Dad's past crimes trigger deportation

Ana Maria Cruz is a single mother of four after her fiance was deportedChally Dang was a legal permanent U.S. resident, who emigrated from Southeast AsiaHe was deported this year for a crime he committed and served time for 14 years ago Cruz says he turned his life around and hasn't committed a crime since

Philadelphia (CNN) -- Last September, Ana Maria Cruz waited in her minivan outside an immigration office, clutching her fiance's keys, wallet and cell phone.

Cruz, then eight months pregnant and with two of the couple's other children in tow, began to worry when Chally Dang took longer than usual to emerge from what should have been a routine check-in with immigration officials.

"I sat there for about an hour because I didn't know what to do," Cruz said. "Then he collect-called me to say they weren't letting him go."

For the next nine months, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officials held Dang and three other Cambodian-Americans -- all legal permanent residents who had come to the United States as child refugees.

In June, they sent Dang to Cambodia. Each of the men detained last September had committed a crime that carried a retroactive removal order. That allows them to be deported at any time, regardless of when the crime was committed.

Dang, now 29, was arrested when he was 15, after he fired an illegal handgun into the air. Although no one was injured, Dang was charged in 1997 with aggravated assault, criminal conspiracy and possessing criminal instruments.

He was sentenced to 5? years in prison. Despite having served his prison time, under 1996 immigration laws, he could be deported back to Cambodia -- a country he had never seen -- without a hearing in front of an immigration judge.

Attorneys: U.S. deportation policy shifting

Dang's situation is not uncommon, and it is becoming part of the growing debate over immigration reform in the United States.

In a move that could shake up the U.S. immigration system, the Department of Homeland Security said the government would review about 300,000 deportation cases pending in federal immigration courts.

Lower-priority cases -- those not involving people considered violent or otherwise dangerous -- would be suspended under the new criteria.

Federal authorities are still hashing out details of how the cases will be reviewed, a senior Department of Homeland Security official said last week.

Immigration reform: Why now?

For Cruz and Dang, the announcement comes too late for them to tell their story.

Ana Marie Cruz's fiance, a legal resident and father of her children, was deported for a crime he committed 14 years ago.

Cruz maintains that her fiance -- now a world away in Cambodia -- had turned his life around after serving his time in prison and deserved to stay in the United States.

"They should give Americans, refugees and permanent residents who have reformed (themselves) chances to prove that they are of good character, regardless of any mistakes that they have made in their past," she said. "Just because someone made one mistake, especially in their youth, doesn't label them a criminal for life. People change, and people learn."

One of five children, Dang was born in Kamput refugee camp in Thailand, after his parents escaped the "killing fields" in the Southeast Asian nation of Cambodia, where at least 1.7 million people died under the 1970s Khmer Rouge regime.

Shortly after Dang was born, his father separated from his mother while awaiting sponsorship. His family entered the United States in 1983 and settled in crime-ridden North Philadelphia, where his mother remarried and gave birth to her youngest son.

The cash-strapped family moved from apartment to apartment, and a strained home life left him finding solace among other refugee kids in the neighborhood.

"Truancy became regular, and schoolwork was out of the question," Dang wrote in a letter on December 4, 2010, while he was being detained in York County Prison. "That's when the downhill became even steeper."

Opinion: Immigration plan offers 'false hope'

He was expelled multiple times from school for his disruptive behavior and eventually joined an Asian gang.

Dang hit rock bottom in 1997 when a rival gang spotted him and a friend in North Philadelphia. According to Dang, the rivals threw bottles and rocks at the car he was in, and his friend handed him a gun.

"I recklessly fired a few rounds in their proximity," he wrote.

Dang spent his high school years behind bars, where he obtained his GED. When he was paroled in 2003, Dang, then 21, was taken into ICE custody and given a final order of deportation.

But Cambodia was not accepting deportees from the U.S., so he was allowed to stay here under ICE supervision. After six months, he was granted supervised release.

