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Bosnia and Herzegovina Requests Batko's Extradition

Veselin Vlahović Batko

04 March 2010  Jusuf Halilagic, Secretary of the Justice Ministry of Bosnia and Herzegovina, has confirmed to Justice Report that Bosnia and Herzegovina has requested the extradition of Veselin 'Batko' Vlahovic by Spanish authorities, who arrested him on March 2 this year.

The request was submitted on the basis of suspicion that he committed "54 criminal legal sanctions", including murder, torture, forcible disappearances and rape of Bosniaks and Croats in Grbavica settlement in Sarajevo during the course of the war.  

Judicial institutions of Montenegro will request Vlahovic's extradition as they are conducting an investigation against him for war crimes against civilians committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina. The Montenegro authorities issued a warrant against Vlahovic after he escaped from prison in Spuz, where he was serving a sentence for banditry and violent behaviour, in 2001.

In the next few days the Ministry of Justice of Serbia will also file a request for Vlahovic's extradition, since the District Court in Novi sad pronounced a second instance verdict against him, sentencing him to seven years in prison for murder.

"The request for Vlahovic's extradition will be filed within the deadline prescribed by the European Extradition Conventions," the Justice Ministry of Serbia said.

Veselin Vlahovic was arrested under an international warrant in Altea, Spain. Media reports suggest he had false Bulgarian documents and offered resistance during the course of the arrest.  

"In comparison to Montenegro and Serbia, we are in a privileged position to have him extradited to our country, because most of the crimes were committed on the territory of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The acts include war crimes against civilians as well as other mass crimes. There is voluminous documentation about those crimes. They are far graver than the ones he committed in Montenegro and Serbia," Halilagic said.  

However, it is still not known whether Vlahovic has citizenship of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

"If he does not have our citizenship and he is extradited to his home country, it will not longer be possible to have him extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina. In that case, the only way he can be tried is for Bosnia and Herzegovina to consign the criminal prosecution to Montenegro or Serbia, whose citizenship he probably has," Halilagic explained.

The Justice Ministry of Montenegro has announced that "there is an open case against him, conducted by judicial institutions of Montenegro", adding that this was the basis for the warrant against him. It said that Vlahovic has citizenship of Montenegro and this was the reason for asking the Spanish authorities to extradite him.