Serbia Files Request for Ganic's Extradition
10 March 2010 The Serbian Justice Ministry has filed a request asking the competent institutions of the United Kingdom to extradite Ejup Ganic, who is being held in custody in the UK.
"The request, as well as voluminous court documents, were submitted on Wednesday, March 10, asking the UK to hand Ganic over to the High Court in Belgrade in order to complete criminal proceedings that Serbia is conducting against him," the Ministry of Justice of the Republic of Serbia announced.
These documents and Ganic's Defence arguments will be considered at a hearing scheduled to take place before the Westminster Magistrates Court in London on March 25.
Ejup Ganic, a member of the wartime Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, was arrested in London on March 1, "on the basis of a preliminary request by Serbian authorities". He was arrested on suspicion that he participated in an attack on a Yugoslav National Army, JNA, convoy in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo in May 1992. He was ordered into custody that can last until March 29 this year.
Ganic's Defence team asked the Court to release him on bail, offering £ 200,000 as a guarantee that he would appear before court. However, the Westminster Magistrates Court rejected the request. An appeal was filed, and will be considered by the High Court at a hearing scheduled for Thursday, March 11.
The Serbian Justice Ministry announced that the War Crimes Chamber of the High Court in Belgrade opened an investigation against Ganic in December 2008 on the basis of reasonable suspicion that he "personally, and in collaboration with other individuals, issued orders for attacks on JNA buildings and the military convoy in Dobrovoljacka Street, which was in violation of a concrete agreement on the peaceful withdrawal of JNA forces from Bosnia and Herzegovina"
"By the decision on the opening of an investigation, Ganic was suspected of three crimes, including war crime against the wounded and the sick, unlawful killing and wounding of enemy soldiers and use of prohibited combat means," the Serbian Justice Ministry said in its announcement.
Bosnian authorities have filed a request, asking the UK to extradite Ganic due to the fact that the Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina is conducting an investigation into the events in Dobrovoljacka street in May 1992.
Justice Report is a
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local courts; development of the local legal system; and efforts to come to
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