"Regret is one of many effusive links composing a chain that binds me to my past," he wrote. "The actions of my past still haunt me."

Coming as an immigrant is a privilege, and we expect that you stay out of trouble.
--Ira Mehlman, Federation for American Immigration Reform

Vowing never to repeat the mistakes of his past, Dang started a family, earned a living working for a vending company, committed no crimes after his release and regularly checked in with immigration officials.

"It's hard for me because we built a life together, and I feel like it was ripped apart," Cruz said. "It's a life-changing thing."

Cruz, 28, gave birth to the couple's daughter, Farrah, a month after Dang was detained.

Agency officials say immigrants who commit these crimes must be removed even if, like Dang, they have a green card.

Dang's freedom lasted seven years.

Mia-lia Kiernan, who helped launch a Philadelphia grass-roots organization dedicated to keeping immigrant families living together, is at odds with the DHS immigration announcement.

Kiernan and family members of the detained and deported started the One Love Movement to help them fight for individualized reviews of their deportation orders -- including that of Dang.

The very government that gave Dang shelter targeted him and other refugees with criminal histories, Kiernan said.

"People really need to think about the title 'criminal alien' and who gets left behind," she said. "We're creating a generation of young people forced to grow up without parents."

By law, deportation is mandatory for anyone not a U.S. citizen who commits an "aggravated felony," a broad category of crimes ranging from shoplifting to murder that carry sentences of at least one year of imprisonment, said Sin Yen Ling, a senior staff attorney at the Asian Law Caucus in San Francisco.

"Because of their immigration status, they're penalized," said Ling, an immigration attorney who handles nearly 50 aggravated felony cases a year.

"There's no bail, no bond, it's mandatory deportation. Even if you were to get a sympathetic judge, their hands are tied. By law, it takes away the ability to review individual cases."

Federal immigration officials are simply prioritizing their resources on criminal aliens who present the greatest risk to the security of our communities, according to ICE spokeswoman Nicole Navas.

In 2010, ICE announced record-breaking illegal immigration enforcement numbers under the Obama administration, including unprecedented numbers of "convicted criminal alien removals."

Half of the individuals removed from the United States -- more than 195,000 people -- were convicted criminals, a 70% increase, according to ICE.

Feds increase immigration enforcement

"Everybody in their right mind would think that criminal aliens should be removed," said Ira Mehlman, spokesman for the Federation for American Immigration Reform.

"No, it's not harsh. Coming as an immigrant is a privilege, and we expect that you stay out of trouble."

Philadelphia immigration attorney Caitlin Barry says the broad definition of "aggravated felony" and the retroactive application of the law have created a constant stream of criminal deportation cases.

Although Dang was released under ICE supervision, a removal order remained in effect. He was allowed to re-enter the community and make a life for himself because at the time, Cambodia was not issuing visas to deportees from the United States, Barry said.

"Unfortunately, as soon as those visas to Cambodia became available, Chally was rounded up with the other guys and sent to Cambodia," Barry said. "Chally's case is the perfect illustration of how severe these laws have gotten."

Because of Dang's deportation, Cruz has found herself a single mother of four, struggling to make ends meet while working as a receptionist at a Philadelphia law firm.

I don't believe that refugees should be subject to deportation, period. That's not their home anymore.
--Mia-lia Kiernan, One Love Movement

She has sold household items and the family vehicle to pay the bills. She has also applied for welfare and other government assistance to feed her children.

"What I've experienced, I wouldn't want any other family to have to go through," said Cruz, a permanent resident who came to the United States as an infant from the Philippines. "I want that law to be taken and thrown in the garbage because it does nothing, it doesn't make anything better."

The deportations are a disservice to those who have come out of the system and changed their lives, said Kiernan, the One Love Movement co-founder.

"I don't believe that refugees should be subject to deportation, period. That's not their home anymore. They came here, this is their home," Kiernan said.

