Prediction: National Enquirer to launch Scheveningen edition

There are enough stories about the location of various ICTY fugitives in the Serbian press these days that one begins to suspect that they may be planted. Here are today's.

Danas has the testimony of one Miroslav D. Petrović, a noncommissioned officer of the Army of Serbia and Montenegro, "currently a deserter under the protection of the United States, housed on a miltary base in a neighboring country." He claims to have been responsible for the security of the fugitive genocide indictee Ratko Mladić.

He claims that Mladić was at the Topčider barracks in Belgrade last summer, and that the two soldiers whose unexplained deaths caused a scandal last October "saw him and were liquidated in the blink of an eye." As to his reasons for coming forward to a newspaper with the story, he says that he wants to return to Serbia with the protection of publicity, and also that "I am a patriot, but to serve a proper state and army, not criminals."

The article in Monday's Danas includes Mr Petrović's charges of a conspiracy in the military to sell arms "to Albanians," as well as some limited information about who Mr Petrović is. Danas notes that it is "nearly impossible to verify the accuracy" of the information he is providing, and has therefore decided not not to publish the names of people he has charged with major violations of the law.

Danas is to Mladić as Blic is to Pavković. The Blic story has Pavković fleeing the country some time ago, which is claimed by an unidentified source, after which some identified sources express confusion.

Ah, yes, and Glas javnosti does name its source (Kurir!!!!!) for its story on Veselin Šljivančanin attacking Sreten Lukić in the ICTY holding facility. One instance in which the source is as credible as the subject is beguiling.