Croatia Issues Arrest Warrant for Former JNA Officer

06 10 2007 Zagreb_ Croatia has issued an international warrant late on Thursday for the arrest of Miroslav Radic, a former Serb officer, following his acquittal last week by the Hague Tribunal.

Radic, a former officer of the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, had been charged with orchestrating the mass killing of Croatian prisoners after the fall of Vukovar in 1991. The judges in the Hague found that there was no evidence that he was aware of the killings.

The Tribunal sentenced Veselin Sljivancanin to five years and Mile Mrkisic to 20 years in prison. The three men were charged with crimes committed in Ovcara (a farm near Vukovar in eastern Croatia). The verdicts have elicited shock and criticism in Croatia.

The Vukovar Public Attorney and Prosecution Office announced late on Thursday that Radic is a war-crimes suspect. A statement issued by the Office says that after the fall of Vukovar Radic personally picked Djuro Begovic out of a group of Croatian army soldiers that had surrendered, and shot him in the head.

According to the statement, Radic is also accused of supervising the shelling on Vukovar, which led to the deaths of large numbers of civilians and the destruction of the town. Vukovar was under siege for three months and according to the testimony of prosecution’s witnesses at The Hague, JNA and Serbian forces subjected the town to a daily and intensive bombardment.

“After the fall of Vukovar on 18 November 1991 it is suspected that he [Radic] encouraged members of his unit to murder and mistreat civilians and Croat soldiers who had laid down their weapons. He personally participated in the mistreatment and killings, and he killed Djuro Begovic who had surrendered along with a group of soldiers and who was pointed out by an unknown person as one of the commanders of the city’s defence,” the statement reads.

On Thursday, before the formal request from Croatia for Radic`s arrest, Serbian Minister of Justice Dusan Petrovic dismissed the possibility that Radic could be extradited to Croatia and face trial for “alleged war crimes”.

“Decisions of the International court in The Hague have to be respected,” Petrovic said, adding that according to Serbian law its citizens cannot be extradited to other countries to face trial.

Petrovic linked the announcements of a new arrest warrant for Radic, since one was already issued by Croatia in 2002, with the upcoming election campaign in Croatia. (BIRN)