Editing Nicholas Ribic (section)

==Hostage taking==
Ribic travelled to [[Republika Srpska]] in 1992, ostensibly because he "want[ed] to fight Muslims".<ref name="post"/> There he joined the Bosnian Serb Army as a volunteer. On May 24, 1995, British General [[Rupert Smith]], leading a United Nations contingent, warned both the [[Bosnian Muslims]] and the [[Bosnian Serbs]] in [[Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Pale]] to cease street fighting and shelling, or risk an [[air strike]] from [[NATO]] aircraft. The Serbian faction ignored the warning and was hit by a retaliatory airstrike which dropped two bombs on their base ten kilometres south of the city the next day.<ref name="post"/>

The day after the bombs were dropped, it is alleged that Ribic and other Bosnian Serbs walked into the United Nations office with [[AK-47]]s and took several staff members hostage, including Russians Capt. Zidlik and Capt. Pavel Teterevsk, and Canadian Capt. Patrick Rechner. They demanded that Major Guy Lavender phone Smith, and subsequently warned the General that bombing of Serb targets had to cease or the hostages would be killed.<ref name="post"/><ref name="serb">"Bosnian Serbs holding peacekeepers hostage", ''[[Toronto Star]]'', May 27, 1995.</ref>

The hostages were taken to the Serbian base south of the city, where Rechner was handcuffed to a lightning rod outside a warehouse being used to store [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] rounds. Ribic then allegedly phoned the United Nations and warned that "The three UN observers are at the site of the warehouse. Any more bombings, they'll be the first to go." The prisoners were noted to have been "treated well" during their confinement,<ref>[[Toronto Star]], "Serbs seize 8 Canadians", May 28, 1995</ref> and were voluntarily returned to the United Nations office on June 18.<ref name="post"/>