BREAKING NEWS
Ratko Mladic arrested in Serbia
Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb general wanted for alleged war crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict has been arrested, the Serbian president has said.
Boris Tadic said "today we closed one chapter of our recent history that will bring us one step closer to full reconciliation in the region. "
Boris Tadic said "today we closed one chapter of our recent history that will bring us one step closer to full reconciliation in the region. "
"All criminals must face justice," he said.
Earlier local media had said police were carrying out DNA tests on a man who identified himself as Milorad Komadic, arrested on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the executive arm of the European Union said that the arrest showed Serbia "understood the importance of full co-operation with ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] reconciliation with its history and its people".
A family friend told Reuters the 69-year-old Bosnian Serb wartime general was being held by the Serbian intelligence agency (BIA).
Mladic is wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.
Earlier local media had said police were carrying out DNA tests on a man who identified himself as Milorad Komadic, arrested on Thursday.
A spokeswoman for the executive arm of the European Union said that the arrest showed Serbia "understood the importance of full co-operation with ICTY [International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia] reconciliation with its history and its people".
A family friend told Reuters the 69-year-old Bosnian Serb wartime general was being held by the Serbian intelligence agency (BIA).
Mladic is wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for genocide during the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.
He was indicted in 1995 on genocide in the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and boys, and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo, the Bosnian capital, in which around 10,000 people died.
The UN indictment against Mladic says he was the operational mastermind behind the massacre and also cites the establishment of camps and detention centres for Bosnian Muslims as part of a campaign of ethnic cleansing.
His arrest is seen a precondition of Serbia joining the European Union.
His arrest is seen a precondition of Serbia joining the European Union.
Aljosa Milenkovic, a Belgrade journalist, told Al Jazeera that "politicians from the EU have repeated time and again tha Mladic is the condition for Serbia's entry" to the bloc.
Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader and Mladic's mentor, was captured in July 2008 and he is currently on trial at the ICTY's headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime political leader and Mladic's mentor, was captured in July 2008 and he is currently on trial at the ICTY's headquarters in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Source: Al Jazeera and agencies
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