Alleged Mladic aide held in Serbia
24/04/2006 - 18:46:44
Another alleged ally of top UN war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been detained on suspicion of helping the general to evade arrest, a lawyer said today.
Ratko Vucetic, a retired Bosnian Serb officer, was detained on Saturday, apparently as part of government efforts to hunt down Mladic by an end-of-April European Union deadline, said Vucetic’s lawyer Branko Butolen.
Butolen said that a judge questioned Vucetic today and ordered him kept in detention for 30 days, pending an investigation.
Vucetic is the sixth alleged aide to Mladic arrested in the past few months, since the Serbian government stepped up measures to located the fugitive general.
Mladic is sought by the UN war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands, on genocide charges for allegedly orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.
The European Union has threatened to suspend ongoing talks with Belgrade on establishing closer ties, unless Mladic is handed over to The Hague tribunal by the end of this month.
The UN court officials have insisted that Mladic is hiding in Serbia under the protection of military hardliners.
A nationalist politician, Aleksandar Vucic, today protested the arrests of Mladic’s aides, and urged the government to end its “witch hunt against those who have defended the Serb people.”
Vucic claimed that Vucetic was seriously ill and an invalid.
Vucetic’s lawyer Butolen said his client lost a foot and a finger in the war, and had heart problems.
Another alleged ally of top UN war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic has been detained on suspicion of helping the general to evade arrest, a lawyer said today.
Ratko Vucetic, a retired Bosnian Serb officer, was detained on Saturday, apparently as part of government efforts to hunt down Mladic by an end-of-April European Union deadline, said Vucetic’s lawyer Branko Butolen.
Butolen said that a judge questioned Vucetic today and ordered him kept in detention for 30 days, pending an investigation.
Ratko Mladic - won't be smiling for long....
Vucetic is the sixth alleged aide to Mladic arrested in the past few months, since the Serbian government stepped up measures to located the fugitive general.
Mladic is sought by the UN war crimes court in The Hague, Netherlands, on genocide charges for allegedly orchestrating the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.
The European Union has threatened to suspend ongoing talks with Belgrade on establishing closer ties, unless Mladic is handed over to The Hague tribunal by the end of this month.
The UN court officials have insisted that Mladic is hiding in Serbia under the protection of military hardliners.
A nationalist politician, Aleksandar Vucic, today protested the arrests of Mladic’s aides, and urged the government to end its “witch hunt against those who have defended the Serb people.”
Vucic claimed that Vucetic was seriously ill and an invalid.
Vucetic’s lawyer Butolen said his client lost a foot and a finger in the war, and had heart problems.
posted by redemption department at 4:08 PM
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