Русская версияInto Serbia's summer doldrums came the news: Ratko Mladic, Bosnian
Serb genocide suspect and one of the world's most wanted men, was
about to be arrested.
Then again, he wasn't.
Mladic is in Serbia.
Mladic is not in Serbia. Mladic in Russia.
Mladic negotiates surrender. Mladic would rather kill himself than
surrender.
Such contradictory headlines have been the norm since the former
Bosnian Serb military chief's protector, Slobodan Milosevic, fell
as Serbia's ruler in 2000.
Another false alarm
Earlier this week, a Bosnian newspaper quoted security sources as
saying Mladic's arrest was "imminent." Serbian, Montenegrin,
Bosnian and Croatian intelligence officials had met in Belgrade to
prepare his capture, Dnevni Avaz reported.
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Mladic (left) and Karadzic in 1993, during the Bosnian War
The next day, Serbia's top security officials -- the director of
the national security and intelligence agency, a war crimes
prosecutor's spokesman and the national police chief -- denied
claims that Mladic was located and all but arrested.
For Mladic, 66, arrest would mean facing United Nations war
crimes charges, including genocide, notably for the massacre of up
to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica in 1995.
The mood of anticipation was fomented by the July arrest of
Mladic's political supremo, Bosnian Serb war-time leader Radovan
Karadzic -- seen as a sign of resolve by Serbia's new government to
overcome the war crimes issue.
But it is unclear whether the arrest of Karadzic was the result of
a serious operation or a fluke. He had changed his appearance but
lived openly in Belgrade as a doctor-healer, wrote books, went to
restaurants and took synthesizer classes.
Military had sheltered Mladic
Mladic, seen by much of the world as a mastermind of Serb ethnic
cleansing, moved around freely in Belgrade after the Bosnian war
ended in late 1995.
He went underground after Milosevic fell in October 2000, but
remained under the military's wing for at least several more years.
In early 2006, after denying it for more than five years, Belgrade
admitted that the military "had undeniably on occasion sheltered"
Mladic until 2002 at "army facilities" and that retired army
officers were still assisting him.
Today it is unclear whether Mladic is protected by fierce, heavily
armed supporters ready to kill, as some reports claim, whether he
is alone, perhaps shepherding sheep, as others say, or if he is
living a life as bizarre as that of Karadzic.
Officials' involvement unclear
Bildunterschrift:
Großansicht des Bildes mit der Bildunterschrift:
Mladic is held responsible for the 1995 massacre in Srebrenica
Before Karadzic's arrest, even Serbia's war crimes prosecutor
Vladimir Vukcevic apparently was duped.
"Mladic is in Serbia, but Karadzic is somewhere in the region," he
said six months before the latter was caught on a public bus in
Belgrade, the Serbian capital.
Dozens of Serb officials, including those who should know all that
the secret services know about the war crime fugitive, have made
similar statements over the years.
So they either did not know or, as the Serbian euphemism goes, they
"told the untruth."
Mladic's pension still paid
Mladic is accused of a string of war crimes during his time as Serb
military commander in the 1992-95 Bosnian war, including the
sniping and shelling of Sarajevo during the 43-month Serb siege of
the city.
But many Serbs, particularly those from Bosnia, see him as the hero
who protected them in the war.
What seems clear is that Serbia's army is still paying Mladic's
pension into his bank account, although it's out of reach because
the government finally blocked assets of war crime suspects on Jan.
1, 2006.
Until then, Mladic's family had been allowed to withdraw a pension.
Since then, close to 2 million dinars ($38,000), or 80 average
Serbian wages, has accumulated in the general's account, the Press
daily reported Tuesday.
(Deutsche Welle)
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