Tolimir transferred to Hague

Tolimir transferred to Hague

Hague Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte commended the arrest of the former Bosnian Serb Army (VRS) general, and stated her hope that Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić would soon be arrested as well.

European Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn said that the arrest is an important step in getting all indicted war criminals to face justice.

EU foreign policy Chief Javier Solana’s spokesperson Christina Gallach said that the arrest of Tolimir was a step in the right direction for both Serbia and the Republic of Srpska, both in their internal politics and future relations with the European Union.

President of the National Hague Cooperation Council Rasim Ljajić said that he expects Del Ponte’s report on Serbia’s cooperation with the Tribunal, due next week, to be positive.

Without official details, media reports claim that the arrest took place in the early afternoon hours Thursday, near the border crossing between Bosnia-Herzegovina and Serbia in Ljubovija.

The former VRS general has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 2005, along with Milan Gvero and Radivoje Miletić, for the crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica and Žepa during the 1992-1995 war in that country.

Tolimir tops the list of the Tribunal’s most wanted indictees still at large, right behind Ratko Mladić and Radovan Karadžić.

Tolimir was one of Mladić’s most trusted wartime aides, in charge of VRS chief of staff intelligence operations. He is believed to be the main organizer of the current network of Mladić helpers.

Veljović: Tolimir leads were not supplied by the Hague

Serbian police (MUP) director Milorad Veljović said Friday that the information that led police to the Hague indictee Zdravko Tolimir, among other crimes accused of genocide, has been obtained from intelligence services, rather than the Hague Tribunal.

“MUP has received certain information from the local security services and passed them on to the Republic of Srpska (RS) police, who carried out the arrest,” Veljović said.