Hague indictee Vlastimir Đorđević arrested in Montenegro

Hague indictee Vlastimir Đorđević arrested in Montenegro

Beta reported this morning that Đorđević’s arrest took place in the coastal town of Budva, where he has allegedly been employed as a contruction worker for the last several months.

B92’s sources revealed Đorđević lived in Budva for the past three years, having assumed a false identity.

Beside growing a beard, he reportedly changed his name, and was known as Novica Karadžić.

National Hague Cooperation Council Chairman Rasim Ljajić has also confirmed that Đorđević was arrested in Montenegro and was on the way to The Hague.

Đorđević, 58, was believed to have fled to Russia in 2001, right after the discovery of several mass graves containing the remains of Kosovo Albanian vicitms of the 1999 war throughout Serbia.

He was Serbia's chief of the Ministry of the Interior's (MUP) public security department during the Kosovo conflict, and was a close aide to Slobodan Milošević.

The Hague Tribunal brought charges against Đorđević for murder and persecution of Albanians in Kosovo in 1998-1999.

Former Serbian President Milan Milutinović, and co-defendants Nikola Šainović, Dragoljub Ojdanić, Nebojša Pavković, Vladimir Lazarević and Sreten Lukić face the same indictment in an ongoing trial at the Hague.

The process, known as the Kosovo Six trial, began in July 2006.

Prosecution witnesses at the trial referred to Đorđević as the main organizer of the transportation of bodies of killed Albanians from Kosovo to locations in Serbia where they were subsequently buried.

The arrest leaves only four fugitives wanted by the Hague Tribunal on the run, including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadžić and his wartime military commander Ratko Mladić.

Involvement in the Bytyqi case

In addition to the Hague charges for war crimes in Kosovo that Đorđević is allegedly responsible for, the Negotin District Prosecution decided to request the start of an investigation against him after interviewing some 30 witnesses in the Bytyqi brothers case.

The three brothers, U.S. citizens who fought with the KLA in Kosovo in the spring of 1999, were arrested and detained in Serbia proper after the war.  They were charged with violating the Movement of Aliens Law and were later executed in the Petrovo Selo MUP training grounds, to be buried in a mass grave containing remains of other Kosovo Albanian victims.

In reaction to the charges, Đorđević sent a letter from Moscow, published in Belgrade weekly Nedeljni Telegraf:

”As for my role in the Bytyqi case I can say the following: I was informed that the three Albanians who arrived from America and fought with the KLA had crossed the border illegally, were caught and detained and sentenced for illegal entry.”

“After the Prokuplje MUP chief informed me their detention period was expiring, I informed the minister, who ordered me to have members of a special police unit take them over and place them in the Petrovo Selo training center, while he would send a team over at a later date to process them and determine their role and the possibility that they had committed crimes as members of the KLA.”

“I relayed the order to the on duty officers at the center via telephone, and they later reported to me that the task was completed and that the persons in question were taken over by the designated team. I remember well that I instructed the center on duty staff to take good care of their security.”

“The allegation that Slobodan Miloševic ordered me, in a meeting attended by Vlajko Stojiljković, Radomir Marković, myself and others, to conduct the removal of bodies from Kosovo, is completely false. I am ready to appear before any domestic court that is set to determine the truth and the degree of individual responsibility.”