Goran Hadžić was the final suspect to be arrested by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The arrest formed the final chapter in the work of the tribunal which set out to arrest 161 former leaders for war crimes and crimes against humanity.
The arrests of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadžić had been cited as hurdles for Serbia to overcome before being fully assessed for membership of the EU. It is hoped by many that talks will now begin on the timetable for the Balkan state to join the European Union.
The NATO Secretary General welcomed the news:
“I commend the step taken by the Serbian authorities to live up to their international obligations. Serbia’s future lies in constructive cooperation with its neighbours and the Euro-Atlantic family. NATO remains committed to assisting the entire Western Balkan region on the way to Euro-Atlantic integration.”
Hadžić is the former President of the self-proclaimed Republic of Serbian Krajina. The Office of the Prosecutor indicted him in 2004 for crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in eastern Slavonia, Croatia, between 1991 and 1992. He will be detained in Serbia and appear before a judge to enter a plea prior to his transfer to the Hague.
In This Story: Balkans
The Balkans , also known as the Balkan Peninsula, is a geographic area in southeastern Europe. The region takes its name from the Balkan Mountains that stretch throughout the whole of Bulgaria from the Serbian–Bulgarian border to the Black Sea coast. The Balkan Peninsula is bordered by the Adriatic Sea in the northwest, the Ionian Sea in the southwest, the Aegean Sea in the south, the Turkish Straits in the east, and the Black Sea in the northeast. The term has acquired a stigmatized and pejorative meaning related to the process of Balkanization, and hence the preferred alternative term used for the region is Southeast Europe.
Croatia, officially the Republic of Croatia, is a country at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe on the Adriatic Sea.
Croatia was first internationally recognized as an independent state on 7 June 879 during the reign of Duke Branimir. On 25 June 1991, Croatia declared independence and the Croatian War of Independence was fought for four years following the declaration.
A sovereign state, Croatia is a republic governed under a parliamentary system. It is a member of the European Union, the United Nations, the Council of Europe, NATO, and the World Trade Organization and is a founding member of the Union for the Mediterranean.
Croatia is classified by the World Bank as a high-income economy. Croatia provides social security, universal health care, and tuition-free primary and secondary education.
Serbia, officially the Republic of Serbia, is a landlocked country situated at the crossroads of Central and Southeast Europe in the southern Pannonian Plain and the central Balkans.
