BiH's Ganic remains in British custody

10/03/2010

Former BiH presidency member Ejup Ganic awaits a bail hearing after his March 1st arrest at London's Heathrow Airport.

By Jusuf Ramadanovic for Southeast European Times in Sarajevo -- 10/03/10

Bosnian war veterans rally outside the British Embassy in Sarajevo on March 5th to protest the arrest of Bosnian wartime presidency member Ejup Ganic. [Getty Images]

Ejup Ganic, a senior member of Bosnia and Herzegovina's (BiH) Bosniak Muslim Party for Democratic Action, will remain in British custody at least through Thursday (March 11th), when a bail hearing is held in London's High Court. It will then be decided whether he will be extradited to Serbia, which issued the warrant for his arrest on war crimes charges.

The 64-year-old former BiH presidency member was arrested on March 1st at London's Heathrow Airport.

Serbia charges that in May 1992, Ganic ordered troops under his control to open fire on a convoy of the former Yugoslav National Army (JNA) troops as they retreated from Sarajevo, towards the Serb stronghold of Lukavica. The incident caused the deaths of 40 JNA soldiers.

Although he has spent most of his political career in BiH, Ganic was born in Novi Pazar, in the Sanjak region of Serbia. Therefore, Serbian authorities claim he was arrested as a Serbian citizen. Ganic's family insists he now holds a BiH passport. Both countries are seeking his extradition.

News of his arrest caused a stir in political circles and among the public, particularly Bosniaks in the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, one of the country's two entities.

Serbia's move has been condemned by politicians in Sarajevo as a sign of ill will, one that bodes poorly for the establishment of bilateral ties.

In an interview with the weekly paper BH Dani, the Bosniak member of the country's tripartite presidency, Haris Silajdzic, said he was "awkwardly surprised" by the arrest.

The warrant for Ganic, Silajdzic said, is not the first aggressive move by Serbia towards his country. Twice recently, he said, Serbia has rejected BiH-appointed ambassadors and only accepted one after "very strong political involvement on the part of Turkey".

Zeljko Komsic, another member of the BiH presidency, said the case is reminiscent of the one involving Ilija Jurisic. A former military man, Jurisic was arrested at Belgrade Airport in May 2007 on an international warrant, and has been detained by Serbia ever since. He is charged with a wartime incident involving a JNA convoy in the northern city of Tuzla in which more than 50 soldiers were killed and another 50 wounded.

Republika Srpska Prime Minister Milorad Dodik told the Belgrade daily Vecernje Novosti that Ganic "would be held responsible for the crimes against Serbs he has committed in the past war in BiH".

Sonja Biserko, president of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia, said the arrest seemed to be a calculated move on the part of Serbia to "reduce its responsibility, through assertions that the war in Bosnia was started by Bosniaks", while trying to criminalise former Bosnian war leaders such as Ganic.

In addition to official reactions, 3,000 residents of Sarajevo -- including a large number of war veterans and students -- protested on March 5th in front of the British and Serbian embassies in the capital. The crowd marched along the city's main boulevard, named for the former Communist dictator Tito, in solidarity with Ganic.