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Tuzla Convoy Investigation Suspended

Tuzla

11 December 2009  

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina stops an investigation against Selim Beslagic and six other people, who were suspected of involvement in "the Tuzla convoy" crime committed in May 1992.

"Prosecutor David Schwendiman considers that the investigation was conducted in accordance with the law. As Chief of the Special War Crimes Section with the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, he agrees that the collected pieces of evidence do not substantiate the allegations against any of the suspects concerning the crime committed in Tuzla on May 15, 1992," the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina announced.

In addition to Selim Beslagic, wartime Mayor of Tuzla, other people believed to have been under suspicion of involvement in the "Tuzla Convoy" crime were Enver Delibegovic, Mehmed Bajric, Muhamed Brkic, Refik Ahmedinovic, Budimir Nikolic and Faruk Prcic, who died in November this year.

The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina charged Prcic, former Commander of the Engineering Squad with the Second Corps of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina, under a separate indictment, with crime against civilians committed in the Tuzla area during 1992.

"As far as the suspected people are concerned, no pieces of evidence fulfill the required standards that would be sufficient for pressing charges against them," the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina considers.

In addition to the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina, the judicial institutions of Serbia are also conducting an investigation into the Tuzla Convoy case.
The indictment against Ilija Jurisic was filed as a result of that investigation. In September this year the District Court in Belgrade rendered a first-instance verdict, sentencing Jurisic to 12 years in prison.

Jurisic was sentenced because, in his capacity as duty chief at the Operational Headquarters of the Safety Services Center in Tuzla, he issued an order for an attack on the Yugoslav National Army, JNA, Brigade as it was withdrawing from Tuzla.

The indictment alleges that at least 51 JNA members were killed and about 50 were wounded on that occasion. Jurisic allegedly issued the order after having received the same order from Muhamed Bajric, Chief of the Safety Services Center in Tuzla.

Jurisic has been held in custody since May 2007. He was transferred to the detention unit after having been arrested at Belgrade Airport.

Beslagic, Nikolic and Delibegovic were arrested in June 2007, as per an international warrant issued by the Interpol Office in Serbia, due to suspicion that they were responsible for forbidden use of combat means in the "Tuzla Convoy" case. The three were brought to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina in order to be extradited to the judicial bodies of the Republic of Serbia, but the Court determined that they were citizens of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, therefore, as per the legal provisions, they could not be extradited to another country.

The State Parliament discussed the arrest of the three suspects. On that occasion delegates from the Social Democratic Party, SDP, said that the proposed extradition represented "a grave violation of the rights and freedom of Bosnian citizens" and would violate certain regulations pertaining to legal safety and "cause political damage to Bosnia and Herzegovina".