Serbia: Eight Held Over Srebrenica Massacre

By Lisa Holland, Sky News Correspondent

Prosecutors have made the first arrests over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre.

Serbian police arrested eight men accused of taking part in the slaughter of more than 1,000 Muslim men and boys at a warehouse on the outskirts of Srebrenica. 

Bosnian Muslims pray during a mass funeral for newly identified victims

Altogether, more than 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys were killed in the eastern Bosnian enclave by the Serbs – the worst civilian slaughter since World War II.

Serbian prosecutors said they initially arrested seven suspects in pre-dawn raids at different locations in Serbia. 

An eighth suspect was later arrested after a manhunt.

Mejra Cakanovic holds up pictures of her late husband and two sons

There are reports all those arrested are former members of a special brigade of the Bosnian Serb police.

AP reported that amongst those arrested were Nedeljko Milidragovic, the commander known as "Nedjo the Butcher".

A dutch peacekeeper in the nearby village of Potocari in 1995

Bruno Vekaric, lead Serb prosecutor, said: "It is important to stress that this is the first time that our prosecutor's office is dealing with the mass killings of civilians and war prisoners in Srebrenica.

"We have never dealt with a crime of such proportions. It is very important for Serbia to take a clear position toward Srebrenica through a court process."

In 2011, Serbia handed over the former Bosnian Serb commander Ratko Mladic. Accused of masterminding the Srebrenica massacre, he is currently being tried in The Hague.

Serbia's government is thought to be supporting the arrests as part of its quest to join the EU.

A man walks past a plaque with the estimated number of those killed

A UN court ruled the Srebrenica massacre carried out over several days after the fall of the UN "safe haven" constituted genocide.

In July 1995, Bosnian Serb forces ignored Dutch UN peacekeeping troops stationed in Srebrenica.

The Serbs – led by Milidragovic – marched into the town without meeting any resistance. 

Women sought shelter at the Dutch base while Bosnian men and boys fled into the surrounding woods and were hunted down by Mladic's forces.

July will mark the 20th anniversary of the massacre. 

Almost 90% of the victims have been exhumed from mass graves and identified through DNA analysis.

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