"Everyday families are being broken apart, and every day, there are children suffering without a parent."

While Cruz tidied up her home after hosting a One Love meeting on a recent Saturday, she paused and looked at her children coloring quietly in their sparse living room.

"They made me a single mother," Cruz said. "It touches everyone involved."

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War crimes proceedings due to begin for Mladic (AP)

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – Victims of the 1992-95 Bosnian war are gathering outside a courtroom to await the start of UN criminal proceedings against Ratko Mladic, the Bosnian Serb commander accused of orchestrating the worst atrocities of a war that claimed 100,000 lives.

Mladic's appearance at the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal is his first public appearance since he went into hiding nearly 16 years ago, when he was indicted for genocide and war crimes.

Some victims are concerned Mladic, 69-years old, may be too ill to complete the lengthy trial process that begins Friday.

Axel Hageldoorn, a lawyer representing victims, said "it's a big relief that he finally can be brought to court. But we are a bit concerned he is too sick to follow the trial to its end and there will be no verdict."

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Mladic to appear at war crimes tribunal

The onetime Bosnian Serb commander faces war crimes charges, including genocide His lawyer says Mladic would not be able to participate in a trialThe prosecutor says Mladic has been lively, joking

The Hague, Netherlands (CNN) -- Bosnian Serb genocide suspect Ratko Mladic will make his first appearance at the U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Friday morning, the court said.

After more than 15 years in hiding before his arrest last week, Mladic will go before the court at 10 a.m. (4 a.m. ET), according to Serge Brammertz, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

"His arrest confirms that no one can have impunity for the crimes they've committed," Brammertz told reporters on Wednesday.

"I hear many people commenting that his arrest ends an important chapter for international criminal justice. But the process of establishing Rako Mladic's accountability has only just begun," he said.

Mladic, 69, was the commander of Bosnian Serb forces during the civil war in Bosnia-Herzegovina, the bloodiest of the conflicts that accompanied Yugoslavia's breakup in the 1990s.

The years since, Brammertz said, "is a long time to wait for justice. It is a long time to know that someone responsible for their trauma is walking free. We understand why the victims have been impatient for their day and we recognize their courage."

Facing charges of genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws of war, Mladic remained in the custody of the court Wednesday, where he was taken a day earlier after losing his fight against extradition from Serbia. He is being held in isolation.

An amended indictment was filed on Wednesday against Mladic to make sure charges "reflect the most recent developments in the Tribunal's case law."

Brammertz said the transfer brings the tribunal closer to completing its mandate to capture those responsible for the most serious crimes in the former Yugoslavia.

"As a result of the arrest, today only one of the 161 persons indicted by the Tribunal remains at large," Brammertz said, referring to Goran Hadzic, a political leader of the Serbian entity in Croatia during the mid-90s.

Mladic is accused of leading a campaign of "ethnic cleansing" against Bosnia's Muslim and Croat populations that included the shelling of Sarajevo and the torture, abuse and rape of civilians.

More than 200,000 Muslims and Croats died in the 1992-95 conflict, including nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys slaughtered at Srebrenica in 1995 -- Europe's worst massacre since World War II.

"He was the most powerful military figure in Bosnia during the war. He's charged with crimes that shocked the conscience of the international community," Brammertz said on Wednesday.

Mladic's lawyer, Milos Saljic, argues that Mladic would not be able to participate in a trial at The Hague because of his ill health.

Saljic said he wants Mladic examined by specialists "who can investigate his specific needs," including a gastroenterologist, a cardiologist, a psychiatrist and a neurologist.

Mladic's son, Darko, told an ultranationalist rally Sunday that his father "needs medical treatment that he is not getting."

But Serbia's chief prosecutor, Vladimir Vukcevic, said Mladic was "lively and joking," and had asked for Russian classics to read while being held in Belgrade.

