The former Bosnian army chief, Gen Sefer Halilovic, arrived in the Hague yesterday to face war crimes charges for the massacre of 62 Croat civilians in two villages during the Bosnian war, court officials said.
Gen Halilovic, who commanded Bosnia's Muslim-led army between May 1992 and November 1993, turned himself in to the UN war crimes tribunal, becoming the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim officer to be indicted.
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) charged him with failing to take effective measures to prevent Bosnian troops killing Croat civilians in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in central and southern Bosnia in September 1993.
"He did not take steps to carry out a proper investigation to identify the perpetrators of the killings in both Grabovica and Uzdol and, as commander of the operation, to punish them accordingly," it added.
The two massacres were part of a Bosnian Muslim army offensive, called "Neretva-93", aimed at pushing out Bosnian Croat troops in the region of the Neretva river, which crosses Mostar.
Muslim forces killed 33 Bosnian Croat civilians in Grabovica and 29 Bosnian Croat civilians in Uzdol.
Prior to the massacres, Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Muslim forces had broken up their former alliance against Bosnian Serb forces.
Gen Halilovic, who led operation Neretva-93 from August 1993, was also accused of being aware of "the criminal reputation and uncontrolled behaviour" of the two brigades which carried out the massacres.
"By these acts and omissions in relation to the killings in Grabovica and Uzdol, Sefer Halilovic committed ... a violation of the law or customs of war", according to the indictment.
The former leader flew to the Hague on board a UN military aircraft accompanied by his lawyer, Mr Faruk Balijagic. The lawyer said before leaving Sarajevo that the charges against his client were "doubtful".
"We have solid evidence that he (Gen Halilovic) ordered an investigation to be carried out into crimes committed there (in Grabovica)," Mr Balijagic said.
The lawyer said the general may be allowed to remain in a house instead of the ICTY detention facility.