http://today.reuters.co.uk/news/articlenews.aspx?type=worldNews&storyid=2007-07-10T172314Z_01_L10211211_RTRUKOC_0_UK-BOSNIA-SACKING.xml
Bosnia envoy suspends 35 police over massacre Tue Jul 10, 2007 6:23 PM BST By Daria Sito-Sucic SARAJEVO (Reuters) - Bosnia's new peace overseer, Miroslav Lajcak, on Tuesday fired a senior Bosnian Serb police official and suspended 35 active Serb policemen suspected of involvement in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre. In his first move since taking office on July 2, the Slovak diplomat also ordered the seizure of passports from 93 people on a list of 810 believed to have taken part in the atrocity and still holding official positions. The actions were ordered on the eve of the 12th anniversary of what is seen as Europe's worst atrocity since World War Two. "The package of measures that I have just announced will make it easier to bring those responsible for war crimes to justice," Lajcak told a news conference in Sarajevo. His overseer role was created by the 1995 Dayton peace agreement which divided Bosnia into two autonomous regions -- the Muslim-Croat federation and the Serb Republic. Among the measures announced was the removal of Dragomir Andan, the ex-chief of the Bosnian Serb police. He was sacked by former peace envoy Paddy Ashdown but remained active in the position of deputy police director for training. "It is a purely technical action meant to prevent this man from being able to use his position to continue as a member of the war criminal support network," said Lajcak. Lajcak also amended laws on criminal proceedings and identification documents to prevent fugitives from war crimes courts escaping to neighbouring countries. Bosnian Serb forces commanded by genocide suspects Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic killed about 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the former U.N. safe zone of Srebrenica during four days in July 1995. Both men are still at large. "This is the first High Representative I've seen here (who) after a few days is fully aware of all the situation, the challenges, the problems," U.N. chief war crimes prosecutor Carla del Ponte said after meeting Lajcak on Tuesday. Del Ponte predicted "very, very good" cooperation between Lajcak and the Hague tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia. Political analyst Tanja Topic said the Bosnian public and the international community expected a lot from the new envoy. "Lajcak is well versed in the Balkans and Bosnia and he has come here well prepared, with a clear vision and a plan, about what is bad in Bosnia and what he needs to do," she said. The families of Srebrenica victims also welcomed Lajcak's measures. "It's good news," said Munira Subasic, head of an association of the Srebrenica mothers. "In order to live together again, the criminals must be named, especially the policemen who killed our children." Mladic, the Bosnian Serb wartime commander, is believed to be hiding in Serbia with the help of hardline loyalists. Karadzic, who was 'president' of the Bosnian Serbs during the war, is vaguely reported to be hiding in either Bosnia, Serbia or Montenegro.
