Profile: Zdravko Tolimir

The tribunal accuses Gen Tolimir over the Srebrenica massacre

Former Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir, 58, was considered the third most important war crimes fugitive wanted by the international tribunal in The Hague.

He was arrested on 31 May by police from Serbia and the Bosnian Serb republic (Republika Srpska), a police spokesperson said.

During the Bosnian war in 1992-95 he was a top aide to Gen Ratko Mladic, who is still at large. Gen Mladic and the wartime Bosnian Serb political leader, Radovan Karadzic, are the most wanted fugitives.

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has charged Gen Tolimir with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, extermination, murder, persecutions and forcible deportation.

It accuses him of involvement in both planning and carrying out the killings of up to 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.

Srebrenica atrocity

Gen Tolimir was in charge of intelligence and security for the Bosnian Serb army and reported directly to Gen Mladic.

The Srebrenica massacre was the worst single atrocity in Europe since World War II.

Gen Tolimir stands accused of knowingly participating in the forced expulsion of Muslims from the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves.

The indictment says it was foreseeable to him and other Bosnian Serb generals involved "that individual killings would occur as a result of the joint criminal enterprise".

He is also accused of the cruel and inhumane treatment of Bosnian Muslim civilians who were detained at Bratunac and Zvornik, as well as the destruction and theft of Muslim property. Bosnian Serb forces separated Muslim men and boys from the women before committing mass murder.

The tribunal says Gen Tolimir helped disable UN troops during the Bosnian Serb attack on Srebrenica by lying to Unprofor, the UN contingent in Bosnia at the time.

The Serbian ambassador to the UN, Pavle Jevremovic, disputed the tribunal's account of Gen Tolimir's role.

He told the BBC that Gen Tolimir was "never considered to be a notorious sort of a character regarding the transgressions of international humanitarian law".

"But anyway, by a fair trial, we'll actually show what it is all about," he added.

'Mladic helper'

Gen Tolimir is thought to have been one of the key figures helping Gen Mladic to evade capture.

Rasim Ljajic, a Serbian government minister in charge of co-operation with the UN tribunal, said Gen Tolimir was "considered the mastermind of the actions to shelter Mladic for a long time".

Gen Tolimir was born in November, 1948 in Glamoc, Bosnia-Hercegovina.

In 1993-96 he served as deputy commander for intelligence and security in the Bosnian Serb army.

After the signing of the Dayton peace accords he served as Bosnian military representative to the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe (OSCE).

From November 1996 to January 1997 he was an adviser to Biljana Plavsic, the former president of Republika Srpska. He then retired from the army.

In February 2005 the Hague tribunal indicted him for war crimes.