John Hocking, the court registrar, said it's up to the judges to determine whether he's unfit to stand trial.

"My role is to ensure that detainees receive the best medical attention and care," Hocking said.

"He'll get the full treatments that any of our detainees would receive. We provide the best medical facilities available to all of our detainees. At this stage, it's all very much routine."

He and Mladic communicated through interpreters during his induction at The Hague. He said Mladic was cooperative and "we communicated extremely well."

Mladic gave himself up without a fight May 26, despite having two handguns, according to Rasim Ljajic, the government minister in charge of searching for fugitive suspected war criminals.

Officials located Mladic in a village called Lazarevo, north of the Serbian capital, after culling information from his former comrades, those who supported him financially and his close family members. It is not clear what source led investigators to the former military commander.

The arrest clears a major hurdle that once stood between Serbia and its long-awaited entrance into the European Union, but the move could also usher in political backlash from the country's electorate, some of whom consider Mladic a hero.

Speaking to a Serbian Radical Party demonstration outside Belgrade's parliament building Sunday, Darko Mladic described his father as "a freedom fighter." The elder Mladic "defended his own nation, defended his people, which was his job," his son said.

The other fugitive war criminal suspects previously captured are Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and former Serbian President Slobodan Milosevic, who died in jail in 2006 during his trial at The Hague.

Authorities say it's theoretically possible that the trials could be merged.

"The Karadzic trial is now ongoing for one and a half years. Based on the rules of proceedings it's still theoretically possible to envision a possible joinder. No decision has been taken in this regard," Brammertz said.

As for Hadzic, he is charged with a number of crimes committed in Croatia's eastern Slavonia region. They include the murder and persecution of Croatian and non-Serbian civilians, imprisonment of civilians in jails where there were torture, beatings and killings, and the forced transfer of non-Serbs.

CNN's Nic Robertson and Ivan Watson contributed to this report.

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Mladic could be sent to war crimes court in days (Reuters)

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia may send Ratko Mladic to face genocide charges in The Hague within four days, a justice official said on Monday, despite rallies by nationalists angry at the Bosnian Serb general's capture after 16 years on the run.

Security agents tracked the fugitive general to a messy Serbian farmhouse belonging to his cousin on Thursday. In so doing they removed a big obstacle to Serbia' bid to join the European Union.

The arrest angered nationalists in Serbia and the Bosnian Serb half of Bosnia.

In Bosnia, several thousand supporters rallied on Monday waving Serbian flags and carrying banners reading: "Keep on, our general, we are with you!" and "Shame on you Tadic! You did not betray Mladic, you betrayed the Serb people," a reference to Serbia's President Boris Tadic who ordered Mladic's arrest.

Mladic's lawyers argue the 69-year-old, found alone surrounded by medications, is mentally unstable and thus too sick to be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal.

The Hague court indicted Mladic for genocide in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war in 1995.

For seven years after that, Mladic lived openly at his home in Belgrade and often received visitors, Aleksandar Mihailovic, a friend who lived down the street, said on Monday.

"He lived normally until 2002," said Mihailovic, who built Mladic's house, told Reuters. "He loved songs, rakia, eating -- he was a very normal person."

DELAYING TACTICS

A Belgrade court ruled on Friday that Mladic was fit enough to face trial and served extradition papers. His lawyer Milos Saljic said he plans to appeal that decision "to prolong the extradition as long as possible".

He told reporters he had mailed it late in the day. "I expect the court to review the appeal tomorrow, at the earliest," he said.

The appeal court must respond and forward the final decision to the Justice Ministry which will then rule on the extradition straight away, a process that would take up to four days, said Slobodan Homen, a state secretary.

Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor said: "I have seen Mladic and I believe he is fit for trial ... We will now focus on uncovering the entire network of his helpers."

Many Serbs admire Mladic as a dedicated military man who did not seek to enrich himself during the bitter civil war.

