Serbia has charged four former Serb fighters with war crimes during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia, in a sign of possible renewed government resolve to deal with its wartime past as it aims for EU membership.
Prosecuting atrocities committed by Serbs during a series of bloody conflicts in Bosnia, Croatia and Kosovo in 1990s is crucial for Belgrade's efforts to speed up its bid to join the European Union.
"Four men were taken for questioning over at least six killings, torture and harassment of civilians during the 1991 conflict in Croatia," Bruno Vekaric, a spokesman for Serbia's office of the war crimes prosecutor, said on Thursday.
Vekaric said the suspects had served as members of a paramilitary unit in the northeastern Croatian town of Beli Manastir, during the 1991-1995 Serb rebellion against the Zagreb government.
Serbia formally applied for full membership of the EU on Tuesday and earlier this month it secured the unblocking of an interim trade deal as well as visa-free travel within the 27-nation bloc.
To secure the ratification of key pre-membership Stabilization and Association Agreement with the EU, Serbia must arrest Ratko Mladic, a Bosnian Serb ex-general sought by the UN war crimes court for genocide and the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.
The Netherlands, whose UN peacekeepers were deployed in and around Srebrenica during the killings but had no heavy weapons nor the mandate to prevent the killing, wants to see Mladic captured before Serbia enjoys the trade benefits of the accord.
