Bosnian Serb police chief to face UN court

Source: Agencies  |   2008-6-22  |     NEWSPAPER EDITION

SERB authorities yesterday handed over an ex-Bosnian Serb police chief wanted by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal ? a move they hoped would relieve political pressure from the European Union.

A Belgrade court rejected an appeal by Stojan Zupljanin on Friday against his extradition.

The UN tribunal has charged Zupljanin with war crimes for allegedly overseeing Serb-run prison camps where thousands of Muslims and Croats were killed during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.

He was arrested in the town of Pancevo last week after nine years on the run.

Zupljanin is the 43rd Serb suspect extradited to the international tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands. The others include the late former President Slobodan Milosevic, who is blamed for fomenting the wars in former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.

Three other suspects remain at large. They are former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic, his military commander General Ratko Mladic, and Goran Hadzic, a Croatian Serb leader.