Arrest of former Bosnia president causes uproar

Sarajevo/Belgrade - The arrest of former president of Bosnia-Herzegovina Ejup Ganic for alleged war crimes has caused an uproar in Bosnia, with one party describing it as an attack on the country and calling for legal action against top Serbian leaders. Ganic was arrested on Monday evening at London's Heathrow airport for alleged war crimes on an extradition warrant issued by the Serbian government.

Serbia is accusing him of the murder of 42 soldiers during an attack on a Yugoslav Army convoy in Sarajevo at the beginning of the 1992-95 Bosnian war.

While Ganic denies all allegations, politicians in Bosnia say Serbia is retaliating for the war crimes prosecution of Serbs, and they have called for arrest warrants to be issued for all Serb leaders from the 1992-95 period.

The arrest of Ganic came the same day as the resumption in The Hague of the war crimes trial of Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, who faces 11 charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

The founding member of the Serbian Democratic Party of Bosnia and Herzegovina is alleged to have orchestrated the 1992-1995 siege of Sarajevo and the 1995 massacre in the Muslim enclave of Srebrenica, where Bosnian Serb forces are thought to have killed close to 8,000 unarmed Muslim men and boys.

"This arrest is an attack on Bosnia and every man living in it," the Social Democratic Party, Bosnia's biggest opposition party, said in a statement on Ganic's arrest.

"It is time for Bosnian institutions to stand up and defend its citizens ... We are asking Bosnian prosecutors to launch investigations against Serbia's top political and army officials in the period 1992-95," the party said.

While Serbia says Ganic ordered an attack at the retreating Yugoslav Army convoy in May 1992 which led to the death of 42 people and the wounding of 70, Muslims say Serbs were the aggressors and they were acting in self-defense.

The Bosnian war, in which Serbs, Muslims and Croats fought among themselves, ended with the partition of Bosnia two two entities - the Serb Republic and the Muslim-Croat Federation.

Serbian Justice Minister Snezana Malovic told local media that Belgrade will provide the additional documents needed for Ganic's extradition on Tuesday.

While Ganic's son said that his family would seek the former president's release on bail, Serbian Interior Minister Ivica Dacic told local media that the motion for bail had been dismissed and that Ganic would remain in custody until March 29.

This is not the first arrest of Ganic. He was arrested at Heathrow airport in 2006 but was released shortly afterward.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/312072,arrest-of-former-bosnia-president-causes-uproar.html.