Zdravko Tolimir, Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive, arrested

May 31, 2007

London, England - Zdravko Tolimir, a Bosnian Serb general and war crimes fugitive, has been arrested.

Zdravko Tolimir, a Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive, has been arrested.

Zdravko Tolimir, 58, is one of the top fugitives sought by the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague for his alleged role in the Srebrenica massacre.

Gen Mladic has evaded arrest for years. He is wanted for war crimes against Muslim civilians in the 1990s.

Correspondents say Tolimir's arrest, confirmed by the Hague tribunal, could speed up the search for his ex-boss.

He was detained in eastern Bosnia close to the border with Serbia and just a few kilometres from the town of Srebrenica, where up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in July 1995.

Preparations are being made for his transfer to The Hague.

New determination

A Bosnian Serb spokeswoman said the arrest came as a result of a joint operation with Serbia.

Rasim Ljajic, head of Serbia's office for cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said the detention showed a new determination on the part of Belgrade.

"This is the first time that not a single fugitive from the ICTY can sleep peacefully, because our civilian and military intelligence will work simultaneously on locating them," he said.

The EU has linked the resumption of talks on closer ties with Serbia to the arrest of war crimes suspects.

Olga Kavran, spokeswoman for the chief UN war crimes prosecutor for former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, said they were informed of the arrest by the Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Milorad Dodik.

"We understand he has some health issues and we will try to assess what these issues are in order to make arrangements for his transportation to The Hague," a tribunal spokesman told Reuters.

Radovan Karadzic and Gen Mladic are still on the run

He was considered the third most important person on the list of those indicted for war crimes by the ICTY, after Gen Mladic and his wartime political leader, Radovan Karadzic.

Both Gen Mladic and Karadzic have been indicted for genocide over the killings in Srebrenica and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, which claimed more than 10,000 lives.

Gen Tolimir was an intelligence officer and senior aide to Gen Mladic at the time of the massacre at Srebrenica, which was carried out by Bosnian Serb soldiers under Gen Mladic's command.

Gen Tolimir is accused of helping to plan and carry out the murders, which have since been internationally recognised as genocide.

With his arrest, only five of the 161 people indicted by the UN tribunal remain at large, including Gen Mladic and Mr Karadzic.

Gen Tolimir is thought to have been one of the key figures helping his former commander to evade capture.

If so, he may provide important information about where the most wanted war crimes suspect is now hiding, our correspondent says.

Background on Zdravko Tolimir from Wikipedia: Zdravko Tolimir (b. 1948, Bosnia) is a Serbian commander.

Zdravko Tolimir was Assistant Commander of Intelligence and Security for the Bosnian Serb army and reported directly to the commander, General Ratko Mladic.

According to the indictment, Tolimir was aware of the program aimed at expelling Muslims from Srebrenica and Zepa, and he willingly participated in the project. On July 9, 1995, when President Radovan Karadzic passed down an order to seize Srebrenica, the order was passed directly through Tolimir.

In Zepa, Tolimir told the Muslims that they must leave otherwise the Serbs of Bosnia would launch a military operation. The Bosnian Muslims refused to leave and, early on the morning of July 14, 1995, the command of the Bosnian Serbs launched an attack against the Zepa enclave.

Tolimir is being charged for acting in conjunction with other Bosnian Serb army and police officers in a joint criminal enterprise. He has been indicted for the forcible removal of women and children from the Srebrenica enclave, and the execution of thousands of Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July 1995.

It was reported that Tolimir was negotiating with the Serbian government concerning his surrender to The Hague tribunal. He is charged with crimes against humanity, genocide, and war crimes.