NATO Peacekeepers Arrest Bosnia War Crimes Suspect

British-led NATO forces in Bosnia on Sunday arrested Dragoljub Prcac, a Serb indicted for war crimes allegedly committed at the Omarska detention camp during the 1992-95 war, British officials said.

In Brussels, NATO Secretary-General George Robertson said in a statement that the arrest, the fourth of a Bosnia war crimes suspect in three months, was a warning to suspects still at large that “it is time to turn yourself in.”

The Belgrade-based Beta news agency said the NATO Stabilization Force (SFOR) in Bosnia arrested Prcac while he was driving with his wife and a neighbor.

According to the report, three SFOR vehicles surrounded Prcac’s car, broke windows and pulled him out. He and the neighbor were then driven to the SFOR base near the Bosnian Serb capital, Banja Luka, Beta reported.

Prcac is one of a group of 19 Bosnian Serbs indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, based in The Hague, for allegedly committing atrocities in mid-1992 against civilian prisoners at the Omarska camp.

Prcac was the deputy commander of the camp near Prijedor in northwestern Bosnia.

“Dragoljub Prcac is accused of being criminally responsible for the acts of his subordinates in committing crimes against humanity, including murder, torture, rape, inhumane acts and unlawful detention in violation of the laws and customs of war,” NATO said in a statement.

NATO said Prcac was being held pending transfer to The Hague, where a tribunal spokesman said he was expected to arrive late Sunday.

“This detention shows that the international community has not forgotten one of the most gruesome episodes of the war and is determined that those responsible should be brought to justice in The Hague, where they will receive a fair trial,” British Foreign Secretary Robin Cook and Defense Secretary Geoff Hoon said in a joint statement.