The defence team will repeat its request for Purda's release, his lawyer Josip Muselimovic said on Monday.

Purda has been in the Zenica prison since his arrest on the Bosnian-Croatian border crossing of Orasje.

"We have proven beyond any doubt that there is not a single piece of evidence that Mr. Purda has committed a crime. Accordingly, conditions have been created for dropping proceedings against him and for releasing Purda from custody," the lawyer said.

According to Muselimovic, Serbia's request for the prolonged extradition detention is an act of "humiliating the judicial and state system of the Republic of Croatia, as Serbia is ignoring the findings of the prosecutorial authorities in Osijek which established, after conducting preliminary inquiries and questioning witnesses, that there is no evidence connecting Purda with the alleged war crime in 1991 against JNA members."

The lawyer also believes that Serbia's jurisdiction over the case ceased as soon as it referred the case to Croatia.

Earlier in February, the Bosnian State Attorney's Office asked the country's State Court to keep this Croatian war veteran in extradition custody up to six months.

Court spokesperson Selma Hadzic said that the request for the extension of extradition custody was based on the assessment that the process of deciding on Serbia's request for Purda's extradition would take time and that it would not be possible to complete it before February 14, when the temporary 40-day extradition detention previously set for Purda expires.

The office of the Serbian war crimes prosecutor said in the meantime that it was in possession of Purda's confession, which was why it had to act in line with the law and request his extradition from Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Lawyer Muselimovic and Purda himself told the Bosnian State Court that the confession was extorted while Purda was tortured in a concentration camp in Serbia. Thus, the evidence was obtained in an unlawful manner and with violations of international law.