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Post by theblackswans on Jul 23, 2008 9:13:33 GMT -5
LONDON: Radovan Karadzic's arrest will encourage the Serbian Government to step up its hunt for the war criminal General Ratko Mladic, said Serb officials and Balkan experts.
But it could prove more hazardous to corner Mladic, wanted for his role in the siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
Karadzic's arrest was "a courageous decision by the Government", said a Serbian official. He pointed out that Zoran Djindjic, a former pro-Western prime minister, was assassinated in 2003 for handing over the late Yugoslavian president, Slobodan Milosevic, to The Hague.
"Getting Mladic could be more dangerous than getting Karadzic," said the official. "Probably he still has a friend or two."
An elite Serbian paramilitary leader, Milorad Ulemek, was jailed for Djindjic's murder last year. Serbia's current Prime Minister, Mirko Cvetkovic, political heir to Djindjic, took power earlier this month with a promise to step up the hunt for war-crimes suspects.
Mladic was possibly using false papers and an assumed identity to avoid detection, as Karadzic had done, the Serb official said. "There have been no sightings in the past five years or more. But obviously there is more optimism now that Mladic will be caught. He's a fugitive. He will not be feeling very comfortable today."
Since the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague charged Mladic with genocide in 1995, "rogue elements" in the Serbian military have reportedly hidden him.
He is believed to be living in Serbian territory and was last positively identified in 2000 at a Belgrade football match. The trail has since gone cold.
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Post by theblackswans on Jul 23, 2008 10:06:14 GMT -5
General Mladic, who was Karadzic's military commander and led Bosnian Serb troops during the massacre at Srebrenica, is one of two Balkans war crimes suspects still on the run.
His capture is expected within weeks as his political support network crumbles and the European Union continues to pressure Serbia to hand him over.
But according to German intelligence sources, Mladic has been negotiating with those hunting him over the terms of his capture, and "gave information on [on Karadzic's whereabouts] to save himself".
According to a source close to the German foreign intelligence service, the BND, Mladic is determined to avoid going on trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) at the Hague.
Instead he wants to face proceedings at a local court in Serbia, where he is still regarded by a hero by some. Local war crimes trials began in Belgrade in 2004, and are housed in a special courtroom kitted out with a dock encased in bullet proof glass.
Last year, in a verdict seen as a crucial test of Serbia's ability to dispense justice against its own, four Serb paramilitaries who took part in the Srebrenica massacre were sentenced to a total of 58 years in jail. The four featured on video footage of the massacre in which six Bosnian Muslims were summarily executed.
Despite that verdict however, it appears inconceivable that Mladic will not be extradited to the Hague if and when he is caught.
"Mladic gave some information on Karadzic, probably several months ago to save himself," said the source. "That means he knows there will be a trial." But with his arrest now expected within "weeks rather than months" the likelihood of Mladic's betrayal of his one-time political master securing his release to a Serb court is slim.
Mladic's capture was widely expected to occur before that of Karadzic due to better intelligence on his whereabouts.
But while Karadzic was allegedly protected in part by Serb intelligence officials, Mladic is assumed to be shielded by parts of the powerful Serb army establishment as well.
That is likely to make the terms of his surrender more difficult to arrange than those of Karadzic, because the attitude of Serbia's intelligence services is more shaped by the government in power now a newly elected pro-EU coalition.
Serbia's army, however, is likely to prove less malleable, and few in Serbia have forgotten the fate of Zoran Djindjic, the late prime minister who handed over Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic to the Hague.
Mr Djindjic was felled by an sniper's bullet outside Serbia's government building in central Belgrade on March 12th 2003. Last year, a special Serbian court found 12 men guilty of the killing.
Judges said the plot was led by Milorad Ulemek, a former French legionnaire and one time commander of the notorious paramilitary Special Operations Unit of Slobodan Milosevic's police force.
Last year, after a lengthy hearing dubbed Serbia's 'Trial of the Century', Ulemek, dubbed Legija after his time with the foreign legion, was sentenced to 40 years in jail.
Western governments are desperate for Serbia to overcome fears of a similarly violent reaction to Mladic's arrest however, pushing for his arrest so Belgrade can pursue integration into the European Union.
London, Paris and Berlin are all concerned about the prospect of Serbia falling under Russian influence and extending Moscow's sphere of influence to the heart of the Balkans.
"Western intelligence agencies helped [with Karadzic's capture]," said the source. " That means the CIA, but with the collaboration of the German, French, British. These European governments are all interested in getting Serbia into the EU and away from Russia."
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Post by Caslav Klonimirovic on Jul 23, 2008 10:25:14 GMT -5
I would have preferred Mladic be caught to Karadzic.
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MiG
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Post by MiG on Jul 23, 2008 13:31:19 GMT -5
I think he will get caught, but not anytime soon.
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Post by kapetan on Jul 23, 2008 16:02:36 GMT -5
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MiG
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Post by MiG on Jul 23, 2008 17:29:50 GMT -5
^ Damn, betrayal in the Ultranationalist Camp.
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Post by theblackswans on Jul 24, 2008 1:07:30 GMT -5
^ Damn, betrayal in the Ultranationalist Camp. I know these b*tches are such cowards lets see.... 1)They killed woman and children and attacked undefended cities and towns and villages in 1992 and acted like they were defending themselves and talk s*it about how brave they were. 2) In the battles for Dobrinja the cowards left there comrades to die on the battlefield and left there corpses and ran away. 3) In RSK they ran away like cowards at the first sign of fighting 4) They folded like a deck of cards in 1995 when Atif Dudakovic came calling 5) They ran away like b*tches again from Sarajevo in 1996 in Grbavica and other areas 6) Fleed like punk b*tches in 1999 under NATO bombing in Kosovo 7) and now these punks are turning on eachother like crack whores over a $2 rock! I am loving this s*it!!!! Always all this Blah Blah Blah nationalist crap and what a few dozen cetniks show up throwing rocks outside Karadzics jail cell, wow impressive show from these punk b*tches!!!!!!!! LOL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
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CiKoLa
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Post by CiKoLa on Jul 24, 2008 1:29:26 GMT -5
Karadzic's capture is all well and good, but what we need to do now is focus our attention on the remaining war criminal Mladic ... and not get to carried away with this dog.
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CiKoLa
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Post by CiKoLa on Jul 24, 2008 1:30:45 GMT -5
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Post by sweetnugs on Jul 24, 2008 1:34:50 GMT -5
Lmao, if this is true about Mladic.. holy shit. Haha, awesome!
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CiKoLa
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Post by CiKoLa on Jul 24, 2008 1:38:11 GMT -5
^^ Srbe na vrbe ... seems true in this case (esp with all those red crosses)
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Post by theblackswans on Jul 24, 2008 9:08:03 GMT -5
Mladic is wearing a dress and makeup just because he likes to, it is not even a part of his disguise.
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Post by Marshall_Stanko on Aug 4, 2008 7:58:35 GMT -5
Accident
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