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AMSTERDAM - The United Nations war crimes tribunal on Saturday ordered a Croatian ex-police commander to be arrested immediately and sent to The Hague after he violated the terms of his provisional release by going on a hunting trip.
Mladen Markac, who headed the Croatian special police, is charged with responsibility for war crimes against Serb civilians including persecution, inhumane acts, plunder, murder and wanton destruction.
Croatian police said they had arrested Markac in the afternoon, and the interior minister, who had been on the hunting trip with Markac, immediately offered his resignation.
"Police have acted in accordance with the request from the Hague tribunal. The arrest was carried out without any problems," police spokesman Krunoslav Borovec was quoted as saying by the state news agency Hina.
Markac had been on provisional release in Croatia since December 2004.
"The judge requested the arrest due to the accused having violated the conditions of his provisional release by leaving his designated residence without due permission," the tribunal said in a statement.
The tribunal asked the Croatian government to transfer Markac to the court's detention unit on December 30.
Photos of Markac out hunting wild boar in Bilogora a few days before Christmas appeared in Croatian media.
"The competent authorities of the Republic of Croatia had not reported any breach of provisional release conditions to the Registry or the Trial Chamber by December 27," the court said in its statement, adding that it then sought government confirmation.
Interior Minister Ivica Kirin, who was with Markac and others on the hunting trip, offered to resign. "I deem (resignation) my moral duty because of the circumstances that relate me to this case," Hina quoted Kirin as saying in his resignation letter.
Prime Minister Ivo Sanader is in coalition talks to form a government after inconclusive November 25 parliamentary elections.
Markac is jointly accused with former Croatian commander Ivan Cermak and Croatian General Ante Gotovina of taking part in a "joint criminal enterprise" to drive the ethnic Serb population from Croatia's Krajina region in 1995.
No date has yet been set for their trial.
- REUTERS
