Muslim generals arrested for Bosnian war crimes

A day after convicting a Bosnian Serb of genocide for killing thousands of Muslims, the UN tribunal today unveiled indictments against three Bosnian Muslims for war crimes against Croats.

Two Muslim generals and a colonel were charged with responsibility for the execution of civilians and war prisoners, for using hostages as human shields under fire, and for the wanton destruction of towns and villages in 1993.

The indictment and arrest of senior Muslim officers, and the tribunal’s first genocide verdict, were the latest indications of the growing influence and acceptance of the tribunal’s authority in the former Yugoslavia, especially after the surrender of ousted President Slobodan Milosevic in June.

The three suspects were arrested by Bosnian police yesterday, but tribunal spokesman Jim Landale said it was not yet clear when they will be transferred to the UN detention unit near The Hague.

Mehmed Alagic and Enver Hadzihasanovic - both former generals - are the highest-ranking Muslims so far to be arrested on war crimes charges. Amir Kubura, a senior officer, was also arrested.

Most of the serious crimes were committed by foreign Muslim volunteers under their command who branded themselves mujahedeen, or holy warriors, the tribunal said.

The arrests marked the first time Muslim-Croat federation officials had detained war crimes suspects on their territory. The indictments were delivered to the Muslim-Croat federation of Bosnia on July 13, said Landale.

Most of the more than 100 suspects indicted by the tribunal, created in 1993 to prosecute war crimes in the former Yugoslavia, are Serbs. Three Muslims have stood trial so far. One was acquitted and two convicted.

Under the 1995 Dayton peace agreement that ended the 1992-95 Bosnian war, Bosnia is split into a Serb republic and a Muslim-Croat federation, loosely linked together by a three-member presidency and other national institutions.

On Thursday, the tribunal broke new ground when it convicted General Radislav Krstic of genocide in the UN protected enclave of Srebrenica, where up to 8,000 Muslim men were slaughtered during one blood-soaked week in July 1995.

Krstic was sentenced to 46 years in prison, the longest sentence decreed by the court.

In a summary of the verdict read in open court, the tribunal said a deliberate decision had been made to kill all the men of Srebrenica after Serb forces had seized the strategic town in eastern Bosnia, overrunning a Dutch UN garrison, and deported thousands of women, children and old people.

‘‘The result was inevitable - the destruction of the Bosnian Muslim people in Srebrenica,’’ said the verdict. ‘‘What was ethnic cleansing became genocide,’’ it said.

Following the verdict, the tribunal reissued its call for the capture and surrender of the two most wanted war crimes suspects still at large, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his top general Ratko Mladic.

Both are accused of genocide on separate indictments for the slaughter of Srebrenica and the bombardment of Sarajevo. Thursday’s verdict against Krstic increased the likelihood of their conviction, since the actions of both fugitives in Srebrenica were cited in the ruling.

The Krstic verdict also could be a precedent for Milosevic, who has been indicted for the repression of Kosovar Albanians in 1999. Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte has said she is preparing further indictments against Milosevic for Bosnia that may include genocide charges.