Serbian authorities have arrested the last major war crimes fugitive from the 1990s violence in former Yugoslavia. Croatian Serb leader Goran Hadzic was arrested in a mountainous northern region of Serbia after two decades on the run. Indicted by the International Criminal Court in 2004, Hadzic was wanted for war crimes and crimes against humanity, including “persecutions on political, racial or religious grounds, extermination, murder, torture, deportation and forcible transfer,” as well as “wanton destruction or devastation.” At The Hague, the Chief Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Serge Brammertz, welcomed Hadzic’s arrest.

Serge Brammertz: “We are of course very pleased that this last arrest has taken place. It was very important for the victims, of course. As you know, Hadzic was at large for a number of years, so it’s very important for the victims in Croatia, who will finally see justice being done, and of course very important for the Tribunal because he was the last fugitive out of 161 persons indicted.”

More than 10,000 people died before the Croatian war came to an end in 1995.