Suspect in Vukovar massacre surrenders

Croatia: Miroslav Radic, an officer with the former Yugoslav army indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes committed in 1991…

Croatia: Miroslav Radic, an officer with the former Yugoslav army indicted by the UN tribunal for war crimes committed in 1991 in the Croatian town of Vukovar, has reportedly surrendered to authorities in Belgrade.

"Radic was brought before a magistrate in Belgrade after voluntarily surrendering," the Beta news agency said, quoting government sources.

Radic and two other officers of the former Yugoslav army, Veselin Sljivancanin and Mile Mrksic, are accused of the massacre of more than 200 civilians.

More than 200 patients and civilians at the hospital were killed during a brutal three-month siege of the eastern Croatian town by rebel Serbs backed by the Yugoslav army.

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Mrksic surrendered last spring to the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Sljivancanin is still in hiding.

Radic surrendered a few weeks after the Serbian Interior Minister, Mr Dusan Mihajlovic, said several suspects had been arrested for their alleged involvement in the Vukovar massacre.

"The participation and the responsibility for the massacre in Vukovar are almost entirely elucidated," Mr Mihajlovic said on April 9th.

He added that "new elements" had been uncovered in the case of the three.

He urged the two officers to surrender, promising "state protection and aid" to prove their innocence. - (AFP)