Milan Babic, the Serb leader of a rebel republic in Croatia and one of the key figures in the Balkan wars of the 1990s, has committed suicide in a Netherlands prison, the UN war crimes tribunal said today.

CROATIAN war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina pleaded not guilty yesterday to seven counts of murder, persecution and expulsion of Serbs during the critical final months of the Croatian War in 1995.

Croatian war crimes suspect Ante Gotovina pleaded not guilty today to seven counts of murder, persecution and expulsion of Serbs during the critical final months of the Croatian war in 1995.

Ann Cahill, Europe Correspondent

The United Nations war crimes tribunal has indicted a rebel Serb leader for alleged human rights crimes and breaches of the customs of war in Croatia during the Balkan conflicts.

A UN war crimes tribunal yesterday sentenced Milan Babic, the war-time leader of Croatia’s rebellious Serbs, to 13 years’ imprisonment, saying his role in ethnic cleansing showed “ruthlessness and savagery.”

A UN war crimes tribunal today sentenced Milan Babic, the wartime leader of Croatia’s rebellious Serbs, to 13 years imprisonment, saying his role in ethnic cleansing showed “ruthlessness and savagery”.

Wartime Croatian Serb leader Milan Babic pleaded guilty today to persecution in a plan to ethnically cleanse parts of Croatia of non-Serbs at the outset of the Balkan wars, and expressed “a deep sense of shame” for his crimes.

Prosecutors have introduced a key piece of evidence at Slobodan Milosevic's war crimes trial - a letter that implies he had power over rebel Serb troops responsible for atrocities in Croatia.

A senior Bosnian Serb civilian administrator boarded a plane today for the Netherlands to surrender to the war crimes tribunal in the Hague to face charges of atrocities against Croats and Muslims during the Bosnian war.