Massacre suspect due before U.N.

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Bosnian Serb accused of involvement in a Bosnian war massacre is due to appear before the U.N. war crimes tribunal this week.

Dragan Obrenovic was arrested by NATO-led SFOR troops near Zvornik in Bosnia's Serb republic on Sunday and flown to the Scheveningen detention centre near The Hague.

He is accused of five counts of complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war, all related to the massacre in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995, a court spokeswoman said.

He will appear before the tribunal this week, she added.

The massacre of thousands of Muslims is widely regarded as the worst atrocity in Europe since the end of World War II.

Bosnian Serb forces are alleged to have killed up to 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica.

"Dragan Obrenovic participated in a criminal plan and enterprise, the common purpose of which was to detain, capture, and summarily execute by firing squad and bury over 5,000 Muslim men and boys from the Srebrenica enclave," part of the indictment alleged, according to the court.

At the time of the Srebrenica massacre, which started on July 4, 1995, Obrenovic was in charge of the Zvornik Brigade as deputy commander.

He remained in charge until July 15 that year, when Commander Vinko Pandurevic returned to the brigade.

He also led the brigade for short periods later that year.

Peaceful protest

Belgrade-based radio B-92 quoted Obrenovic's wife Bojana as saying her husband had been arrested in the garden outside her father's house.

"Two cars stopped at the gate, three men and a woman in civilian clothing got out of the cars and ushered him over. Without suspecting anything he approached them. The men pulled out guns and, threatening him, put him into the car," she said.

About 1,000 Bosnian Serbs protested peacefully in Zvornik about Obrenovic's arrest.

Tihomir Jasikovac, a speaker at the protest, said: "We've had enough of being taken peacefully to The Hague. Let's wake up, take up arms and defend our heroes."

Protesters carried banners saying: "How long will they be arresting us?" and "Down with The Hague!"

The protest dispersed peacefully after about 40 minutes. There was a noticeable police presence around the town and two SFOR helicopters hovered above the area.

The Hague welcomed Obrenovic's arrest, which was the first in Bosnia of a war crimes suspect since last June.

It said it expected more arrests to follow, since there were still about 10 fugitives in the Bosnian Serb republic.

The two men considered most responsible for the Srebrenica massacre are Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic. They are at large and believed to be in the Bosnian Serb republic.

Reuters contributed to this report.

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

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