Croatian suspect 'unfit for trial'

A court in Croatia has declared that a retired general wanted for war crimes by the United Nations tribunal at the Hague cannot be extradited as he is medically unfit to stand trial.

The county court in Zagreb said doctors believed any mental and physical stress put upon 83-year-old general, Janko Bobetko, could have fatal consequences.

The Croatian Government must now decide whether to refuse to serve the tribunal's indictment on the general or else arrest him.

General Bobetko has a history of heart problems and diabetes and was hospitalised earlier this month.

He is wanted by prosecutors at the Hague for failing to intervene in the killing of a hundred ethnic Serbs by Croatian forces during a military operation in the centre of the country in 1993.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service