Srebrenica suspect to enter plea

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Bosnian Serb commander accused of taking part in the Srebrenica massacre is to enter his plea at The Hague war crimes tribunal on Wednesday.

Dragan Obrenovic has been charged with helping in the massacre of more than 5,000 Muslim men and boys in what was then an United Nation's so-called safe haven.

He led the Zvornik Brigade at the time of the massacre in July 1995, widely regarded as the worst atrocity to have taken place in Europe since the end of World War II.

The former deputy commander of the brigade faces five counts of complicity in genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.

Obrenovic was arrested by NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops on Sunday near Zvornik in Bosnia's Serb republic, and will make his first appearance before the U.N. tribunal at 3 p.m. (1400 GMT).

Part of the indictment says: "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."

'Arrested in garden'

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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