APPREHENDED SERB RESPONSIBLE FOR CRIMES IN SREBRENICA

SARAJEVO, Dec 2 (Hina) - A Republika Srpska army general, Radislav Krstic, apprehended by Stabilisation Force (SFOR) troops on Wednesday, is probably responsible for war crimes in Srebrenica. SFOR Spokeswoman in Sarajevo Sheena Thompson told Hina Krstic was arrested around noon on Wednesday, but she refused to specify the number of troops that carried out the arrest, nor the location of his apprehension. Krstic's name cannot be found listed in published indictments by the International Criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, but a statement issued by NATO regarding Krstic's arrest said that he would be transferred to The Hague. Unofficial sources stated that Krstic's arrest was the result of a long investigation by the ICTY into crimes committed during the occupation of the Bosniak enclave of Srebrenica (eastern Bosnia- Herzegovina) by Bosnian Serbs in July 1995. Krstic was allegedly at the time chief commander of the Drina corps of the Bosnian Serb entity of Republika Srpska army, whose members carried out the attack on Srebrenica. Based on command responsibility, Krstic could be indicted of crimes against humanity and international law, as well as for the liquidation of at least 8,000 people assumed to have been killed in Srebrenica after the occupation of this UN safe-zone. Exhumations of mass grave victims from Srebrenica confirmed that many of them had been killed soon after being taken prisoners, because traces of bondage were notices on many of the bodies. General Krstic is the first military Bosnian Serb commander to have been arrested by SFOR troops in Bosnia-Herzegovina for war crimes. (hina) lml jn