Croatian War Crimes Suspect Arrested in Canaries

A Croatian general wanted by the Hague war crimes tribunal for the mass murder of Serbs has been arrested in the Canary Islands, the UN chief prosecutor said today.

Ante Gotovina, considered a hero by a section of the Croatian public, had been on the run since he was indicted by the UN tribunal in 2001 for alleged atrocities against Serb civilians in 1995.

The charges hold the general culpable for the murders of 150 Serbs by men under his command in the 1995 campaign to retake territory held by Serb forces since the 1991 outbreak of war.

They say he "knew or had reason to know" of planned murders and failed to take action to stop them or punish the perpetrators.

A veteran of the French foreign legion, Gen Gotovina was the Hague tribunal's third most-wanted war crimes suspect after the former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and his military commander, General Ratklo Mladic. Both remain at large.

His four years as a fugitive had dominated Croatia's foreign relations as it sought to establish itself in the years after the end of hostilities. Zagreb's promising EU membership application, expected to be completed in 2009, was put on hold for a few months earlier this year on the grounds Croatia was not doing enough to cooperate with the UN tribunal.

The army and a part of the public regard the war of 1991-95 as a sacrosanct episode in Croatian history. When Gen Gotovina was indicted in July 1991, the tennis player Goran Ivanisevic, who that summer won Wimbledon, put his name to an open letter to the Croatian government and public declaring him one of "our greatest heroes".

The letter, also signed by the footballers Davor Suker and Igor Stimac, said of the 1991-95 war that "Croatia was the victim and its generals and soldiers were heroes."

Carla del Ponte, the chief prosecutor for the tribunal, today said she was grateful to the Spanish and Croatian authorities for their assistance. Zagreb has always maintained that Gen Gotovina fled Croatia before his indictment was made public.

"Ante Gotovina is arrested. He was arrested this night in Spain in the Isle of Canary and he is now in detention, finally. He will be transferred to the Hague," Ms Del Ponte said in English.

A Spanish court source told Reuters that Gen Gotovina would appear before a Madrid court later today and proceedings to extradite him to the Hague would start as soon as possible. He was reportedly arrested on Tenerife.

Ms Del Ponte said she now expected "Mladic and Karadzic and the other fugitives" to be handed over the UN tribunal.

A spokesman for the British EU presidency said the arrest would remove "an important obstacle" to Croatia's bid to join the 25-nation bloc.