SARAJEVO, 11 July (Hina) - Friday's action in the area of Prijedor, which was carried out by the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) with the aim of apprehending war crime suspects represents a much more decisive approach to the solution of
the problem of war crime suspects, U.N. spokesman in Sarajevo Alexander Ivanko told reporters Friday.
SARAJEVO, 11 July (Hina) - Friday's action in the area of Prijedor,
which was carried out by the Stabilisation Force (SFOR) with the aim of
apprehending war crime suspects represents a much more decisive approach
to the solution of the problem of war crime suspects, U.N. spokesman in
Sarajevo Alexander Ivanko told reporters Friday. #L#
The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
hoped that SFOR operations would be continued until the last war crime
suspect was apprehended, Ivanko told reporters.
The first hearing of Milan Kovacevic before the Hague Tribunal
could take place very soon. An ICTY indictment was presented to
Kovacevic after his hand-over to the court.
Ivanko said that Kovacevic, who held the post of president of the
executive committee and was a member of the crisis headquarters in
Prijedor during the war, was held responsible for having participated in
genocide against Bosniacs and Croats. The indictment against Kovacevic
was completed on 13 March this year, but it was not published. An arrest
warrant which was sent to SFOR was not published either, Ivanko said.
We can confirm that the secret list includes some other names, but
we cannot say how many, Ivanko said.
SFOR spokesman Chris Riley said that Sinisa Drljaca and Spiro
Milovanovic, who were apprehended during the arrest of Simo Drljaca,
were returned to Prijedor late last night and released.
The two men were taken to The Hague so that their identity could be
checked, but it was established that they were not on the list of war
crime suspects.
Simo Drljaca was shot dead because he opened gun fire at British
soldiers first, who called on him to surrender.
The SFOR spokesman confirmed that NATO soldiers had taken necessary
precautionary measures so as to be able to protect themselves after the
action and prevent possible incidents. However, there were no problems
and the situation in the country could be described as peaceful, Riley
said.
Riley rejected claims of the Bosnian Serb media saying that during
yesterday's operation 'Tango' SFOR soldiers had used inappropriate force
and misused Red Cross insignia.
Spokespersons for the Office of the High Representative and UNHCR
on Friday expressed full support for SFOR actions.
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