BELGRADE, SERBIA (AP) - Serbian police searching for a war-crimes fugitive on Thursday instead found photographs of a Modigliani painting they suspect is in his possession.
The war crimes prosecutor’s office said the police searched a house in the northern city of Novi Sad belonging to a close friend of Goran Hadzic, a former Croatian Serb rebel leader wanted by a U.N. tribunal over atrocities during Croatia’s 1991-95 war for independence.
Prosecutors say they found photographs of an oil painting by the Italian master worth more than 1 million euros ($1.3 million) that they believe Hadzic has. The prosecutors said in a statement “we suspect that the painting was intended for sale to collect funds for his hiding.”
The statement gave no name or description of the painting shown on the photographs. It was not clear whether the painting was stolen, or belongs to Hadzic.
Hadzic and wartime Bosnian Serb army commander Ratko Mladic are the last two suspects wanted by the U.N. court in The Hague, Netherlands.
Serbia must arrest the last two if it wants to move on in its bid to join the European Union.
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