SARAJEVO, May 14 (Hina) - Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops on Friday arrested Milovan Bjelica, an influential member of the Serb Democratic Party (SDS), on suspicion of maintaining close contact with Bosnian Serb wartime leader
Radovan Karadzic, who is sought by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on genocide charges.
SARAJEVO, May 14 (Hina) - Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops on Friday
arrested Milovan Bjelica, an influential member of the Serb Democratic
Party (SDS), on suspicion of maintaining close contact with Bosnian
Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, who is sought by the UN war
crimes tribunal in The Hague on genocide charges.#L#
SFOR spokesman Robert Lapreze told reporters in Sarajevo that Bjelica
had been arrested during a raid in the town of Sokolac on Mount
Romanija.
Last year Bjelica was put on the US government's black list of persons
suspected of supporting Hague tribunal indictees. He is also banned
from entering the European Union.
Also in 2003, the international community's high representative to
Bosnia-Herzegovina, Paddy Ashdown, relieved Bjelica of his duties as
chairman of the assembly of the Serb-dominated part of Sarajevo.
Bjelica is the fourth person to have been arrested by SFOR in an
attempt to neutralise the network of Karadzic's supporters.
Former members of the Serb special police Dusan Tesic and Zeljko
Jankovic and Serb wartime defence minister Bogdan Subotic were
arrested earlier this year. All three were released after questioning
without being formally charged, and SFOR said then it was pleased with
their cooperation and with the information they were willing to
provide.
(Hina) vm