SERBIA has arrested Goran Hadzic, the one-time Croatian Serb rebel leader accused of overseeing mass murder and the last remaining fugitive wanted by the UN war crimes court in The Hague.
Hadzic, 52, faces 14 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the murder of hundreds of civilians and the deportation of tens of thousands of Croats by troops under his command during the 1991-95 Croatian war.
The European Union (EU) hailed the arrest as an "important" step forward in Serbia's bid for EU membership while Serbian President Boris Tadic said it was the end of a "difficult" chapter in Belgrade's dealings with The Hague court.
The US said his arrest was a "milestone for the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and an opportunity for justice".
Within hours of the arrest overnight, a pale Hadzic was brought before Serbia's national war crimes court in Belgrade, which ruled he could be extradited to The Hague. His lawyer, Toma Fila, said he would not lodge an appeal and that Hadzic could be transferred within the next few days.
"I will not lodge an appeal. He has been allowed to receive family visits tomorrow (Thursday local time) and the day after. After that, as far as I'm concerned, he can leave for The Hague," Mr Fila said outside the court.
Hadzic's arrest comes less than two months after Serbian authorities finally captured wartime Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, the UN court's most wanted fugitive.
Hadzic, who had been on the run since his indictment in 2004, appeared haggard and heavier during his brief court appearance in Belgrade overnight and bore little resemblance to the dark-haired bearded man in his wanted poster.
He is wanted for the massacre by Croatian Serb troops under his command of 250 Croats and other non-Serbs taken from a hospital in Vukovar after the city fell to Serbian troops following a three-month siege in November 1991.
"At the time Hadzic was the master of life and death who decided the fate of numerous prisoners in Vukovar," Zdravko Komsic, the head of an organisation of former Vukovar prisoners of war, told Croatian media.
The siege of Vukovar and the subsequent massacre is one of the darkest chapters of the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor, said the breakthrough in the hunt for Hadzic came when he tried to sell a painting by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani last year.
"At that moment he was penniless. He probably got (the painting) during the war in Croatia," Mr Vukcevic said.
The painting was found in December last year at the home of an alleged helper of Hadzic and seized by the Serbian police.
Hadzic was arrested in the idyllic mountain region of Fruska Gora near the northern city of Novi Sad. He was armed but offered no resistance when arrested, prosecutors said.
Hadzic, a former warehouse employee at an agricultural plant, rose to prominence as the president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) in Croatia between 1992-1993.
Chosen for the post with the backing of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Hadzic was seen as a "yes man" who wielded little real power compared with other wartime Serb leaders.
Milosevic died in March 2006 in his cell at The Hague where he was being tried for war crimes and other charges related to the 1991-95 Balkan wars.
Ref: www.news.com.au
Hadzic, 52, faces 14 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes for the murder of hundreds of civilians and the deportation of tens of thousands of Croats by troops under his command during the 1991-95 Croatian war.
The European Union (EU) hailed the arrest as an "important" step forward in Serbia's bid for EU membership while Serbian President Boris Tadic said it was the end of a "difficult" chapter in Belgrade's dealings with The Hague court.
The US said his arrest was a "milestone for the UN war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and an opportunity for justice".
Within hours of the arrest overnight, a pale Hadzic was brought before Serbia's national war crimes court in Belgrade, which ruled he could be extradited to The Hague. His lawyer, Toma Fila, said he would not lodge an appeal and that Hadzic could be transferred within the next few days.
"I will not lodge an appeal. He has been allowed to receive family visits tomorrow (Thursday local time) and the day after. After that, as far as I'm concerned, he can leave for The Hague," Mr Fila said outside the court.
Hadzic's arrest comes less than two months after Serbian authorities finally captured wartime Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic, the UN court's most wanted fugitive.
Hadzic, who had been on the run since his indictment in 2004, appeared haggard and heavier during his brief court appearance in Belgrade overnight and bore little resemblance to the dark-haired bearded man in his wanted poster.
He is wanted for the massacre by Croatian Serb troops under his command of 250 Croats and other non-Serbs taken from a hospital in Vukovar after the city fell to Serbian troops following a three-month siege in November 1991.
"At the time Hadzic was the master of life and death who decided the fate of numerous prisoners in Vukovar," Zdravko Komsic, the head of an organisation of former Vukovar prisoners of war, told Croatian media.
The siege of Vukovar and the subsequent massacre is one of the darkest chapters of the wars in the former Yugoslavia.
Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor, said the breakthrough in the hunt for Hadzic came when he tried to sell a painting by Italian painter Amedeo Modigliani last year.
"At that moment he was penniless. He probably got (the painting) during the war in Croatia," Mr Vukcevic said.
The painting was found in December last year at the home of an alleged helper of Hadzic and seized by the Serbian police.
Hadzic was arrested in the idyllic mountain region of Fruska Gora near the northern city of Novi Sad. He was armed but offered no resistance when arrested, prosecutors said.
Hadzic, a former warehouse employee at an agricultural plant, rose to prominence as the president of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina (RSK) in Croatia between 1992-1993.
Chosen for the post with the backing of late Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, Hadzic was seen as a "yes man" who wielded little real power compared with other wartime Serb leaders.
Milosevic died in March 2006 in his cell at The Hague where he was being tried for war crimes and other charges related to the 1991-95 Balkan wars.
Ref: www.news.com.au
