Bosnia genocide suspect held

SARAJEVO, Bosnia -- NATO peacekeepers in Bosnia have captured a Bosnian Serb indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal for the extermination of thousands of Muslims.

A statement from the Secretary General George Robertson, posted on the NATO website on Sunday, said the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) had detained Dragan Obrenovic, who was under a "sealed indictment" for crimes committed between July and November 1995.

It said: "On 15 April 2001, SFOR detained Dragan Obrenovic, who is indicted for war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"Dragan Obrenovic is under a sealed indictment for war crimes committed between July and November 1995.

"During this time, acting as commander of the Zvornik Brigades, he is accused of being responsible for the extermination of thousands of Bosnian Muslim males, complicity of genocide, violation of the laws and customs of war, crimes against humanity, and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949 including murder, torture, and racial and religious persecutions."

It added that Obrenovic, former chief of staff of a Bosnian Serb unit from the northeastern town of Zvornik, was now being processed for transfer to The Hague.

The tribunal issues unpublicised "sealed indictments" to avoid alerting suspects to their possible arrest.

In Washington, White House Press Secretary Ari Fleischer praised Obrenovic's apprehension, and said U.S. forces in SFOR participated in the arrest.

The 1995 attack on Srebrenica, Fleischer said in the statement, "represents one of the darkest episodes in the recent tragedy that befell Bosnia."

"This apprehension demonstrates that NATO and the United State remain committed in helping to bring indicted war criminals to justice as an essential step in consolidating the peace and promoting the rule of law in Bosnia," the statement said.

SFOR officials in Sarajevo declined to comment on the nature of Obradovic's arrest.

Witnesses told police they saw him being rushed away in a car.

Police managed to catch up with the vehicle and stop it only to find that the group taking Obradovic away were investigators of the U.N. tribunal in The Hague.

A spokeswoman for the U.N. mission in Sarajevo said the only information she had was a statement from Bosnian Serb police in the eastern town of Zvornik that Obrenovic had been "abducted" on Sunday in nearby town of Kozluk.

"Three armed men and one woman abducted Major Dragan Obrenovic, who was commander of Zvornik, at 1430 (1230 GMT) today," spokeswoman Kate Frieson said on Sunday.

Obradovic's lawyer, Krstan Simic, told Bosnian Serb Television. Obradovic had previously cooperated with the investigators.

"I am shocked by this arrest, especially because it happened during the biggest Christian holiday," Simic said.

The Associated Press & Reuters contributed to this report.

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August 29, 2000

U.N. War Crimes Tribunal
Federal Republic of Yugoslavia
NATO

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