In Bosnia, demonstrators carried pictures and banners reading: "Keep on, our general, we are with you!" and "Shame on you Tadic! You did not betray Mladic, you betrayed the Serb people," a reference to Serbia's President Boris Tadic who ordered Mladic's arrest.

Bosnian Serb Republic President Milorad Dodik said he would raise funds to provide legal assistance to Bosnian Serb war crimes indictees, and expressed his support for the protests.

"The Serb Republic army was an expression of will of the Serb people in Bosnia which defended their survival, homes and rights," he said. "I will do my best to preserve the dignity and reputation of the Serb Republic army, which was an honorable military formation of utmost importance for Bosnian Serbs."

Bosnia remains deeply divided along ethnic lines.

Mladic's friend Mihailovic said the siege of Sarajevo, in which 10,000 died, was a legitimate military operation and as commander responsible for the entire war, Mladic could not have known about the details of the Srebrenica massacre.

He agreed to speak out after receiving the blessing of the Mladic family and some of his arguments could foreshadow the general's defense strategy. Srebrenica survivors say they saw Mladic moments before the executions.

Serbian authorities said they detained 180 people who had attacked police and injured 32 officers in Belgrade during a pro-Mladic rally on Sunday organised by the Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is on trial in The Hague.

Many of those at the rally were young people, some not even born during the Bosnian war.

Mladic's son and grandchildren, who live in Belgrade, visited him in prison on Monday. At the Sunday rally, Darko Mladic said his father was a defender of his people.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Snezana Kusovac in Belgrade and Reuters TV and Maja Zuvela in Sarajevo; editing by Jon Hemming and Elizabeth Fullerton)

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Mladic could be sent to war crimes court in 4 days (Reuters)

BELGRADE (Reuters) – Serbia may send Ratko Mladic to face genocide charges in The Hague within four days, a justice official said on Monday, despite riots by nationalists angry at the Bosnian Serb general's capture after 16 years on the run.

Security agents tracked the fugitive general to a messy Serbian farmhouse on Thursday after tight surveillance on relatives and helpers and in so doing removed big obstacle to Serbia officially beginning its bid to join the European Union.

Mladic's lawyers argue the 69-year-old, found alone surrounded by medication, is mentally unstable and thus too sick to be extradited to the International Criminal Tribunal.

The Hague court has indicted Mladic for genocide in the 43-month siege of Sarajevo and the massacre of 8,000 Muslims in Srebrenica during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

But a Belgrade court ruled on Friday he was fit enough to face trial and served extradition papers.

Mladic's lawyer Milos Saljic said he plans to appeal that decision "to prolong the extradition as long as possible."

"I will mail it late this afternoon," he told reporters.

The appeal court must respond and forward the final decision to the Justice Ministry which will then rule on the extradition straightaway, a process that would take up to four days, said Slobodan Homen, a state secretary.

Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia's chief war crimes prosecutor said: "I have seen Mladic and I believe he is fit for trial ... We will now focus on uncovering the entire network of his helpers."

Many Serbians admire Mladic as a dedicated military man who did not seek to enrich himself during the bitter civil war.

Serbian authorities said they detained 180 people who had attacked police and injured 32 officers during a rally on Sunday organised by the Serbian Radical Party, whose leader is on trial in The Hague.

Many of those at the rally in Belgrade were young people, some not even born during the Bosnian war.

Mladic's wife and son, who live in Belgrade, are expected to visit him in prison again on Monday. At the Sunday rally, Darko Mladic said his father was a defender of his people.

"Ratko Mladic is not a criminal, he did not order the killings. He defended his people in an honorable, fair and professional manner," he told protesters.

(Additional reporting by Aleksandar Vasovic and Snezana Kusovac; Editing by Jon Hemming)

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Serbia arrests Mladic on war crimes charges (AP)

BELGRADE, Serbia – After 16 years on the run, a frail and haggard Ratko Mladic was hauled before a judge Thursday — the first step in facing charges for international war crimes, including the slaughter of 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica in 1995.

