Goran Hadžić

Early life Hadžić was born in the village of Pačetin, at the time in PR Croatia, FPR Yugoslavia; and in his youth was politically active as a member of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia. On 25 June 1991, a group of eastern Slavonian Serbs organized a congress (Velika narodna skupština Slavonije Baranje i Zapadnog Srema) where they decided to constitute a "Serb Autonomous Oblast" (SAO) of the region, the SAO Eastern Slavonia, Baranja and Western Syrmia, and also to separate the region from the Republic of Croatia, which was still part of Yugoslavia. Hadžić was elected as a candidate to lead the entity's government.

After Operation Storm in August 1995, parts of RSK in eastern Slavonia remained outside the Croatian government's control. Between 1996 and 1997, Hadžić was President of the Srem-Baranja district, after which the region was peacefully reintegrated into Croatia under the provisions of the Erdut Agreement. Hadžić subsequently moved to Serbia in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. In 2000, he attended the funeral of indicted war criminal Željko Ražnatović-Arkan in Belgrade, calling him a "big hero".

Croatian war crimes charges Hadžić was prosecuted and tried in absentia in Croatia on two counts: in 1995 he was convicted for rocket attacks on Šibenik and Vodice, and sentenced to 20 years in prison; in 1999 he was convicted for war crimes in Tenja, near Osijek, and sentenced to an additional 20 years imprisonment. In 2001, Interpol put him on its Most Wanted Fugitives list and issued a Red corner notice.

In 2002, Croatia's state attorney brought another indictment against Hadžić, the so-called Vukovar Three (Veselin Šljivančanin, Mile Mrkšić and Miroslav Radić) and the Yugoslav People's Army's senior commanders, alleging the murder of almost 1,300 Croats in Vukovar, Osijek, Vinkovci, Županja and elsewhere.

Hadžić faced 14 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity for his alleged involvement in the forcible removal and murder of thousands of Croatian civilians from the Republic of Croatia between 1991 and 1993. His indictment specifically cites the 1991 Vukovar massacre of 250 mostly Croats, from the Vukovar hospital; the Dalj, Erdut and Lovas massacres; involvement in Stajićevo, Begejci and Sremska Mitrovica camps; and the alleged wanton destruction of homes and religious and cultural buildings in Dalj, Erdut, Lovas, Tovarnik and Vukovar. Nenad Čanak, the leader of the League of Social Democrats of Vojvodina, claimed in 2006 that Hadžić was hiding in a monastery somewhere on Fruška mountain. At one point he was also rumoured to be hiding in Belarus.

In October 2007, the Serbian government council for national security had offered €250,000 for information leading to Hadžić's arrest. In 2010, the Rewards for Justice Program was offering an award of up to US$5 million for information leading to Hadžić's arrest.

In 2010, Serbia raised the reward for Hadžić's arrest to US$1.4 million. When asked by the press whether Hadžić's trial could be transferred from the ICTY, Croatian Serb politician Milorad Pupovac indicated that Serbia should try Hadžić.

Serbian police raided Hadžić's home on 9 October 2009 and impounded some of his belongings but did not make any statements following the operation.

In 2010, the Council of the European Union blocked Hadžić's family from entering the EU. After the arrest and extradition of the penultimate war-crimes fugitive, Ratko Mladić, the European Union continued to insist on the arrest and extradition of Hadžić to the Hague to face trial. And stated that his fugitive status was holding back Serbia's membership in that body

Arrest On 20 July 2011, Serbian President Boris Tadić announced that Hadžić had been arrested by Serbian authorities.

Police located him near the village of Krušedol on the slopes of Fruška Gora at 20:24, where he was presumed to have been since he went into hiding following the ICTY indictment.

A stolen Modigliani painting led investigators to discover his whereabouts. Looking to cash in on the portrait, Hadžić was tracked down by authorities after trying to sell it.

At the time of his arrest he was the last remaining fugitive indicted by the ICTY. He did not appeal his extradition.

Reaction With the arrest, one of the obstacles to Serbia's entry into the EU was removed, and the country thus, according to the New York Times, "completed its obligations to the United Nations tribunal". EU leaders congratulated Serbia for his arrest and called it a signal of Serbia's commitment to "a better European future."

Extradition On 22 July, Justice Minister Snežana Malović announced that he had been extradited to the Hague in a small Cessna plane after being allowed visits by his sick mother, He arrived at Rotterdam airport after he refused to appeal his extradition orders.

The Croatian government directed its Chief Public Prosecutor's Office and the Ministry of Justice to "take all the necessary steps" to bring Hadžić to a war crimes trial in the country to face other "serious crimes" they claimed that had been committed in Croatia. The government of Croatia was said to have wanted to ensure that Hadžić serve the two prison sentences previously ordered in absentia by Croatian courts.

Trial and death Hadžić's initial arraignment before the ICTY was on 25 July and lasted 15 minutes. He declined to enter a plea to charges arising from the war in Croatia. His duty counsel Vladimir Petrovic said Hadžić would not "enter a plea today. He is going to avail himself of the rights granted to him..."

Hadžić pleaded not guilty at his second appearance before the tribunal on 24 August. The prosecutors announced they would call 141 witnesses, seven of them experts whose reports would be submitted later. Also announced was testimony from 82 fact witnesses, 20 of whom would give evidence in court. Transcripts of testimonials from the remaining 62 would be submitted into evidence, and the defense would have the opportunity to cross-examine the witnesses later.

Prosecutors received a total of 185 hours to examine the witnesses and experts-in-chief. The trial began on 16 October 2012. The prosecution completed its case in November 2013, and in February 2014 the tribunal rejected Hadžić's mid-trial motion for acquittal. Hadžić had argued that the prosecutor had produced insufficient evidence to convict. Hadžić was then required to put on his defense.