BELGRADE - Serbia arrested a top Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive on Wednesday and will hand him to the U.N. tribunal in The Hague, earning praise from the European Union and the United States. Bosnian Serb security chief Stojan Zupljanin, 56, was one of four suspects sought by the tribunal for war crimes in the territory of former Yugoslavia in the 1990s. Their arrest and handover to the tribunal has been a condition of Serbia's progress towards EU membership."There was no resistance during his arrest," said Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor, who coordinated the operation. "This arrest shows clearly that we are seriously cooperating (with the Hague)." Zupljanin was found at an apartment about 8 km (5 miles) from the centre of Belgrade by police and security agents and will be extradited within in 72 hours, officials said.
Officials said Zupljanin had foiled a previous attempt to arrest him in the southern Serbian city of Nis two months ago. His family had publicly called on him to surrender, to spare them further notoriety and financial collapse.
Zupljanin, a commander in the city of Banja Luka during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, is charged with killing Muslim and Croat civilians. The president of the association of former detainees in Banja Luka said the arrest will bring relief to the victims. "This is a very good news for all people who survived the arrests and tortures in Banja Luka," said Zijahudin Smailagic. "I hope that executors of Zupljanin's orders, who now walk freely in Banja Luka, will also be arrested."