Serbian police have arrested Stojan Zupljanin, one of the top Bosnian-Serb fugitives indicted by the United Nations International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague, international media reported on June 11.

A former police chief and aide to Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, Zupljanin is alleged to have committed atrocities against Bosnian Muslims and Croats during the 1992/95 war.

"Stojan Zupljanin was arrested on the outskirts of Belgrade", prosecution spokesman for Serbia's war crimes court, Bruno Vekaric, told AFP.

Zupljanin was one of the high-profile fugitives wanted by the war tribunal that were still at large and his arrest was welcomed by the European Union. "It is an important step towards full cooperation with the ICTY, which is key to bringing justice and lasting reconciliation in the Western Balkans," enlargement commissioner Olli Rehn said.

The EU has put pressure on Belgrade to make more efforts to apprehend Karadzic and military commander Ratko Mladic, who are at the top of ICTY's wanted list.

News of the arrest comes on the same day that Dutch foreign minister Maxime Verhagen said he would not ask the country's parliament to ratify the Stabilisation and Association Agreement (SAA) that the EU signed with Serbia on April 29 2008, as reported by Dutch ANP agency and quoted by AFP.

Verhagen backed his decision by explaining that the Serbian authorities failed to fully co-operate with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in the Hague.

Brussels signed the SAA with Belgrade as a means to boost the pro-European forces before the May 11 snap parliamentary elections. The application of the SAA, however, was tied to Serbia's full co-operation with the Hague tribunal.