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| War Crimes Suspect From Croatia Arrested in Spain's Canary Islands By RENWICK McLEAN Published: December 8, 2005 MADRID, Dec. - The Spanish government announced today that Ante Gotovina, a top war crimes suspect from Croatia indicted by the international tribunal at The Hague, had been arrested in Spain's Canary Islands, clearing a major obstacle to Croatia's efforts to join the European Union. Spain's Interior Ministry said that Mr. Gotovina was arrested Wednesday night at a restaurant in a luxury hotel in Tenerife, and would be transferred to Madrid by plane today. "I have very good news that I received an hour ago," Carla Del Ponte, the chief United Nations war crimes prosecutor, told reporters in Belgrade today, according to the Spanish news agency EFE. "Ante Gotovina was arrested last night in Canary Islands. He is in jail and will be transferred to the Hague." The Croatian government had been criticized by European Union officials for failing to cooperate sufficiently in the search for Mr. Gotovina, who is a revered figure in parts of Croatia. Croatian officials sought immediately to portray the arrest as evidence that they had not been giving cover to Mr. Gotovina, as some critics had suggested. "It is the final confirmation of the credibility of Croatia and its state institutions," Croatia's prime minister, Ivo Sanader, told reporters in Zagreb. "Those who believed us when we were saying that Gotovina was not in Croatia today received the final and complete confirmation." Mr. Gotovina, 50, had been a fugitive since he was indicted by the international war crimes tribunal at the Hague in 2001 for crimes against humanity, war crimes and murder. The offenses were carried out in a 1995 military campaign led by Mr. Gotovina to retake the Krajina region from the Serbs, according to the indictment. The decision to indict Mr. Gotovina drew protests from Croatian war veterans and members of several political groups, including Ivica Racan, who was prime minister in 1995 and said the charges were based on unsubstantiated facts that failed to establish that Mr. Gotovina bore direct responsibility for the alleged crimes. In announcing the arrest today, Spanish officials said they had been investigating the case in cooperation with international police forces since March 2004. At the time of his arrest, Mr. Gotovina was armed, carrying a fake passport and was protected by bodyguards, Spanish officials said. He is expected to appear before a judge at the national court in Madrid today. |