No longer the fearsome, bull-necked military commander, Mladic was arrested by intelligence agents in a raid before dawn at a relative's house in a village in northern Serbia. The act was trumpeted by the government as a victory for a country worthy of European Union membership and Western embrace.

Mladic, 69, was one of the world's most-wanted fugitives. He was the top commander of the Bosnian Serb army during Bosnia's 1992-95 war, which killed more than 100,000 people and drove another 1.8 million from their homes. Thousands of Muslims and Croats were killed, tortured or driven out in a campaign to purge the region of non-Serbs.

He was accused by the U.N. International Criminal Tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes for the massacre of Muslims by Bosnian Serb forces in eastern Bosnia and the relentless four-year siege of Sarajevo.

On Thursday evening, Mladic walked haltingly into a closed-door extradition hearing in Belgrade, where he asserted through his attorney that he will not answer to the authority of the U.N. tribunal.

The former military commander wore a navy blue jacket and a baseball hat — his gray hair sticking out of the sides — and carried what appeared to be a towel in his left hand. He could be heard on state TV saying "good day" to someone in the courtroom, and a guard told him, "Let's go, general."

Mladic's lawyer, Milos Saljic, said the judge cut short the questioning because his client's "poor physical state" left him unable to communicate.

"He is aware that he is under arrest, he knows where he is, and he said he does not recognize The Hague tribunal," Saljic said, adding that Mladic needs medical care and "should not be moved in such a state."

Belgrade B-92 radio said one of Mladic's arms was paralyzed — probably the result of a stroke.

Deputy war crimes prosecutor Bruno Vekaric said that Mladic is taking a lot of medicine, but "responds very rationally to everything that is going on."

Extradition proceedings could take a week or more before Mladic's expected transfer to The Hague, where he faces life imprisonment. The U.N. court has no death penalty.

Judge Fouad Riad of the U.N. tribunal said there was evidence against Mladic of "unimaginable savagery."

"Thousands of men executed and buried in mass graves, hundreds of men buried alive, men and women mutilated and slaughtered, children killed before their mothers' eyes, a grandfather forced to eat the liver of his own grandson," Riad said during Mladic's 1995 indictment in absentia.

International law experts hope the arrest will send a message to figures like Libya's Moammar Gadhafi that no leader charged with a war crime can expect to escape justice forever.

"Impunity has really been withdrawn from war criminals," said Richard Goldstone, the prosecutor in the 1995 indictment. "It's a very different world, and the prospects of them standing trial one day have been heightened considerably."

Obama, meeting with other world leaders at the G8 summit in France, hailed the arrest.

"May the families of Mladic's victims find some solace in today's arrest, and may this deepen the ties among the people of the region," he said.

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said it marked "an important step in our collective fight against impunity."

In Bosnia, the arrest was welcomed by the head of a group of victims' relatives.

"I'm sorry for all the victims who are dead and cannot see this day," added Munira Subasic.

The Serbian government, which has changed mightily while Mladic was at large, banned all public gatherings and tightened security in the country to prevent ultra-nationalists from making good on pledges to pour into the streets in protest.

The Serbian Radical Party called Mladic a "hero" and described his seizure as "one of the hardest moments in Serbian history." The extreme-right group 1389 said the arrest was "treason."

Hundreds of pro-Mladic demonstrators in the northern city of Novi Sad tried to break into the offices of the governing Democratic Party but were prevented by riot police. At least two people were reported injured.

President Boris Tadic appeared jubilant at a news conference announcing Mladic's capture.

"We have ended a difficult period of our history and removed the stain from the face of Serbia and the members of our nation wherever they live," he said.

A Serbian official close to Tadic told The Associated Press that the president had personally overseen the arrest operation, and compared it to President Barack Obama's involvement in the hunt for Osama bin Laden. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because of the sensitivity of the topic.

