Serbia moves to diffuse war crimes dispute with Bosnia

Serbia has moved to defuse a bitter dispute with Bosnia over the extradition of their neighbour’s Muslim former president on war crimes charges

Vuk Jeremic, Serbia’s foreign minister, told The Daily Telegraph that the country had offered to accelerate the ratification of a bilateral agreement on war crimes trials to ensure that Ejup Ganic, would not face charges in Belgrade but be returned to Sarajevo.

Mr Ganic was arrested in March at Heathrow airport after Metropolitan Police carried out an arrest warrant following a Serbian extradition request alleging he had been involved in ordering an attack on a Yugoslav army column in Sarajevo in 1992 in which more than forty soldiers were killed.

The arrest took place just two days after Serbia and Bosnia-Herzegovina signed a treaty to put those accused of war crimes by the other state on trial in their home country. But since the document has not yet been ratified by both parliaments, Mr Ganic is facing extradition to be tried in the capital of his former enemies.

“We have tried to work with Bosnia to depoliticise this. We have delivered templates of the legislation to Sarajevo that could achieve ratification very rapidly,” Mr Jeremic said. “We can do it very quickly and do not want to get involved politically in a confrontation in this way. We are determined to respond positively to any questions that are asked of us.”

Vladimir Vukcevic, Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor, has demanded that Mr Ganic, a 64-year-old academic, face trial in Belgrade. Mr Ganic’s lawyers have demanded that the warrant be withdrawn on the grounds that the allegations were examined by international war crimes investigators, who decided there were no grounds to proceed with a trial.

Mr Jeremic said that Serbia would be deeply concerned if the case did not come to trial.

“For sure we’re not going to withdraw the case, we are deeply convinced there is a strong case and that the judiciary must decide,” he said.

Mr Ganic has been bailed on a £300,000 surety provided by the Bosnian born banker Diana Jenkins. He has attracted high profile supporters including Baroness Thatcher and Lord Ashdown. Bosnian politicians have accused the Serbs of lodging a politically-motivated action to distract attention from the trial of the Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in the Hague. Mr Ganic is fighting the extradition request and proceedings opened last week at Westminster Magistrates court. An extradition hearing under Judge Timothy Workman has been scheduled for July 5.

But Mr Jeremic said the Serbian government was unable to override the country’s war crimes prosecutor. He pointed to his reformist government’s credentials in promoting reconciliation with Bosnia-Herzegovina and other former constituents of Yugoslavia, especially Croatia. Serbia’s parliament issued an apology for the country’s role in the Srebrenica Massacre in 1995 earlier this month.

“We have demonstrated we are serious about reconciliation and we have paid a very high price in the polls for our actions,” he said. “I honestly believe that our efforts are dedicated to full reconciliation. We are working very hard to ensure that there is individual responsibility for the crimes of the past so that nations are not held responsible for crimes but individuals are. We have to work to make sure that war crimes are prosecuted and all such cases are properly tried.”