Russia hands war crimes suspect to Bosnia: Ifax

Moscow, June 9 : Russia has handed over Dragan Zelenovic, a Bosnian Serb wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal for rape and torture, to Bosnia, Interfax news agency reported today, citing an unnamed source in Moscow.

The report followed a sharp attack on Russia on Wednesday by the prosecutor for the U N war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Carla Del Ponte, who accused Moscow of dragging its feet over the Zelenovic case.

''Zelenovic was handed over to Bosnian authorities yesterday,'' the source said.

Zelenovic, a former policeman, is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague for atrocities in the Bosnian war.

He was held last August in Russia's Khanti-Mansiisk autonomous district of western Siberia where Russian media said he had been working on construction sites under an assumed name.

Del Ponte told the U N Security Council on Wednesday: ''The long and unexplained delays in the transfer of Zelenovic ... do not allow for optimism in the future of the ICTY's co-operation with the Russian Federation.''

Reuters