The wartime mayor of the Bosnian town of Trebinje, Bozidar Vucurevic, is also under the investigation of the judicial authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but no indictment has been issued against him so it is not yet certain if Bosnia too would request his extradition from Serbia, local media reported on Wednesday.
According to the Sarajevo-based Dnevni Avaz daily, the Mostar Canton Prosecutor's Office launched an investigation against Vucurevic in 2003.
Vucurevic and his wartime associates are suspected on command and direct responsibility of the persecution of more than 5,500 Bosniaks from Trebinje municipality and of killing at least 17 people and torturing 86 people of whom four succumbed to the wounds.
They are also suspected of mobilising Croats and Bosniaks to join the Yugoslav People's Army with an aim to send them to the Dubrovnik battlefield.
Spokesman for the Bosnia and Herzegovina Prosecutor's Office Boris Grubesic confirmed that some facts point to Vucurevic's involvement in war crimes that are more grave that the ones Croatia accuses him of.
"We shall wait for all the facts to clear up and then we shall react. This case is different than others, because Vucurevic is accused of crimes committed on the territory of another country.
Serbian police arrested Vucurevic on April 4, acting on an international warrant issued by Croatia. Vucurovic was arrested at the Karakaj border crossing between Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mali Zvornik, Serbia, at around 1pm on Monday. Later he was placed in custody.
Vucurevic is wanted in Croatia for the shelling of the historic coastal city of Dubrovnik during the war, when he served as mayor of Trebinje. In October 2008, the Dubrovnik County Prosecutor's Office indicted him for war crimes against civilians and the destruction of cultural monuments during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia.
According to the indictment, in September 1991 Vucurevic ordered mobilisation of Territorial Defence forces in the municipality of Trebinje and the formation of special police units which were included in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which attacked Croatia from the territories of Herzegovina and Montenegro on October 1, 1991. By October 26, those units had occupied the Croatian territory stretching from Prevlaka to Ston and had held Dubrovnik under total blockade.
During their attacks, the JNA forces violated international conventions by deliberately and wantonly shelling civilian targets, as a result of which 91 civilians were killed and 200 were wounded. They destroyed, burned and looted the property of civilians and took people to detention camps at Morinje and Bileca. They also shelled Dubrovnik's Old Town, which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, causing extensive damage to monuments within the city walls.
After the withdrawal of the JNA from the occupied area of Croatia on October 26, 1992, exercising full control and power over the armed forces of the self-styled Serb Autonomous District of Eastern Herzegovina, Vucurevic and commanders of the Herzegovina Corps ordered further shelling of Dubrovnik, which lasted until October 29, 1995. During that time, seven civilians were killed and 11 were badly wounded, and property damage was caused.
