Editing Arkan (section)

==Kosovo War and NATO bombing==
According to chief judge [[Richard May (judge)|Richard May]] from the United Kingdom, the [[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] issued an indictment against Ražnatović on 30 September 1997 for war crimes of [[genocide]] or [[massacre]] against the [[Bosniaks|Bosniak]] population, [[crimes against humanity]] and grave breaches of the [[Geneva Conventions]].<ref>{{cite web |title=Tribunal against Željko Ražnatović also known as "Arkan" - INDICTMENT |first=Louise (Prosecutor) |last=Arbour |date=23 September 1997 |publisher=[[International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia]] |location=[[The Hague]] |url=https://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/ark-ii970930e.htm |access-date=1 March 2014 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20041205143944/https://www.un.org/icty/indictment/english/ark-ii970930e.htm |archive-date=5 December 2004}}</ref> The warrant was not made public until 31 March 1999, a week after the [[NATO bombing of Yugoslavia]] had begun, as intervention in the [[Kosovo War]]. Ražnatović's indictment was made public by the UN court's chief prosecutor [[Louise Arbour]].<ref>{{Cite web |title=Indictments {{!}} International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia |url=http://www.icty.org/en/content/indictments |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170204015544/http://www.icty.org/en/content/indictments |archive-date=2017-02-04 |access-date=2017-01-25 |website=Icty.org |language=en}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-02-11 |title=BBC News {{!}} Europe {{!}} Arkan wanted by UN tribunal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/308876.stm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150211144437/http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/308876.stm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-02-11 |access-date=2024-05-20 }}</ref> In the week before the start of NATO bombing, as the [[Rambouillet Agreement|Rambouillet talks]] collapsed, Ražnatović appeared at the [[Hyatt|Hyatt hotel]] in Belgrade, where most Western journalists were staying, and ordered all of them to leave Serbia.<ref>{{cite magazine|last=Karon|first=Tony|url=http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,22121,00.html|archive-url=https://archive.today/20121209020810/http://www.time.com/time/printout/0,8816,22121,00.html|url-status=dead|archive-date=9 December 2012|title=Serbs Unplug CNN|magazine=[[Time (magazine)|Time]]|date=25 March 1999|access-date=1 March 2014}}</ref>

During the NATO bombing, Ražnatović denied the war crime charges against him in interviews he gave to foreign reporters. Ražnatović accused NATO of bombing civilians and creating refugees of all ethnicities, and stated that he would deploy his troops only in the case of a direct NATO ground invasion. After the [[United States bombing of the Chinese embassy in Belgrade]], which killed three journalists and led to a diplomatic row between the United States and the [[China]], ''[[The Observer]]'' and ''[[Politiken]]'' newspapers claimed the building might have been targeted because the office of the Chinese [[military attaché]] was being used by Ražnatović to communicate and transmit messages to his paramilitary group in Kosovo. As neither paper offered any proof for this claim it was largely ignored by the media.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.nato.int/koSovo/press/b990508a.htm|title=Morning Briefing|access-date=25 October 2009|date=8 May 1999|publisher=NATO Press Office}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2009-07-24 |title=NATO Speech: Briefing Shea - 8 May 1999 |url=http://www.nato.int/kosovo/press/b990508a.htm |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090724081720/http://www.nato.int/kosovo/press/b990508a.htm |url-status=dead |archive-date=2009-07-24 |access-date=2024-05-20 }}</ref>

During an interview with Western journalists, while the three-month period of the NATO bombing was ongoing, Ražnatović showed a small rubber part of the [[1999 F-117A shootdown|F-117A downed by the Yugoslav army]] (one of only five NATO aircraft destroyed on 38,000 sorties),<ref>{{Cite report |title=NATO's Air War for Kosovo: A Strategic and Operational Assessment |first=Benjamin S. |last=Lambeth |publisher=[[RAND Corporation]] |location=[[Santa Monica]] |year=2001 |chapter=Chapter Three: The Air War Unfolds |chapter-url=https://www.rand.org/content/dam/rand/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1365/MR1365.ch3.pdf |page=61 |url=https://www.rand.org/pubs/monograph_reports/MR1365.html |access-date=2 January 2021 |isbn=0-8330-3050-7}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |date=2015-12-26 |title=MOGU DA POLOMIM F-117A: Evo kako je ARKAN uništio ponos Amerike i "nevidljivi" bombarder! (VIDEO) {{!}} Telegraf – Najnovije vesti |url=http://www.telegraf.rs/vesti/politika/1496575-mogu-da-polomim-f-117a-evo-kako-je-arkan-unistio-ponos-amerike-i-nevidljivi-bombarder-video |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20151226141031/http://www.telegraf.rs/vesti/politika/1496575-mogu-da-polomim-f-117a-evo-kako-je-arkan-unistio-ponos-amerike-i-nevidljivi-bombarder-video |url-status=dead |archive-date=2015-12-26 |access-date=2024-05-20 }}</ref> which he had taken as "a souvenir"; Yugoslav media falsely proclaimed that Ražnatović had downed the stealth fighter.<ref>{{Cite news |title=MOGU DA POLOMIM F-117A: Evo kako je ARKAN uništio ponos Amerike i "nevidljivi" bombarder! |language=bs |trans-title=I CAN BREAK THE F-117A: Here's how the ARCAN destroyed America's pride and the "invisible" bomber! |date=27 March 2015 |newspaper=Telegraf |url=http://www.telegraf.rs/vesti/politika/1496575-mogu-da-polomim-f-117a-evo-kako-je-arkan-unistio-ponos-amerike-i-nevidljivi-bombarder-video |access-date=25 December 2015}}</ref>