BELGRADE, Serbia, Sept. 21 (UPI) -- Serbia's police Thursday foiled an attempt to flee to Russia by an alleged aide of Bosnian Serb war crimes fugitive Ratko Mladic, media said.
Marko Lugonja, accused of helping Mladic evade arrest for years, was taken off a scheduled flight at Belgrade's airport as it was about to take off for Moscow, Belgrade's B92 radio reported.
Lugonja is reportedly one of Mladic's 10 closest aides, who will stand trial before the Belgrade district court on Wednesday, charged with helping former Bosnian Serb military leader Mladic to hide.
In 1995, the U.N. tribunal in The Hague accused Mladic of genocide and crimes against humanity in the former Yugoslavia from 1991-95, including the Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys in July 1995, and a 3-year siege and shelling of Sarajevo.
EU Enlargement Commissioner Olli Rehn last week urged Serbian Prime Minister Vojislav Kostunica to stop wasting time and arrest and hand Mladic over to The Hague tribunal.
In May, the European Union put off association talks with Serbia after Belgrade failed to hand over Mladic to the U.N. tribunal.
