http://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/europe/22iht-mladic.html?_r=1&ref=world
Europe Tested as War Crimes Suspect Remains Free Andrew Testa for The New York Times Ratko Mladic’s portrait on wanted posters in Belgrade. More Photos » <http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/21/world/europe/1022MLADIC2.html> By DAN BILEFSKY <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/dan_bilefsky/index.html?inline=nyt-per> and DOREEN CARVAJAL <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/doreen_carvajal/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Published: October 21, 2010 BELGRADE — After 15 years on the run — sometimes in plain sight at soccer matches and weddings and sometimes deep in the fabric of this secretive city — Europe’s most wanted war-crimes suspect, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/m/ratko_mladic/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Ratko Mladic, is being hidden by no more than a handful of loyalists, most probably in a neighborhood of Communist-era housing towers, according to investigators and some of his past associates. Multimedia <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/22/world/europe/mladic-timeline.html?ref=europe> Interactive Feature The Hunt for Ratko Mladic <http://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2010/10/22/world/europe/mladic-timeline.html?ref=europe> <http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/21/world/europe/1022MLADIC2.html?ref=europe> Slide Show Protectors Hinder Pursuit of Ratko Mladic <http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/21/world/europe/1022MLADIC2.html?ref=europe> Description: Description: http://graphics8.nytimes.com/images/multimedia/icons/audio_icon.gif Backstory With Doreen Carvajal and Dan Bilefsky e New York Times The search for Ratko Mladic in Belgrade has been stymied. More Photos » <http://www.nytimes.com/slideshow/2010/10/21/world/europe/1022MLADIC2.html> Readers' Comments Should the European Union require the arrest of Ratko Mladic before it considers Serbia for admission to the union? · <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/europe/22iht-mladic.html#postComment> Post a Comment » · <http://community.nytimes.com/comments/www.nytimes.com/2010/10/22/world/europe/22iht-mladic.html> Read All Comments (82) » The diminished circumstances of the former Bosnian Serb general, who once was protected by scores of allies and Serbian government officials, make him ripe for capture, according to these people. But a softening by several European countries on whether his arrest should be a prerequisite for Serbia’s admission to the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/e/european_union/index.html?inline=nyt-org> European Union is raising questions about whether he will ever face justice. These developments make this a seminal moment not only in the search for Mr. Mladic but also in Europe’s often agonized deliberations over how much to encourage the manhunt in the face of deeply conflicting priorities. In the name of unity and stability, should Europe put a premium on rehabilitating a battered country that became a pariah state in the Balkan wars of the 1990’s? Or in the name of its human rights tradition, should Europe first require a friendly Serbian government to make the politically difficult arrest of a man blamed for the worst ethnically motivated mass murder on the Continent since World War II? That involved the massacre of about 8,000 Muslim men and boys from the Bosnian town of Srebrenica, an enclave under the failed protection of <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/index.html?inline=nyt-org> United Nations <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/u/united_nations/department_of_peacekeeping_operations/index.html?inline=nyt-classifier> peacekeepers from the Netherlands. An investigation into Mr. Mladic’s whereabouts, how he has eluded capture, and Europe’s shifting response to him paints a picture of a man of obstinate will and bravado, slowly and haltingly being drawn into a shrinking world of shadows. Over the years, as European pressure for an arrest intensified and then retreated, he received vital, little known, assistance from Serbian military forces and several of the country’s past governments. By all accounts, one of the most effective points of pressure was withholding consideration of E.U. membership until Serbia produced Mr. Mladic. But as Europe has struggled with the dilemma, time seems to have played its hand. The vividness of the wartime horrors has receded outside the Balkans. Mr. Mladic has gotten older, and, according to many people, sicker and more isolated, probably moving from nondescript apartment to nondescript apartment in New Belgrade, a sprawling extension of Belgrade across the Sava River. The two-year-old government of Boris Tadic has been overtly pro-Western and has vowed to apprehend Mr. Mladic, even though he has defied arrest for more than two years after his fellow fugitive, the former Bosnian strongman <http://www.nytimes.com/info/radovan-karadzic/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Radovan Karadzic, was brought in. Given all of this, there are strong indications that when European foreign ministers meet in Luxembourg next Monday, the balance could tip away from requiring an immediate arrest and that an E.U. admission process that would take several years could start. “Your future is the European Union and that future must accrue as soon as possible,” the Greek prime minister, <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/p/george_a_papandreou/index.html?inline=nyt-per> George Papandreou, said in Belgrade this month, a comment representative of others made in Belgrade over the past month, by officials from France, Germany, Belgium and other E.U. members. Secretary of State <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/c/hillary_rodham_clinton/index.html?inline=nyt-per> Hillary Rodham Clinton also visited and offered encouragement to the government. But some senior European officials and human rights groups are unrelenting in believing that a compromise over Mr. Mladic would undermine international law and amount to a moral failure. “The arrest should be a number one priority,” Serge Brammertz, the chief prosecutor of the <http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/organizations/i/international_criminal_tribunal_for_the_former_yugoslavia/index.html?inline=nyt-org> International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague, said in an interview. At a commemoration of the massacre this summer, he was one of many speakers to urge a quick capture. “I said in Srebrenica at the summer memorial that this was the most emotional moment for me in my three years with the tribunal,” Mr. Brammertz recalled. “I could see that for all of the survivors and relatives, Srebrenica is not an event from the past, but something dominating their life, not only today but for tomorrow. And the number one priority for the victims is to see Mladic in the Hague.” Although the European Union halted accession talks in 2006 when Serbia failed to arrest Mr. Mladic, Dutch diplomats say they are now the lone holdouts for an arrest as a prerequisite for resuming the discussions. They are hoping to forestall action until December, when Mr. Brammertz issues his annual report evaluating Serbia’s effort in the manhunt. In the last few days, to the consternation of some E.U. officials, he has called for more aggressiveness. Mariko Peters, a Green member in the Dutch Parliament, which passed a resolution this month seeking to delay a decision, acknowledged, “Our Dutch position has become more isolated.” “Many nations are weighing Mladic’s capture as just one of many factors — stabilization of the Balkans, the Kosovo issue, upcoming Serbian elections and the need to give rewards to democratic forces that are weak,” she said. Mr. Tadic, the Serbian president, has been adamant that he is dedicated to a capture. In response to written questions, he wrote, “This government of Serbia is doing absolutely everything in its power to locate and arrest him.” Given history, many analysts in Serbia and beyond remain skeptical. “It’s easy to hide successfully when nobody wants to find you,” said a key protector of Mr. Mladic’s fellow fugitive, Mr. Karadzic, offering a wry smile.
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