The Bosnian Serb leadership on Tuesday welcomed the indictment of Bosnia's Muslim wartime army chief, saying it was proof that a UN tribunal investigating war crimes in the 1992-95 war is treating all sides equally.
Halilovic, the highest ranking Bosnian Muslim officer to be indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, was expected in the Dutch city later Tuesday to turn himself in to the ICTY.
The charges against Halilovic show that cooperation with The Hague tribunal is needed and justified if there is to be equal treatment, Bosnian Serb Prime Minister Mladen Ivanic told the daily Glas Srpski.
"This is a positive process which will show that there was no aggression on Bosnia, and that not only one people and one man is guilty for the war," Mirko Sarovic, the president of the Bosnian Serb entity, told Glas Srpski.
Halilovic is to face charges of war crimes allegedly committed by his troops in September 1993 against Croat civilians in the south Bosnian village of Grabovica during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, his lawyer said Monday.
Halilovic commanded Bosnia's Muslim-led army between May 1992 and November 1993.
With Halilovic's indictment the ICTY is applying the same criteria to all war crimes suspects regardless of their nationality, Glas Srpski cited the Serb member of Bosnia's three-party presidency, Zivko Radisic, as saying.
The parliament of the Republika Srpska (RS), Bosnia's Serb-run entity which along with the Muslim-Croat federation makes up post-war Bosnia, is to resume its debate on a crucial bill on cooperation with the UN war crimes tribunal Wednesday -- BANJA LUKA, Bosnia-Hercegovina (AFP)
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