SERBS INDICTED FOR WAR CRIMES

In a move that could complicate the delicate peace negotiations in Dayton, Ohio, the international war crimes court in The Hague indicted three Serbian army officers today. "It is the first time ever that the word Belgrade is to be found in an indictment," said tribunal spokesman Christian Chartier. The three officers are charged with ordering 261 non-Serb men removed from a hospital in Vukovar, beaten and killed in November of 1991. "The men were transported in groups of ten to twenty to a site," said the tribunal report, "where JNA [Yugoslav People's Army] and Serb paramilitary soldiers shot and killed them." The three men served in the Belgrade-based Guards Brigade at the time and all are still in the miltary. TIME correspondent James Geary says these new indictments "indicate that Justice Richard Goldstone is very serious about pursuing the war criminals. There has been a great deal of discussion in the last few months about whether there is enough money to pursue the investigation as well as concern that the war crimes indictment would be used as a chip in the peace negotiations. So today's indictments show that Goldstone is very serious about making the Tribunal a credible force for justice in the conflict and that he is undeterred by the political and financial issues." Goldstone is scheduled to come to Washington next week for talks with Clinton Administration officials.