SARAJEVO — Bosnia and Serbia will continue to run parallel investigations into the 1992 war crime dubbed the Tuzla Column.
The Tuzla Column pertains to the attack on the Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) on May 15 1992, carried by a Bosnian Muslim paramilitary force.
The JNA troops came under attack as they were withdrawing as agreed from the city of Tuzla as the entire incident was broadcast live on a local TV station. Up to 200 members of the JNA were reportedly killed and 140 were taken prisoners.
Serbian police arrested Ilija Jurišić, suspected of having participated the crime on May 1, with an outstanding warrant issued by the Belgrade Interpol Office.
The Bosnian Prosecution announced it would file a motion for his extradition to Bosnia, since Bosnian War Crimes Prosecution was running its own investigation into the Tuzla column incident.
Representatives of Serbian and Bosnian war crimes prosecutor’s offices met in Sarajevo to discuss the case Wednesday.
Serbian Assistant War Crimes Prosecutor Milan Petrović said that the provisions of law did not currently allow for the extradition of Jurišić to Bosnia.
“According to our law, it is not possible to extradite a suspect for a criminal offence for which the minimum penalty stands as 10 years of imprisonment, which is the case with Jurišić. Bosnia has identical rules. We have agreed that he will remain in Belgrade for the time being,” Petrović explained.
He added that the extradition of Jurišić is a matter of bilateral policies between Serbia and Bosnia, primarily at the level of justice ministries, governments and parliaments.
“Serbia has no options at present but to abide by its laws. It means that both Serbia and Bosnia can continue with their investigation in the same case. Whether they could be adjoined depends on the agreement of the two states,” Petrović said.
He went on to explain the consequences of parallel investigations.
“Judicial bodies would have to keep in mind that if a person is convicted in one state, the other would have to dismiss proceedings against him [or] her, since a person cannot answer for the same crime in two places,” Petrović stressed.
Asked whether prosecutions in Sarajevo and Belgrade named the same suspects in the case, he said that the investigations coincide to a large degree.
Bosnian War Crimes Prosecution said in a statement issued after the meeting that the two offices exchanged all necessary information regarding the case.
“Bosnian and Serbian ministers of justice will soon hold a meeting, in which they will address the motion to extradite Jurišić,” the statement reads.
Related posts:
No Comments yet »
RSS feed for comments on this post. TrackBack URI
Leave a comment
Copyright © 1996-2008 Serbian Unity Congress
Entries and comments feeds.
Valid XHTML and CSS. ^Top^