Serb officials reject war crimes suspect's claim of innocence

SERBIA:SERB OFFICIALS have rejected a claim by war crimes suspect Stojan Zupljanin that they have the wrong man and are pressing ahead with plans to extradite the former police commander to the UN court at The Hague.

Mr Zupljanin (56), arrested on Wednesday about 20km from Belgrade, insisted yesterday that he was actually one Branislav Vukadin from a small town in northern Serbia, rather than a fugitive wanted for killing Muslim and Croat civilians during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Serb officials confirmed DNA and fingerprint tests showed the detainee to be Mr Zupljanin, one of four war crimes suspects who were still on the run from the UN tribunal.

Former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, his military chief Ratko Mladic and the wartime boss of the self-proclaimed Croatian Serb Republic of Krajina, Goran Hadzic, are still at large.

Serb courts are expected to rule on Mr Zupljanin's extradition to The Hague within three days of his arrest. Slovenia, which holds the EU's rotating presidency, has urged Belgrade to transfer him to UN custody "without delay".

The arrest came at a sensitive time in Serb politics, as both the pro-EU Democrats and a nationalist bloc which wants to freeze ties with Brussels and the UN tribunal tried to forge a coalition government with the Socialist party once led by Slobodan Milosevic.

The Socialists agree with the Democrats that Serbia should continue to pursue EU membership despite Brussels' support for Kosovo's independence but, like the nationalists, they refuse to recognise the legitimacy of the UN tribunal, where Milosevic died in 2006.

Socialist officials said yesterday, however, that Mr Zupljanin's arrest would not jeopardise talks between the party and any potential coalition partners. Analysts suggested the party's position on Mr Zupljanin may have been softened by a court's abrupt decision on Tuesday to clear Milosevic's son Marko of long-standing assault charges.

Talks between the Socialists and the nationalists have ground to a halt over their different attitudes towards the EU. Talks with the Democrats are expected to begin in earnest next week.