Croatia's judicial authorities will ask Serbia to officially notify them about the circumstances under which the wartime mayor of the southern Bosnian town of Trebinje, Bozidar Vucurevic, fled from Serbia back to Bosnia because his escape has thwarted the completion of the procedure for his extradition to Croatia where he is wanted for war crimes committed in the Dubrovnik area from 1991 to 1995.
Vucurevic was released from custody in Belgrade on June 17 in the continuation of extradition proceedings launched against him after Croatian and Bosnian authorities requested his extradition from Serbia. He was banned from leaving Serbia's territory. He was arrested at a Bosnia-Serbia border crossing on April 4 on an international warrant issued by Croatia which wants him for his role in the shelling of Dubrovnik in the early 1990s, when he was mayor of the neighbouring Bosnian town of Trebinje. The County Prosecutor's Office in Dubrovnik indicted him in October 2008 for war crimes against civilians in the Dubrovnik area and the destruction of cultural and historical monuments between 1991 and 1995.
He is also wanted by Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he is under investigation for war crimes in Trebinje.
Vucurevic holds Bosnian citizenship. In 2008 he applied for Serbian citizenship but his application was refused.
The news that Vucurevic had returned to Trebinje was broken on Sunday.
The Croatian Justice Ministry said on Monday that they had not yet been officially notified about Vucurevic's departure from Serbia to Bosnia. Upon the receipt of an official notification, the Croatian authorities will seek through diplomatic channels an explanation how Vucurevic managed to escape to Trebinje because his escape impeded the procedure of his extradition from Serbia to Croatia.
This weekend, Vucurevic contacted his lawyer in Serbia, Svetozar Vujacic, to inform him that he was in Trebinje and that he would report to the local judicial bodies on Monday. Vucurevic told his lawyer he could no longer bear what was happening to him in Belgrade where he lived in poor conditions, not being able to pay for accommodation and health care.
After the lawyer Vujacic said on Sunday that Vucurevic had left Serbia for Trebinje, officials at the Belgrade High Court said the court had approved Vucurevic's extradition to both Croatia and Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The Bosnian legislation does not alow Bosnia to extradite its nationals to other countries.
Bosnian Assistant Justice Minister Srdjan Arnaut has said that Croatia's authorities can transfer the documentation about Vucurevic to Bosnia for the continuation of the proceedings against him.
On Monday, the Bosnian prosecutorial authorities told Hina in Sarajevo that Vucurevic was still under investigation for war crimes of ethnic cleansing against non-Serbs in Trebinje, but that he would not be put behind bars as long as he was available to prosecutors.
Earlier in the day, Vucurevic reported to a local court in Trebinje, but the court would not hear him, explaining that there were no proceedings against him.
The spokeswoman for the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, Selma Hecimovic, said in Sarajevo that the investigation against Vucurevic was under way.
As a suspect he has always been available to the prosecutorial authorities and therefore there has been no need to place him in custody, Hecimovic said.
She said the Bosnian prosecutorial authorities had no comment on Vucurevic's escape from Serbia to Bosnia.
