Serbia Offers $1.4 Million Reward for Capture of Mladic

Serbia has announced a reward of more than $1 million for information leading to the capture of fugitive war crimes suspect Ratko Mladic.

Serbia’s minister in charge of cooperation with the Hague-based war crimes tribunal, Rasim Ljajic, said Friday that authorities will offer $1.4 million for help in the arrest of the former top Bosnian Serb military commander.

Ljajic says Serbia’s National Security Council has also offered to pay at least $350,000 for information that results in the capture of former Bosnian Serb police commander Stojan Zupljanin and former Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic.

Meanwhile, the New York-based group Human Rights Watch has called on the European Union to insist that Serbia cooperate in bringing Mladic to trial before it moves to expand ties with the Balkan country.

The U.N. war crimes tribunal is also seeking former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic. Ljajic says Serbia has not offered a reward for his capture because he is not a Serbian citizen. But he says Serbia’s National Security Council would grant a reward to anyone who can reveal where Karadzic is hiding.

Apprehending either Karadzic or his military commander, Mladic, would boost Serbia’s bid to gain membership in the European Union.

Mladic and Karadzic are charged with genocide for their roles in attacks on civilians in Bosnia-Herzegovina, including the 1995 massacre of 8,000 Muslims following the fall of Srebrenica.

By VOA News