Serb war crimes suspect faces arraignment

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THE HAGUE, Netherlands, July 24 (UPI) -- A Croatian Serb leader arrested last week was to appear before The Hague tribunal to face war crimes charges from the 1990s.

Goran Hadzic, a leader of the secessionist Croatian Serb republic during the breakup of Yugoslavia, is charged with war crimes including murder, plunder and deportation in the Eastern Slavonia region.

He was captured in Serbia Wednesday and deported to the Netherlands Friday to face the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the last remaining fugitive sought by the court.

Most of the tribunal's staff, including Presiding Judge Patrick Robinson, is on vacation, but his deputy, O-Gon Kwon, is to question Hadzic Monday about his health and his jail accommodations, a spokesperson told the Serbian news agency Tanjug.

Hadzic will be asked to enter a plea and the judge will enter one of not guilty if he refuses to do so.

He is accused of taking part in a joint criminal enterprise with the late Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, Bosnian Serb general Ratko Mladic, Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and others.