Friday, June 17, 2005

Croatian Police Arrest 10 Ethnic Serbs Over Srebrenica

ZAGREB, Croatia (AP)--Croatian police Friday arrested 10 ethnic Serbs suspected of being part of a wartime squad that committed atrocities across the former Yugoslavia during its breakup in the 1990's.

Police spokesman for eastern Croatia, Miroslav Janic, said the arrests were prompted by footage released by the U.N. war crimes tribunal two weeks ago showing the squad, known as the Scorpions, executing Muslim civilians in the Bosnian enclave Srebrenica in 1995.

"We have detained 10 people of Serb origin, who are Croatian citizens, on suspicion of being part of Scorpions units and being involved in war crimes," Janic told state-run radio.

He said that police found large caches of illegal weapons and military uniforms in the suspects' homes.

Janic said the men would remain in custody until the investigation was completed. If convicted, the men face up to 20 years in jail.

Sunday, Croat police arrested another 52-year-old Serb who was recognized from the footage of the Srebrenica executions.

Another six Scorpions members were arrested in Serbia in a dramatic raid only days after the Srebrenica killings were aired on local television.

The Scorpions fought in the Serbo-Croat war in 1991 before moving on to Bosnia and Kosovo. They also allegedly served as Serbian strongman Slobodan Milosevic's private police.

The suspects detained in Croatia can't be extradited to Serbia as Croatian law forbids the extradition of its citizens for trial in foreign countries apart from those indicted by the U.N. war crimes tribunal. [ 17-06-05 1647GMT ]

8 comments:

neil craig said...

Since Tudjman's Nazis were given permission by the ICTY to convict Fikret Abdic of the "war crime" of defending Bihac from al Quaeda's press gang the only thing we can be sure of here is that their conviction will be a farce. However I am not sure why extraditing them to Serbia should be a question - these sre presumably Croatian citizens accused of crimes in Bosnia.

Anonymous said...

Those serbian war criminals should of been arrested upon their return to Croatia for their wartime atrocities! It's been long overdue!They first got civilian blood on their hands in Croatia, then moved onto Bosnia, and then perfected their killing of civilians in Kosovo.They should of stayed in their homeland (serbia), with
their own kind, and with their own element! GOOD JOB CROATIAN POLICE, GET THE REST OF THEM!

Anonymous said...

I find it interesting that members of Scorpions felt safer to live in Croatia but not in Serbia or Bosnia. why is that when we take into account 350000 Serbs ethincaly cleanse in Oluja? Why do they feel safe in Croatia?
Weard.

Anonymous said...

And today Croatian police let them go. WEARD

Anonymous said...

There is something else here, them staying in Croatia is the strangest thing ever. I mean, Croats have not yet gone past their desire to inflict total damage to Serbia...whatever..this is strange.

Anonymous said...

Well anonymous,
It seems as if your serbian (chetnik) cetnik sympathies are based on erroneous information.
First of all let's examine that number of 350,000 serbs that were
allegedly "ethnically cleasned"
from Croatia. The number known world wide, and accepted internationally is 200,000!Secondly your term "ethnically
cleansed" was first used by serbs to describe their actions (murder, rape, looting, torture, destruction of homes,church's, mosque's) to ethnically erase a location of non-serb inhabitants!
This serbian action was used in the second world war against Croatians, Bosnian Moslems, Moslems
of Sandzak,Moslems of Montenegro,
German civilian minority of
Vodvodina(500,000 civilians who were either killed,tortured,or imprisoned, and eventually expelled from yugoslavia after the war the war ended!Their property
(homes, farm, land,equiptment) then were given to serbs!Let's look at the Croatian Government's military action of August 1995.The serbian statlet ordered the evacuation of their illegally occupied territory.This evacuation was ordered by the chetnick authorities in Kinn, over radio Kinn!The first to run like rabbits,were the serb government leaders , followed by their military, finally followed by their civilian population on tractors, wagons, buses, and cars!
Good Job serbian military!
The serbian war criminals that were arrested in Croatia still had a better standard of living in Croatia then serbia or republic serbia could offer them! One more thing that I would like to note, is that you spelled weard, the correct spelling is weird! If you ever would like a history lesson on the region let me know!

Anonymous said...

Well anonymous,
It seems as if your serbian (chetnik) cetnik sympathies are based on erroneous information.
First of all let's examine that number of 350,000 serbs that were
allegedly "ethnically cleasned"
from Croatia. The number known world wide, and accepted internationally is 200,000!Secondly your term "ethnically
cleansed" was first used by serbs to describe their actions (murder, rape, looting, torture, destruction of homes,church's, mosque's) to ethnically erase a location of non-serb inhabitants!
This serbian action was used in the second world war against Croatians, Bosnian Moslems, Moslems
of Sandzak,Moslems of Montenegro,
German civilian minority of
Vodvodina(500,000 civilians who were either killed,tortured,or imprisoned, and eventually expelled from yugoslavia after the war the war ended!Their property
(homes, farm, land,equiptment) then were given to serbs!Let's look at the Croatian Government's military action of August 1995.The serbian statlet ordered the evacuation of their illegally occupied territory.This evacuation was ordered by the chetnick authorities in Kinn, over radio Kinn!The first to run like rabbits,were the serb government leaders , followed by their military, finally followed by their civilian population on tractors, wagons, buses, and cars!
Good Job serbian military!
The serbian war criminals that were arrested in Croatia still had a better standard of living in Croatia then serbia or republic serbia could offer them! One more thing that I would like to note, is that you spelled weard, the correct spelling is weird! If you ever would like a history lesson on the region let me know!

Anonymous said...

Thank Chris,
I appreciate the compliment!
Brian