International

Warrants issued for war crimes suspects

BELGRADE MAY 9. A Belgrade court issued arrest warrants on Thursday for 17 top Serb war crimes suspects, including the former Bosnian Serb leader, Radovan Karadzic, and his wartime commander, Ratko Mladic.

But the warrants issued may not result in the suspects' immediate arrests and extraditions to the U.N. War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. Yugoslav authorities say they do not know the whereabouts of Mr. Mladic, Mr. Karadzic and several other suspects wanted by the Tribunal, said the chief investigative judge of Belgrade's district court, Branislav Todic.

Mr. Karadzic and Mr. Mladic — the world's most-wanted war crimes fugitives — have been indicted by The Hague for genocide during the three-year military siege and shelling of Sarajevo, and for the 1995 massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, Bosnia.

The U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for war crimes, Pierre-Richard Prosper, was recently quoted by Belgrade media as saying that Yugoslavia must arrest Mr. Mladic and Mr. Karadzic and extradite them to The Hague before the U.S. Congress would approve millions of dollars in aid to the economically troubled Balkan country. The aid could also be granted if Yugoslav authorities were to provide evidence that the two fugitives were not hiding in Serbia or Montenegro, the two republics that form Yugoslavia, he added.

His comments have angered Serbian authorities who advocate cooperation with the U.N. court.

The Serbian Prime Minister, Zoran Djindjic, has said that Mr. Mladic and Mr. Karadzic are not in Yugoslavia and are probably hiding in the Serb controlled part of neighbouring Bosnia.

"Those who claim Karadzic and Mladic are in Yugoslavia should give us that proof, and not demand that we do it," Mr. Djindjic said.

— AP

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