The authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina have temporarily extradited Paravinja to Croatia, which wants him on suspicion of killing Antonia Bilic, an underage girl from Drnis for whose body police have been searching for more than a month.

Police brought Paravinja to Croatia shortly after 2000h hours, through the Strmica border crossing, near the southern Croatian town of Knin. Paravinja was brought to the Sibenik prison around 2330 hrs. It is not known why it took nearly four hours for the police to bring Paravinja to Sibenik.

Bosnian Justice Minister Barisa Colak signed on Friday a decision on the temporary extradition of Paravinja to Croatia, so that light could be shed on circumstances of Bilic's disappearance.

According to unofficial information, Paravinja will be interrogated on Monday. After his arrest in Bosnia, Paravinja confessed to the police in Banja Luka that he had strangled an underage girl from the town of Kricke near Drnis and dumped her body in the lake at the Krka River. He then denied his confession before the State Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, saying the police had extorted confession from him by beating him.

Antonia Bilic was last seen in the morning of 7 June, entering a truck on the Cikola Bridge in Drnis, driven by the convicted rapist Paravinja.

After the investigation into the circumstances of Bilic’s disappearance, the Croatian authorities must hand over Paravinja back to the authorities of Bosnia and Herzegovina. They must do so by the time the Court in Sokolac, where Paravinja was recently sentences for rape to two years and ten months in jail, hands down a final verdict.

Serbia, where Paravinja was sentenced to four and a half years for rape but avoided serving the sentence by fleeing to Croatia, has also requested the handover of Paravinja from Bosnia.

Should the verdict delivered by the court in Sokolac become final, the three countries will agree where Paravinja will serve this sentence as well as the sentence handed down by Serbia’s court.

Croatian justice Minister Drazen Bosnjakovic told Croatian Television on Friday evening that in case the verdict delivered by the court in Sokolac became final, Croatia could ask the Bosnian authorities that Paravinja serve the sentence in Croatia. In case of an appeal and in case the appeal is granted, Croatia must return Paravinja to Bosnia, the minister explained.

He said Croatia would soon host a new meeting of the justice ministers of Croatia, Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina who are expected to discuss and adopt improvements to the existing agreements between the three countries.