Posted on 07/21/2004 6:27:17 PM PDT by Flavius
ELGRADE, Serbia-Montenegro - One of the world's most-wanted war crimes fugitives — Bosnian Serb military commander Ratko Mladic — has sent a message to authorities saying he will not surrender, a Serbian newspaper reported Wednesday.
Photo AP Photo
Mladic has been on the run since his indictment by a U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague (news - web sites), Netherlands, in connection with the massacre of thousands of Muslims in the town of Bosnian city of Srebrenica in 1995.
According to a report Wednesday by the Blic daily, which cited an anonymous Serbian government source, Serbian authorities have been in contact with Mladic through an "intermediary" and have tried unsuccessfully to convince him to surrender.
"Serbia's government is trying, through Mladic's friends and relatives, to convince him to give himself up on his own in exchange for financial help for his defense at The Hague and also for funds for his family," the source was quoted as saying by Blic, one of Serbia's leading independent dailies.
"According to what we know, Mladic has sent a message that he is not thinking about giving himself up. As things stand now, we don't expect his surrender but we will maintain contacts with him."
The source declined to reveal who the alleged friends and relatives involved in the talks were, the newspaper said.
Government officials contacted by The Associated Press have denied knowing of any negotiations with Mladic.
Serbia is under increasing international pressure to arrest and extradite Mladic, charged with genocide for the July 1995 massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, a town in eastern Bosnia overrun by Mladic's troops.
Mladic was indicted together with Radovan Karadzic, the Bosnian Serb wartime leader during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Earlier this week, Serbian Interior Minister Dragan Jocic told reporters he did not know of any such talks.
But Finance Minister Mladjan Dinkic on Tuesday said it did not "sound unbelievable" that secret talks with Mladic were taking place although he personally knew nothing about the issue.
"That is not out of the question because it is clear that the country has to cooperate with The Hague," Dinkic told B-92 radio.
Serbian authorities have claimed Mladic is no longer in the Balkan republic although there have been reports he was seen driving in Belgrade only last month.
Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites), in talks with Serbia's newly elected President Boris Tadic, said Tuesday in Washington that it was in the interest of the United States to have Mladic and other war crimes suspects brought to justice.
The United States has offered a $5 million per head for information leading to the capture of Mladic or Karadzic, the two most wanted fugitives.
American officials have in the past said that once Mladic is extradited, the U.S. would support Serbian efforts to have other, lesser suspects tried before domestic courts rather than at The Hague tribunal, which many still here consider anti-Serb and biased.
I'm quite sure the innocent little muslims had no intentions of ever harming any of the evil infidel Christian Serbs. Looks like they were ahead of the curve on what a real threat the muslims were.
The man could be a bloody hero in fact.
its messed up if they waited a bit we may have had
Serbian forces in Iraq now...
but they missed their boat now its all messed up all over the place...
A politically incorrect hero at that.
They've got that whole "Civilian? Combatant? Neca eos omnes!" thing still to deal with, and this Mladic episode is but one indication that they still haven't figured it out.
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