Group Was Plotting To Kill Serb Prosecutor

The plan involved Bosnian Serb former security officers, and was uncovered through the testimony of a man that the plotters tried to recruit

Serbian police are investigating an alleged assassination plot targeting war crimes prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic, who has angered nationalists by pursuing suspects from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s.

The plan involved Bosnian Serb former security officers, and was uncovered through the testimony of a man that the plotters tried to recruit, the prosecutor's spokesman Bruno Vekaric told Reuters on Wednesday.

"We believe the reason for this assassination plot is that Vukcevic is active in chasing war crime fugitives indicted by The Hague," Vekaric said.

There are four ethnic Serbs still on the run from the United Nations court, including Bosnian Serb ex-general Ratko Mladic and his wartime political boss Radovan Karadzic, both indicted twice for genocide for their role in the 1992-95 Bosnia war.

The tribunal says they are all within the reach of Serbian authorities. Their arrest is a condition for Serbia's progress to the European Union.

Vekaric said the two alleged leaders of the plot "are well known to the prosecutor for their role in the wars".

He said Vukcevic cancelled a trip to Banja Luka, the administrative capital of Bosnia's autonomous Serb Republic, over security concerns as a result of the allegations.

"It was supposed to be regular visit, aimed at exchanging information," Vekaric said. "He didn't want to test his luck with this trip."

Vukcevic, who also prosecutes lower-level suspects in trials referred to Serbia by The Hague, has received death threats in the past, including a letter signed by an unknown group based in Chicago, home to a large Serbian immigrant community.

Belgrade daily Blic reported on Wednesday that the suspects were part of an organised crime gang.

Serbia's judiciary was seen as slow-moving, biased and corrupt during the rule of autocrat Slobodan Milosevic in the 1990s.

As part of the slow process of reform after Milosevic fell in 2000, courts started tackling war crimes and organised crime cases that were previously not pursued as they were closely linked to his rule.

Several judges involved in anti-mafia trials have reported receiving death threats, and a judge in the eastern town of Knjazevac was killed in a bomb blast last month.