Bosnia Tightens Grip on War Crimes Suspects' Support Network

Bosnian Serb police seized this week travel documents belonging to the family of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, indicted by the Hague tribunal for genocide and other war crimes committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.



The operation was ordered by the international administrator in Bosnia, Slovak diplomat Miroslav Lajcak, and was carried out on January 10 in the village of Pale, near Sarajevo, where Karadzic’s family lives.



According to a statement from Lajcak’s office, passports belonging to Radovan's wife Ljiljana Zelen-Karadzic, son Aleksandar, daughter Sonja Karadzic-Jovicevic, and son-in-law Branislav Jovicevic were seized.



The order was issued at the request of the Hague tribunal, and in close cooperation with relevant local law enforcement agencies.



“These four persons are in one way or another the subject of orders by the Bosnian state court, a decision by the Bosnian Council of Ministers, international financial and travel sanctions, and ongoing criminal investigations for their role in the support network of Radovan Karadzic. Today’s actions build upon these measures,” the statement reads.



“The international community has made it clear that it expects the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina to cooperate fully with the Hague tribunal, playing a proactive role in apprehending all remaining indictees and dismantling their support networks. [The] decision complements measures undertaken by the local authorities and by other international actors.”



Karadzic has been on the run ever since he was indicted by the Hague tribunal in 1995 and his whereabouts remain unknown.



Earlier this week, Bosnia’s state prosecutor's office launched an investigation of 42 people suspected of aiding indicted war crimes suspects, including members of Karadzic’s family.



Among the suspects is former deputy chief of the Republika Srpska State Security Center, Ljuban Ecim, who, according to the Banja Luka daily Nezavisne Novine, was recently arrested in Belgrade on drug smuggling charges. He is suspected of being one of the main organisers of the network aiding and abetting Karadzic and other fugitives.



Ecim is also on the European Union's and United States' black list, which includes all persons suspected of helping and financing Hague indictees.



The daily also claims that the prosecutor's office has opened an investigation into family members of the other three Hague indictees still on the run – Ratko Mladic, Goran Hadzic and Stojan Zupljanin.



Merdijana Sadovic is IWPR’s Hague programme manager.