Bosnian Serb ex-paramilitary to surrender to Hague

BANJA LUKA, Bosnia, March 13 (Reuters) - A former Bosnian Serb
paramilitary accused of torturing and raping Muslim women during the
1992-95 war has surrendered for trial at the U.N. war crimes court,
Bosnian Serb authorities said on Sunday.

Gojko Jankovic, also a sub-commander of the military police, was
indicted by The Hague tribunal in 1996 for crimes against humanity
and violation of the laws or customs of war in the town of Foca.
He will go to The Hague on Monday from Banja Luka.

He is the sixth Serbian or Bosnian Serb suspect to surrender
in two months.

According to the indictment, Jankovic was in charge of soldiers
who arrested several groups of women and gang raped them during
interrogations. The women were tortured, beaten and many made to
work for the soldiers, cooking and washing their uniforms.

The Serb Republic, which makes up half of post-war Bosnia along
with the Muslim-Croat Federation, is under strong Western pressure
to improve its co-operation with The Hague.

It has made no arrests so far but has issued several calls to
publicly indicted fugitives to surrender.

Belgrade is also under pressure to improve cooperation with the
U.N. court ahead of a European Union assessment this month concerning
future ties.

More than a dozen Serbian or Bosnian Serb suspects are still wanted
by the court.

Topping the list of fugitives are Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan
Karadzic and his former military commander Ratko Mladic.

/Reporting by Beti Bilandzic and Olga Lola Ninkovic, Belgrade./