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Croat Serb leader commits suicide
 Milan Babic makes his initial apparance at the War Crimes Tribunal in November 2003 in The Hague. YOUR E-MAIL ALERTS(CNN) -- Milan Babic, the leader of rebel Serbs in Croatia and one-time president of the Croatian Serbs in the 1990s, has committed suicide in his cell at a U.N. detention facility where he was serving a 13-year term for war crimes, officials said. Babic was found dead in his cell at the prison in Scheveningen, a suburb of The Hague, at about 6:30 p.m. on Sunday, according to a statement from the U.N. war crimes tribunal. "The Dutch authorities were called immediately. After conducting an investigation, they confirmed that the cause of death was suicide," the statement said. Babic's family was told Sunday after the chief medical officer of the detention center confirmed the cause of death was suicide. A tribunal judge has ordered an inquiry. Babic pleaded guilty in 2004 to crimes against non-Serb civilians, including murder, deportation and unlawful imprisonment, as well as destruction of property. After Babic was sentenced last year, he was transferred to a prison abroad. He was returned to The Hague last month to testify in the trial of Milan Martic, another former high-level official of the Croatian Serb political entity charged with crimes against non-Serb civilians. He also testified in the trial of Slobodan Milosevic. Before sentencing, he apologized to the Croatian people. "I stand before this tribunal with a deep sense of shame and remorse. I allowed myself to participate in the persecution of the worst kind against people only because they were Croats, not Serbs," he said, according to The Associated Press. "I ask my brother Croats to forgive us, their brother Serbs." Copyright 2006 CNN. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. Associated Press contributed to this report. 
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