SLAVKO DOKMANOVIC ARRESTED AND TRANSFERRED TO THE HAGUE

THE HAGUE, June 27 (Hina) - Slavko Dokmanovic, a Croatian Serb accused of war crimes committed in Vukovar, was taken into custody in The Hague on Friday, the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said in a statement. According to the statement, Dokmanovic was the president of the Vukovar municipality in November 1991, when the then JNA (Yugoslav Army) and Serb paramilitary soldiers removed from the Vukovar Hospital approximately 260 men, who were later transported in groups to a site close to Ovcara where they were shot and killed . The Ovcara site was exhumed between 11 September and 7 October 1996 by the Tribunal's forensic experts who recovered 200 bodies. Dokmanovic was indicted on 26 March 1996 in an amendment to the "Vukovar indictment" previously issued against Mile Mrksic, Miroslav Radic and Veselin Sljivancanin. The Dokmanovic indictment was confirmed by Judge Fouad Riad who also ordered the indictment not to be disclosed to allow the arrest of the accused. Dokmanovic was arrested on 27 June 1997 by ICTY investigators in eastern Slavonia, acting under supervision of the UNTAES (UN Transitional Administration for eastern Slavonia) personnel. He was then transferred to The Netherlands by support by UNTAES in accordance with its mandate. Upon his arrival, he was taken to the ICTY's Detention Unit. Further details about the actual circumstances of the arrest and the transfer will be given at the press conference given by Justice Louise Arbour, ICTY's Prosecutor, scheduled for Monday 30 June at a time which will be later specified, the statement says at the end. (hina) mš 272226 MET jun 97