THE HAGUE, Oct 14 (Reuter) - A Bosnian Serb was named on Friday as the subject of the first international war crimes investigation since the Nuremburg and Tokyo trials after World War Two.
The U.N. Yugoslavia war crimes tribunal said that Prosecutor Richard Goldstone wanted Germany to suspend proceedings against Dusan Tadic as his own office was investigating the case and planned to lay charges.
Tadic, a 38-year-old Bosnian Serb, was arrested in Germany in February on suspicion of killing, beating and torturing Croat and Moslem prisoners at the Omarska prison camp and two other camps in the Prijedor region of northwest Bosnia.
He is also alleged to have taken part in ethnic cleansing operations during the 30-month Bosnian conflict.
The German authorities said at the time of his arrest that Tadic was a ``fanatical devotee of the greater Serbian cause.''
Goldstone will ask the tribunal on November 8 for permission to lodge a formal request with Germany to take over the case. He will base his application on a preliminary investigation by Michael Keegan, an attorney at his office.
In a written declaration Keegan said: ``Tadic did not hold a routine position at the (Omarska) camp, but was brought in, or allowed in, for the specific purpose of torturing and killing those non-Serbs perceived to be part of the leadership, or a prominent part, of the Moslem or non-Serb community.''
``His daily presence in the camp involved the beating, torture and murder of prisoners. He had the authority to direct the actions of those men who accompanied him and of known camp guards.''
A statement released by Goldstone's office said that Tadic's case was ``important to the prosecution of those persons responsible for committing the serious violations of international humanitarian law which occurred...in the Prijedor region of Bosnia-Herzegovina.''
It said the acts allegedly committed by Tadic before and after the Serbian takeover of the area ``would provide a clear illustration of a plan for the widespread and systematic destructive persecution against the civilian population of the region, commonly referred to as ethnic cleansing.''
The tribunal is the first international war crimes panel since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials after World War Two. It was set up by the U.N. Security Council to try those suspected of atrocities such as murder, rape and torture.