Reply With QuoteThis was posted in the RS/Bosnia thread....
Former Bosnian leader Ganic arrested in London
LONDON (AFP) – Former Bosnian president Ejup Ganic was arrested in London Monday on an extradition warrant from Serbia for alleged warcrimes during the 1990s Balkans conflict, police said.
Officers from Scotland Yard's Extradition Unit detained the 63-year-old at London's Heathrow airport over the killing of injured soldiers in 1992, said Scotland Yard.
Ganic "was arrested on behalf of the Serbian authorities under a provisional extradition warrant alleging 'conspiracy to murder with other named people and breach of the Geneva Convention, namely killing wounded soldiers...'," it said.
A Foreign Office spokesman confirmed Ganic's arrest following "a provisional extradition request from the Republic of Serbia in respect of conspiracy to murder and breach of the Geneva Convention," which deals with war crimes.
Ganic -- a Muslim member of Bosnia's presidency during the 1992-95 war -- appeared at the City of Westminster Magistrates Court after his arrest, the spokesman said.
"The Serbian authorities must now provide full papers to support their extradition request before a date can be fixed for an extradition hearing. A judge will then consider whether there are any bars to the extradition.
"As the case is now before the courts, it would be inappropriate to comment further at this time," he added.
Belgrade wants to try Ganic and 18 other former Bosnian officials suspected of involvement in an attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo, as well as alleged incidents at a hospital and military barracks in the Bosnian capital.
At the time Ganic, the highest-ranking ex-Bosnian official named in the warrant, dismissed the allegations as "ridiculous."
Eighteen people were killed and many officers, soldiers and civilians wounded in the May 1992 convoy attack, at the start of Bosnia's three-and-a-half year war.
Bosnia's inter-ethnic war between its Croats, Muslims and Serbs claimed some 100,000 lives. It left the country split into two semi-autonomous halves -- the Muslim-Croat Federation and the Serbs' Republika Srpska.
Ganic's arrest came as Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic told his genocide trial that the conflict launched in Bosnia had been a "holy" cause against Muslim aggression.
Ending his boycott of the UN's International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Karadzic said he would use the trial "to defend the greatness" of his people who had endured centuries of persecution.
The 64-year-old, who is conducting his own defence, stands charged as the "supreme commander" of an ethnic cleansing campaign targeting Croats and Muslims in the war that displaced 2.2 million people.
"I will defend that nation of ours and their cause that is just and holy," said a confident Karadzic speaking from the defence lawyers' bench at the tribunal in The Hague.
In Belgrade, Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic told the Beta news agency that her ministry would send an extradition request for Ganic on Tuesday.
The Serbian interior ministry issued a warrant for Ganic and another 18 suspects in 2009 because of the "armed attack on a Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo in May 1992."
The convoy was withdrawing from central Sarajevo towards the military barracks in Lukavica suburb. Serbian sources said 41 Yugoslav army soldiers and officers were killed, 71 were wounded and 215 detained in the attack.
The head of an association of Bosnian Serb wartime detainees urged British authorities to extradite Ganic to Serbia.
"By arresting Ganic the international community has finally understood that the time has come that war crimes committed against Bosnian Serbs be processed also," said the Association of detainees of Republika Srpska.
"Those responsible should be brought before justice," Branislav Dukic told the Bosnian Serb SRNA news agency.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20100301...abosniabritain
This was posted in the RS/Bosnia thread....
Sorry i didn't see it.Originally Posted by Bathinus
Finally...justice.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-10780221Ex-Bosnian leader Ejup Ganic's UK extradition blocked
The extradition from the UK of a former Bosnian leader wanted for alleged war crimes in Serbia has been blocked.
Former acting president Ejup Ganic, 64, was wanted for prosecution over alleged atrocities he denies committing in Sarajevo in 1992.
A judge sitting in London blocked the bid, saying there was evidence his trial could be "politically motivated".
A spokesman for the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office said an appeal would be launched against the decision.
'Abuse of process'
Lawyers say Dr Ganic ordered attacks on a medical convoy and the execution of surrendered soldiers at the start of the Bosnian war - both of which are illegal under the Geneva Convention
Two previous investigations found he had no case to answer.
One, carried out by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, concluded there was no case.
A second, commissioned by the prosecutor's office for the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ruled that the case against Dr Ganic was politically motivated.
District Judge Timothy Workman, sitting at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Tuesday, said: "These proceedings are brought and are being used for political purposes and as such amount to an abuse of process of this court."
Referring to the two earlier probes, he said: "The evidence which has been subsequently obtained is not significant and does not justify any change in the initial decision.
"In the absence of any additional significant evidence, there would appear to be only two possible explanations, that of incompetence by the Serbian prosecutors or a motive for prosecuting which is based upon politics, race or religion.
"From the evidence I have received from Mr Petrovic [the Serbian deputy prosecutor] I am satisfied that the War Crimes Prosecutor's Office is far from incompetent."
'Conspiracy'
During the hearing, Dr Ganic sat at the back of the crowded courtroom with his son and daughter either side of him.
Afterwards, he said the case was "a textbook example of abuse".
"The government of Serbia tried to undermine the judiciary in this country, they used taxpayers' money and they kept me here for five months," he said.
"The conspiracy will be investigated."
He added: "I acted honestly, with the law, defending my country."
But Vladimir Vukcevic, spokesman for the Serbian War Crimes Prosecutor's Office, said: "We are not happy with the decision and shall appeal within the timeframe."
Last year, a Belgrade court indicted Dr Ganic and 18 other people over their alleged roles in the killings of 42 soldiers.
Dr Ganic was arrested at Heathrow Airport on 1 March after attending a degree ceremony at the University of Buckingham. He has been on bail since.
The university is twinned with Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, where Dr Ganic is president.
Juxtaposed by the Bosnian Muslim and Croat motivation for prosecuting the Serbian leadership of the war, which is justice, yes?A second, commissioned by the prosecutor's office for the State of Bosnia and Herzegovina, ruled that the case against Dr Ganic was politically motivated.
Pathetic.
L.
Not surprising, there's no justice in this world. There has never been.
justice belongs to one's with more political weight and power.
it's a very loose term...
Maybe they should set up an independant court outside of the Balkans......oh wait don't they have that
I'm not sure whether it's "independent". Some think it's victor's justice to justify and whitewash "controversial measures" and to further demonize a certain country.Maybe they should set up an independant court outside of the Balkans......oh wait don't they have that
Not in the least.independant court outside of the Balkans......oh wait don't they have that
L.
Good one!Maybe they should set up an independant court outside of the Balkans......oh wait don't they have that
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