Croatian war crimes suspect arrested in Spain News
Croatian war crimes suspect arrested in Spain

[JURIST] Retired Croatian general Ante Gotovina [BBC profile; ICTY case backgrounder] was arrested late Wednesday night in Spain. Gotovina was indicted on crimes against humanity charges by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website] in 2001 and was considered to be the third most-wanted suspect from the 1990s Balkan wars. ICTY Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte said Thursday that Gotovina will soon be transferred to The Hague and called for renewed efforts to arrest the men atop the ICTY most-wanted list, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic [ICTY case backgrounders]. The ICTY indictment [text] accuses Gotovina of failing to prevent the murder of 150 Serbs during a 1995 campaign against Serb forces in Croatia and also of coordinating looting campaigns in ethnic Serb regions. In October, a defense lawyer for Gotovina said that his client would surrender if he were allowed to face trial in Croatia [JURIST report], rather than at the ICTY. BBC News has more.