Hadzic extradited to Hague tribunal
Source: Agencies |
July 23, 2011, Saturday
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THE last Balkan war crimes suspect was extradited to the United Nations tribunal yesterday for prosecution after being allowed a last-minute visit with his ailing mother.
Goran Hadzic, 53, is accused of atrocities stemming from Croatia's 1991-95 war, including the leveling of Vukovar and the massacre of some 200 Croat prisoners of war after the devastation of the town on the Danube.
Nabbing Hadzic has been hailed as the symbolic closure of a horrific chapter in Balkan history and an important step toward for the former pariah state of Serbia to join the European Union.
A convoy of police vehicles drove Hadzic from Rotterdam airport to the UN detention facility at a Dutch prison outside The Hague, where he was to be given a medical examination and a copy of the 14-count indictment against him.
Hadzic will be summoned before UN judge Kwon O-gon of South Korea, the tribunal's president, within a few days and asked to plead to each charge relating to the murder of hundreds of non-Serbs, mass persecution, and expulsion of tens of thousands of people from Croatia's Krajina region.
Before leaving Belgrade aboard a Cessna aircraft, Hadzic was escorted to his family home in Novi Sad, about an hour from the Serb capital.
The Serb convoy stopped in the northern city and a heavy police presence blocked the streets near the home where Hadzic went in to see his 86-year-old mother Milena, who is said to be bedridden and suffering from dementia.
Earlier, Serb Justice Minister Snezana Malovic signed the extradition order for the former rebel Serb leader of a breakaway section of Croatia.
Hadzic did not contest his extradition. He was arrested on Wednesday after seven years on the run, discovered by Serbian agents who had followed a money trail that began in December when Hadzic's aides tried to sell a Modigliani painting.
Hadzic's detention followed that of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic on genocide charges nearly two months ago. Mladic also was granted a personal request after his arrest, and was allowed to visit his daughter's grave hours before he was sent to The Hague.
Serbia for years had faced accusations that it was not doing enough to capture war criminals. The issue had stalled its efforts to join the EU and the country now hopes to formally become a candidate for membership this year. "This act completed the most difficult chapter in the cooperation with The Hague tribunal," Malovic said. "We have fulfilled our biggest obligations."
Also yesterday, Mladic was assigned a lawyer to represent him against charges of genocide.
The tribunal named Branko Lukic, an attorney from Serbia who was lead counsel in four other cases before the UN court, to lead Mladic's defense. It had denied Mladic's first choice, Milos Saljic, because he spoke neither English nor French, the tribunal's two official languages.
Goran Hadzic, 53, is accused of atrocities stemming from Croatia's 1991-95 war, including the leveling of Vukovar and the massacre of some 200 Croat prisoners of war after the devastation of the town on the Danube.
Nabbing Hadzic has been hailed as the symbolic closure of a horrific chapter in Balkan history and an important step toward for the former pariah state of Serbia to join the European Union.
A convoy of police vehicles drove Hadzic from Rotterdam airport to the UN detention facility at a Dutch prison outside The Hague, where he was to be given a medical examination and a copy of the 14-count indictment against him.
Hadzic will be summoned before UN judge Kwon O-gon of South Korea, the tribunal's president, within a few days and asked to plead to each charge relating to the murder of hundreds of non-Serbs, mass persecution, and expulsion of tens of thousands of people from Croatia's Krajina region.
Before leaving Belgrade aboard a Cessna aircraft, Hadzic was escorted to his family home in Novi Sad, about an hour from the Serb capital.
The Serb convoy stopped in the northern city and a heavy police presence blocked the streets near the home where Hadzic went in to see his 86-year-old mother Milena, who is said to be bedridden and suffering from dementia.
Earlier, Serb Justice Minister Snezana Malovic signed the extradition order for the former rebel Serb leader of a breakaway section of Croatia.
Hadzic did not contest his extradition. He was arrested on Wednesday after seven years on the run, discovered by Serbian agents who had followed a money trail that began in December when Hadzic's aides tried to sell a Modigliani painting.
Hadzic's detention followed that of former Bosnian Serb General Ratko Mladic on genocide charges nearly two months ago. Mladic also was granted a personal request after his arrest, and was allowed to visit his daughter's grave hours before he was sent to The Hague.
Serbia for years had faced accusations that it was not doing enough to capture war criminals. The issue had stalled its efforts to join the EU and the country now hopes to formally become a candidate for membership this year. "This act completed the most difficult chapter in the cooperation with The Hague tribunal," Malovic said. "We have fulfilled our biggest obligations."
Also yesterday, Mladic was assigned a lawyer to represent him against charges of genocide.
The tribunal named Branko Lukic, an attorney from Serbia who was lead counsel in four other cases before the UN court, to lead Mladic's defense. It had denied Mladic's first choice, Milos Saljic, because he spoke neither English nor French, the tribunal's two official languages.
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