by talos
Fri Dec 2nd, 2005 at 10:03:34 AM EST
[Update Dec. 6: The reports continue to be conflicting: EUFOR Commander Major-General David Leakey told the BBC that "the two top indicted war crimes suspects are very unlikely to be arrested soon"... On the other hand Xinhua reports that "Serbia-Montenegro authorities are optimistic that the endeavors for arresting top war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic would soon produce results, a government minister said on Monday"... At this point it's hard to tell what's wishful thinking and what's based on real developments..]
According to an Athens News Agency Report from Zagreb (here in Greek from in.gr), the Croatian newspaper Globus claims that Bosnian Serb reputed war criminals Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic are in Belgrade (at least according to the Croatian intelligence service). It is expected - says the report - that it is a matter of time before they are delivered to the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia... Supposedly, European governments have been notified of these events, and the surrender of the two wanted Bosnian Serb leaders, will be arranged in such a way as to minimize reactions from K&M's local supporters. Bosnian Serbs are divided right in the middle on the question of extradition for the two "warlords"...
Now this is far from the first time such rumors have been circulated - and other "theatrical" situations have been arranged in the past... Not to mention that Karadzic is never supposed to surrender. Yet I mention this rumour because it seems to have a "history", though of course this by itself does not make the rumour likely - just worth considering:
On the 11th of November Serbia & Montenegro, were given a warning to bring K&M to the Hague by the end of the year or face Euro-Atlantic "excommunication". Bosnian Serb leaders then prepared and then published a statement calling for the duo's surrender. On the 16th of November, rumours are published that Kostunica is negotiating Mladic's surrender, which are promptly denied, later emphatically enough to suggest a possible way that such a surrender is going to be presented.
Anyway this promises to be interesting - possibly being in that crazy fervour of his, Karadzic could do just about anything - including surrendering?
Meanwhile in another part of the Galaxy (the part where K & M might be heading for), the headline is that "UN's war crime court jails first Kosovo Albanian", or equivalently, that "UN tribunal acquits Kosovo rebels", depending on the way one sees the exact same event. The latter story title has, quite understandably pissed off pretty much all of the Serbs who noted that percentage of acquittals in the ICTY might be perceived to correlate with lobbying money invested in PR. This while other big fish are soon to be judged in the Hague...
[crossposted in histologion, slightly edited]
