Hague tribunal seeks Srebrenica arrest

Thousands were trapped in Srebrenica

Another senior Bosnian Serb official has been charged in connection with the massacre of 7,000 Muslims at Srebrenica in 1995.

The International War Crimes Tribunal in The Hague said that Ljubomir Borovcanin, the former deputy commander of a special Bosnian Serb police unit, had been indicted for crimes against humanity and genocide.

Ljubomir Borovcanin is accused of numerous killings

The charges were filed in early September but, under a tactic used before by the tribunal, were kept sealed to avoid alerting the accused to possible impending arrest.

Prosecution spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told Reuters news agency that Mr Borovcanin had pledged to turn himself in but for unknown reasons failed to do so and had since disappeared.

She said: "We were about to have a voluntary surrender by Borovcanin and we took all means necessary for his transfer to The Hague.

"But it failed at the last minute and now we are asking for an explanation (from Bosnia's Serb Republic)."

Message 'not received'

The Bosnian Serb authorities told the French AFP news agency that they had not received any notification from the tribunal relating to Mr Borovcanin.

"We did not receive the indictment nor the arrest order," said Dejan Miletic, head of the Bosnian Serb Government's bureau for relations with the tribunal.

According to the document, Mr Borovcanin, 42, was involved in numerous killings of captured Muslim men and boys from Srebrenica, the town declared a "safe area" by the UN.

Detainees from the enclave were summarily executed, buried and reburied in mid-July 1995, the indictment says.

Men and boys were separated from families and then killed

Mr Borovcanin is also charged with four counts of crimes against humanity for extermination, murder, persecution and inhumane acts, and one count of violation of the laws or customs of war for murder.

Prosecutors said he had answered to General Radislav Krstic, who was sentenced last year to 46 years in jail for his role in the killings.

"The joint criminal enterprise, in which Ljubomir Borovcanin was a member and participant, was conceived and designed by General Ratko Mladic and others," the indictment says.

General Mladic, former commander of the Bosnian Serb forces, and former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic are also wanted by The Hague tribunal in connection with the Srebrenica massacre - Europe's worst atrocity since World War II.

Both men are still at large.