's then leader Slobodan Milosevic.

When Milosevic was arrested he went on the run and although there were continued reports of him being seen in Belgrade there had been no confirmed sightings for around a decade.

Pressure on Serbia to capture Mladic increased in recent years as its new leaders seek to gain admission to the EU and restore their country's image.

The EU has made cooperation with The Hague war crimes tribunal a condition of Serbian entry to the Union and will continue to press for other suspects to be handed over.

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