SARAJEVO, 27. AUG.2015 – Former Bosnian Army general Naser Oric, who led Bosniak(Muslim) forces in battles against Serb troops in eastern Bosnia, was charged with war crimes against Serb prisoners in the area in 1992. Oric, who is seen as a hero by some Bosniaks for his role in combatting Bosnian Serb forces before the 1995 Srebrenica massacres, was charged by the state prosecution with committing war crimes against Serb prisoners of war in the Srebrenica and Bratunac municipalities. The prosecution alleged that Oric and Bosnian Army soldier Sabahudin Muhic killed three Bosnian Serb prisoners of war in the villages of Zalazje, Lolici and Kunjerac in 1992. Oric was arrested on June 10 this year on the French-Swiss border at the request of the Serbian prosecution, which suspects him of involvement in war crimes. But he was ultimately extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina, not to Serbia.The Bosnian prosecution also told BIRN that within the same case they will file a request to the Swiss authorities for the extradition of Elfeta Veseli, who is suspected of killing an Serb civilian boy in 1992 in the same region. Oric has already been acquitted of war crimes against Serbs in the Srebrenica area by the Hague Tribunal in 2008, when the UN-backed court ruled that he did not have control over the Bosnian Army which committed the crimes. His lawyer Vasvija Vidovic, who defended him in The Hague, told BIRN that Oric was questioned by the Bosnian prosecution recently, but that she had not been informed that an indictment had been raised. “However, I think this is illegal, because he was already acquitted of these crimes by the Hague Tribunal. This is a double prosecution and we will try to get this case rejected on these grounds,” said Vidovic. The director of the centre for the investigation of war crimes in Bosnia’s Serb-led entity Republika Srpska, Milorad Kojic, hailed the indictment as a step towards justice. “It was about time for someone to answer for the horrific crimes against Serbs in Podrinje [the eastern Bosnian area that includes Srebrenica, Bratunac and Zvornik]. I hope he is placed in custody, because witnesses might be influenced as we know how influential Oric is and that he is still spreading fear today,” said Kojic. Nedeljko Mitrovic, president of the Families of the Captured, Killed Fighters and Missing Civilians of Republika Srpska organisation, said that he doubted that the prosecution of Oric would bring any satisfaction to Serb victims. “This is Bosniak politics which controls the judiciary – the prosecution was reacting because they were afraid of the overwhelming evidence from the Serbian prosecution in the Interpol warrant and they were afraid of the announced referendum,” said Mitrovic.
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