Arrest of Croatian War Crimes Suspect Heightens Tensions with Serbia

"Serbia may hand over the case of Tihomir Purda to the Croatian authorities at the meeting," a source within the Serbian Justice Ministry told Balkan Insight.

Purda, a Croatian citizen, was arrested in Bosnia last week on an Interpol warrant issued by Serbia, which suspects him of committing war crimes against 'infirm and wounded people" in Vukovar in 1991.

This small city on the border with Serbia was the site of one of the most brutal sieges by Serbian forces during the war in Croatia, and Purda is considered a hero there, as are most Croatian veterans that fought in Vukovar.

The case has prompted much reaction from Croatia, with both the prime minister and the president weighing in on the arrest, and threatens to damage relations between Belgrade and Zagreb.

Croatian Prime Minister Jadranka Kosor contacted Serbian President Boris Tadic on Monday night and the two leaders agreed that the justice ministries should handle the Purda case and similar cases.

Before contacting the Serbian leader, Kosor said she wanted to speak to Tadic in order "to avoid such incidents in the future" and "to protect the Croatian veterans who honourably and bravely defended Vukovar and their families."

Croatian journalist Drago Hedl told Balkan Insight that stormy reaction to the Purda arrest reflected the special importance the town of Vukovar holds for Croatians.

"Whenever something related to Vukovar occurs, there is no rationality, emotions take over," he said.

Certain circles in Croatia have used the Purda case to launch rumours about lists of war crimes suspects, he added, referring to a document published by the Croatian web portal pollitika.com which it says contains the names of 332 Croatian war veterans wanted by Serbian authorities on war crimes charges and for whom arrest warrants have been issued.

"This is only creating an atmoshpere which is opposed to the trend of good relations on which the two countries have been working in past months," he said referring to the frequent meetings of the two countries' presidents, Ivo Josipovic and Boris Tadic. Tadic visited Vukovar in November last year.

Officials in both Zagreb and Belgrade have denied that the list published by pollitika is legitimate. In July, Serbia provided Croatia with a list of some 40 war crimes suspects from Croatia that it was seeking. Purda, however, is not on the official list.

Balkan Insight's attempts to contact the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's office were not successful.