Top war crimes fugitives still at large
The search for UN-wanted war crime suspects General Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic has failed to yield any results, but efforts to find them are continuing, Serbian officials said today.
Defence Minister Zoran Stankovic said: “The authorities of the Serbia-Montenegro army, in conjunction with civilian structures, are continuing to work on the arrest of the two Bosnian Serb fugitives sought by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands.
“They have not been located and we don’t know where they are,” he said.
Serbia faces immense international pressure to capture wartime Karadzic and Mladic, both of whom are wanted for allegedly ordering the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the Bosnian war – Europe’s worst mass killing since the Second World War.
Also today, Interior Minister Dragan Jocic said that capturing Mladic and Karadzic was the priority of the police and army. Jocic refused to reveal details about efforts to hunt down the two, saying it could damage the investigation.
“We have to finish this job as soon as possible,” Justice Minister Zoran Stojkovic said.
Serbia’s war crimes prosecutor said yesterday that the authorities have identified the people aiding Karadzic and Mladic in their run. Vukcevic did not name the supporters or give any details about what kind of assistance they were offering the two suspects.
Both Stojkovic and Stankovic said today they were unaware that anyone was identified as helping the two fugitives.
The independent Danas daily said today that the “helpers” were discovered after their telephone conversation with Mladic was intercepted.
Mladic is thought to be hiding in Serbia under the protection of hard-liners in the Serbian military while Karadzic is believed to be moving between Bosnia, Serbia and his native Montenegro.
In a related development, the Serbia-Montenegro government yesterday removed the head of the military secret service, General Aleksandar Dimitrijevic.
Although Dimitrijevic was officially removed because of his retirement, the intelligence unit under his command was widely considered “uncooperative” in the search for Mladic.