But the raid in the village of Lazarevo, 60 miles (100 kilometers) northeast of Belgrade, was no Navy SEAL operation and the Serbian intelligence agents didn't have to fire a shot. Mladic had two pistols with him in the single-story yellow brick house, but put up no resistance, officials said.

"They didn't even wake us up," said a resident who identified himself only as Zoran for fear of retaliation.

He and other residents of the village of 2,000 people insisted they had no idea Mladic was living in their midst — not that they would have minded.

"I'm furious," Zoran said. "They arrested our hero."

Many residents came out to defend Mladic, waving Serb and Russian flags on Lazarevo's narrow tree-lined streets. They blocked the road with a trailer, demanded that no camera lenses be pointed at the house, and told journalists to leave. A sign reading "Mladic Hero" rose at the entrance of the village.

Police moved up to the edge of the village, fearing violence, but there was none.

The arrest releases Serbia from the widespread suspicion it was protecting Mladic. U.N. war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz was due next month to give the world body a report critical of Serbia's lack of cooperation with the hunt for Mladic and other fugitives.

The Netherlands had used such reports to justify blocking Serbia's efforts to join the EU, and the arrest could help Serbia shed its image as a pariah state that sheltered the men responsible for the worst atrocities of the Balkan wars of the 1990s.

Serbia still faces many obstacles to EU membership, and new laws would be required on everything from farming to financial markets. It might also have to recognize the independence of Kosovo, a former Serbian province, and capture another war crimes fugitive, Goran Hadzic. Hadzic, a former leader of Serbs in Croatia, is the last of 161 people sought by the tribunal.

"If the question is whether Serbia is closer today to the European Union than it was yesterday, yes, the answer is absolutely yes," EU Enlargement Commissioner Stefan Fuele said. But he said other conditions to membership remain.

Among the horrors Mladic is charged with, foremost is the July 1995 slaughter of up to 8,000 Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, which was supposed to be a safe zone guarded by Dutch peacekeepers.

Mladic seized the town and was seen handing candy to Muslim children in the town's square. He assured them everything would be fine and patted one boy on the head. Hours later, his men began days of killing, rape and torture.

The Dayton accords brought peace to Bosnia in 1995, and the following year Mladic was dismissed from his post. He continued to live in Bosnia, until his trail grew too hot and he moved with his family to Belgrade in the late 1990s, living free in a posh suburban villa.

Even as Mladic allies such as Radovan Karadzic and Slobodan Milosevic were brought to The Hague, the former military leader was idolized and sheltered by ultra-nationalists and ordinary Serbs despite a 10 million euro ($14 million) Serbian government bounty, plus $5 million more offered by the U.S. State Department.

Mladic was known to have made daring forays into Belgrade to watch soccer games, dine at plush restaurants and visit his daughter's grave. He refused to give interviews and smiling quizzically when he happened to be photographed.

When Serbia ousted strongman Milosevic in 2000, the new pro-democracy authorities signaled they might hand Mladic over to the tribunal, and he was rumored to have returned to Bosnia. But the flamboyant Mladic went mostly underground in 2002.

Although there were media reports he brazenly used the alias Milorad Komadic, an anagram of his true identity, Interior Minister Ivica Dacic denied it.

Authorities recorded the last trace of Mladic living in Belgrade in January 2006, said Rasim Ljajic, a member of a government team hunting the ex-general.

"And then," Ljajic said, "he vanished."

___

Associated Press writers Jovana Gec in Belgrade, Andrej Cukic in Lazarevo, Aida Cerkez in Sarajevo and Raf Casert in Brussels contributed to this story.

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War crimes prosecutor targets Gaddafi and allies (Reuters)

THE HAGUE/TRIPOLI (Reuters) – The world's top war crimes prosecutor sought an arrest warrant for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, accusing him of killing protesters who want an end to end his four-decade rule.

