Bosnian Serb surrenders to U.N. court

Dosen, left, Sikirica, centre, and Kolundzija were jailed in November

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- A Bosnian Serb alleged to have helped run a notorious detention camp during the 1992-95 Bosnian war has surrendered to the U.N. war crimes tribunal.

Dusan Fustar, one of seven men charged in a joint indictment with the persecution and imprisonment of Bosnian Muslims and Croats in "inhumane" conditions at the Serb-run Keraterm camp in 1992, is accused of crimes against humanity.

It is alleged that the 47-year-old former mechanic ordered the execution of dozens of Croat and Muslim inmates.

Fustar, who according to the indictment worked as a shift commander at the camp, was taken into custody in The Hague after his surrender at the Prijedor office of the tribunal.

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He could be sentenced to life imprisonment if convicted of any count. The tribunal has no death penalty. A date for his initial court appearance had not been set.

Keraterm was one of three main camps in northwestern Bosnia used by Serbs to detain Muslims and Croats during "ethnic cleansing" of non-Serbs in parts of Bosnia during the break-up of Yugoslavia. It is alleged inmates died after being starved, beaten, or shot.

In one of the worst incidents at Keraterm, more than 200 people were locked in a sweltering warehouse and gunned down by guards who rattled off round after round through the metal doors. More than 150 were killed and others were wounded.

Fustar was accused of ordering the execution of about 20 survivors of that massacre as punishment for the escape of detainees.

Last November, three other Keraterm camp guards named in the same indictment as Fustar were sentenced to between three and 15 years in prison for crimes against humanity.

Dusko Sikirica, Damir Dosen and Dragan Kolundzija admitted to crimes against humanity while working as guards at Keraterm in 1992.

War crimes prosecutors dropped charges of genocide against Sikirica and Dosen in September in exchange for guilty pleas to charges of persecuting Muslims and Croats.

Two others accused in the same indictment, the twins Predrag and Nenad Banovic, were arrested last November and brought to The Hague, where they pleaded innocent and are awaiting trial.