Serb war crimes fugitive arrested

(CNN) -- Serbian authorities on Wednesday arrested Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Stojan Zupljanin, an official at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said.

Zupljanin, 56, who commanded Bosnian Serb police during the Bosnian Serb war in the mid-1990s, was charged with genocide, crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions, and violations of the laws or customs of war.

The U.S. government had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to Zupljanin's arrest or conviction.

"We have been informed by the Serbian authorities that Stojan Zupljanin has been arrested," said Olga Kavran, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office at the ICTY. "The office of the prosecutor welcomes this arrest and the fact that this brings the number of remaining fugitives from four to three."

The remaining fugitives are Radovan Karadzic, Ratko Mladic, and Goran Hadzic, Kavran said. All are wanted by the ICTY for war crimes related to the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

A fourth man, Radovan Stankovic, was convicted in Bosnia in November 2006 for crimes against humanity but escaped from a Bosnian prison in May 2007 and remains on the run, Kavran said.

The United States welcomed the news of Zupljanin's arrest.

"His arrest is another positive step in ensuring that those responsible for war crimes in the former Yugoslavia are held responsible," U.S. State Department spokesman Gonzalo Gallegos said.

Zupljanin will now be transferred to the detention unit at The Hague, Kavran said, and will appear before tribunal judges as soon as possible to enter a plea.

The indictment against Zupljanin says he planned, ordered, or carried out the persecution of Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats and other non-Serbs in 1992. Forces under his command, the indictment says, were responsible for killing, torturing, raping and attacking non-Serbs in towns and villages.

Zupljanin is charged with extermination and murder of Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, having been in charge of forces that killed them "on a massive scale."

He also ordered the unlawful detention of people in prison camps which lacked adequate shelter, food, water, or medical care, according to the indictment, and he is also charged with torture.

"Bosnian Muslims, Bosnian Croats, and other non-Serbs were confined in inhumane conditions and subjected to intentional infliction of severe pain or suffering by beatings, torture, sexual assaults, humiliation, harassment, and psychological abuse in camps, police stations, military barracks, and other detention facilities," according to the 2004 indictment against Zupljanin.

He and his forces destroyed villages and religious buildings, including Roman Catholic sacred sites, and plundered property, according to the indictment.

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