International Criminal Court prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo also asked judges, who must now see if there is enough evidence to issue warrants, for the arrest of Gaddafi's son Saif al-Islam and his spy chief brother-in-law Abdullah al-Senussi.

In the uprising, civilians were attacked at home, protests were suppressed using live ammunition, heavy artillery was used against funeral processions and snipers deployed to kill people leaving mosques after prayers, the prosecutor said on Monday.

"We have strong evidence, so strong evidence," Moreno-Ocampo said, adding: "We are almost ready for trial ... Gaddafi ruled Libya through fear and Libyans are losing that fear now."

The prosecutor's office had received calls from senior officials in the Gaddafi government in the past week to provide information. Prosecutors spoke with eyewitnesses to attacks and assessed evidence from 1,200 documents, plus videos and photos.

In central Tripoli, NATO airstrikes hit two buildings on Tuesday, including one which a Libyan spokesman said contained files detailing corruption cases against government officials who had defected to the rebels.

Officials summoned reporters after the attack in the early hours to visit the two damaged buildings which they said housed internal security forces and Libya's anti-corruption agency. One building was in flames.

Government spokesman Mussa Ibrahim said the anti-graft agency had held files on former supporters of Muammar Gaddafi who had joined the rebels. "We believe that NATO has been misled to destroy files on their corruption cases," he said.

There was no immediate reaction to Ibrahim's comments from the rebel leadership, based in the eastern city of Benghazi. Ambulances were at the scene of the buildings on either side of a street although there was no sign of any casualties.

OIL CHIEF

Arab television channels reported late on Monday that Shokri Ghanem, chairman of Libya's National Oil Corporation, had defected. It was not possible to verify the reports immediately and Libyan officials in Tripoli were not available for comment.

Al Arabiya television quoted sources in the rebel Transitional National Council as saying that Ghanem had defected and joined rebel ranks. Al Jazeera reported he had defected and left Libya, without giving details.

Thousands have been killed in the conflict in the North African state, the bloodiest of the revolts which have convulsed the region in what has been called the "Arab Spring."

NATO, which has been hitting targets in Libya for nearly two months, appeared to step up its bombing campaign on Monday with strikes in several towns and cities including Tripoli, according to Libyan state television and rebels.

On the diplomatic front, Italian Foreign Minister Franco Frattini said the United Nations was working on the removal of Gaddafi to exile to make way for a new government, and a Libyan government delegation was expected in Moscow on Tuesday.

Libyan officials have denied killing civilians, saying instead they were forced to take action against criminal armed gangs and al Qaeda militants. They say the NATO bombing campaign is an act of colonial aggression aimed at grabbing Libya's oil.

PERSECUTION, TORTURE

Moreno-Ocampo said persecution was still taking place in areas under Gaddafi's control with forces arresting, imprisoning and torturing alleged dissidents. Some had disappeared.

Prosecutors are also investigating reports of mass rapes, war crimes committed by different parties and attacks against sub-Saharan Africans wrongly seen as mercenaries once the Libyan situation developed into an armed conflict.

Libyan officials have already denounced the ICC, saying the court is a creation of the West for prosecuting African leaders. The Libyan rebel council has welcomed the move.

State-run television in Libya reported there were NATO strikes on Tripoli, the town of Zawiyah about 50 km (30 miles) west of the capital, the western Tripoli suburb of Tajoura, and on the town of Zuara, 120 km west of Tripoli on Monday.

In each case strikes hit military and civilian targets and caused "material and human losses," it said.

A rebel spokesman in the town of Zintan, southwest of Tripoli, told Reuters by telephone that NATO had been hitting government weapons depots about 30 km from the town.

(Reporting by Joseph Nasr in Berlin, Steve Gutterman in Moscow, Peter Apps in London, David Brunnstrom in Brussels, Sami Aboudi in Cairo; Writing by Peter Millership and Sylvia Westall; editing by David Stamp)

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