Keraterm, Celebic Prison Camp Commanders
Await Indictment on Atrocity Charges
(THE HAGUE, March 19—Reuters) The U.N. criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia said on Tuesday it had authorized the arrest of two men suspected of committing war crimes against Serbs in Bosnia in 1992. It said it expected to indict them soon, making them the first suspects charged with war crimes against Serb victims. "I can confirm that two men were arrested in Austria and Germany at the tribunal's request. They are expected to be indicted shortly," a tribunal official said.Separately, the tribunal said German police had arrested another man near Nuremberg on Monday after Interpol discovered his name matched one on a list of 53 suspects already charged with war crimes by the tribunal. A tribunal spokesman said the unnamed man may be one of 13 Serbs charged last July with atrocities against Muslims at the Keraterm prison camp in Prijedor, northwest Bosnia.
Camp commander Dusko Sikirica was accused of genocide and 12 others were charged with crimes against humanity at Keraterm. If indicted, the suspects arrested in Munich and Vienna would be the first charged for war crimes against Serb victims. This would mark an important step for the tribunal which has repeatedly rejected accusations from Belgrade and Pale of bias against Serbs.
Austrian authorities named the man detained in Vienna as Zdravko M., saying he was suspected of running a detention camp at Celebic in southern Bosnia where atrocities occurred. The Bosnian Serb news agency SRNA gave his full name as Zdravko Mucic and alleged that he was responsible for killing some 30 Serb prisoners at the camp. Austrian news agency APA said police had seized video tapes purported to show war crimes being committed, but this could not be confirmed by an Interior Ministry spokesman.
Munich prosecutors said they were holding a 47-year-old man on suspicion of war crimes and crimes against humanity, but provided no more details. SRNA named him as Zejnil Delalic and said he was a Muslim who had taken part in atrocities against Serbs in the Bosnian town of Konjic.
To date the tribunal has indicted 53 suspects—46 Serbs and seven Croats—including Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief General Ratko Mladic. But it currently holds just two of them at its 24-cell detention centre in The Hague. In February chief prosecutor Richard Goldstone said he expected to issue the first indictments against Muslims soon.
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
Berserkistan is a world news service of Michael Linder Productions, Inc.
©1995-1996, All Rights Reserved
