Lukic held in Argentina

UN war crimes court awaits extradition of Bosnian-Serb paramilitary

Milan Lukic (c), who is wanted on charges of human rights violations and was arrested by Argentine authorities, being taken to court in Buenos Aires yesterday.

BUENOS AIRES (AP) - The identity of a former Bosnian-Serb paramilitary leader, captured in Argentina and sought by the UN war crimes tribunal, has been confirmed and the Netherlands-based court is awaiting his extradition, a spokeswoman for the chief UN war crimes prosecutor said yesterday.

Florence Hartmann confirmed statements by Argentinean police and Serbian officials that Milan Lukic — indicted in The Hague in 2000 for a string of notorious killings during the Bosnian war — was in custody in Buenos Aires after his arrest Monday.

In Buenos Aires, police transferred Lukic under heavy guard yesterday from a police station to a federal court complex. Lukic faced an initial court appearance before a federal judge handling his case.

Last month, a Serbian court sentenced Lukic in absentia to 20 years in prison for his role in the torture and execution of 16 Muslims who were abducted from a bus in eastern Serbia in 1992 and taken to Bosnia. Their bodies were dumped in the Drina River. Lukic was a reputed member of notorious paramilitary group the Avengers.

Local news reports said, however, that he was snared after a surveillance operation by intelligence agents.

Local news agency Diarios y Noticias said Lukic was riding in a taxi cab, followed by the intelligence agents who alerted police and arrested him as he got out near a downtown apartment building.

Prominent Argentinean daily Clarin said Lukic was carrying documents in another name and reportedly made a payment on a 90-day apartment rental in a building where foreigners often stay in the affluent Recoleta district. Lukic had been on the run since the late 1990s.

“Lukic’s arrest was the result of well-coordinated cooperation between Serbian and Argentine police,” said Hartmann, spokeswoman for chief UN prosecutor Carla Del Ponte.