Foreign Policy Blogs

EUFOR and Norwegian Officials Arrest Karadzic Associates

EUFOR and Norwegian Officials Arrest Karadzic AssociatesOfficials in Norway have arrested a 40-year old man for war crimes committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1992. According to Norwegian police officials, the man is alleged to have committed rape, illegal detentions and "a series of cases of gross violence" against Bosnian Serbs. Norway does not have war crimes legislation, but is considering draft laws before parliament. He is the second man Norwegian to be arrested for war crimes committed in Bosnia. Norwegian officials estimate as many as 50 suspected war criminals are hiding there.

On May 7, troops from the European Union peacekeeping force in Bosnia-Herzegoniva (EUFOR) raided the home of Vojislav Topalovic, a member of the support network for the fugitive war criminal Radovan Karadzic. Karadzic and his military chief, Ratko Mladic, have been indicted for war crimes by The Hague in association with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Karadzic and Mladic are complicit in the 1995 massacre at Srebrenica.

The EUFOR raid was conducted at the request of the ICTY.

Also of note, four of the six men arrested in regards to the Fort Dix plot in the US were ethnic Albanians born in the former Yugoslavia.

Reuters/AP

 

Author

Daniel Graeber

Daniel Graeber is a writer for United Press International covering Iraq, Afghanistan and the broader Levant. He has published works on international and constitutional law pertaining to US terrorism cases and on child soldiers. His first major work, entitled The United States and Israel: The Implications of Alignment, is featured in the text, Strategic Interests in the Middle East: Opposition or Support for US Foreign Policy. He holds a MA in Diplomacy and International Conflict Management from Norwich University, where his focus was international relations theory, international law, and the role of non-state actors.

Areas of Focus:International law; Middle East; Government and Politics; non-state actors

Contact