Interpol Reconsiders Serbian Request for Arrest Warrants
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”Serbia’s request for INTERPOL to issue 13 Red Notices for Bosnian nationals is currently under review, in liaison with the ICTY international court … INTERPOL will make no further comment on this matter until its review is completed,” the Interpol statement reads.
At the end of last year the Serbian Prosecution for War Crimes launched an investigation into 18 BiH citizens accused of murdering Yugoslav People’s Army (JNA) soldiers in Dobrovoljacka Street in Sarajevo in May 1992. See Serbian Probe Into JNA Deaths Alarms Bosnians
The Serbian investigating magistrate ruled that suspects should be detained, and allegedly submitted a request for 13 warrants, but this number could be increased. The names of suspects have not been made public. The BiH Interior Ministery has revealed that warrants have been issued against these people.
In May this year the Interpol office in Belgrade submitted a request for ‘red’ warrants to be issued against a number of persons connected with the murder of JNA members who were inside a vehicle column in Dobrovoljacka Street.
Interpol ‘red’ warrants are used to arrest and extradite individuals based on an arrest request. In the case of a ‘red’ warrant, the BiH authorities are under an obligation to locate wanted persons in order to arrest and extradite them.
BiH Interior Minister Tarik Sadovic traveled to Lyon on June 2 among other things to discuss the ”Dobrovoljacka street” case with Interpol officials.
”Minister Sadovic will request detailed information on the status of the warrants. With this initiative Interpol Belgrade has violated Article 3 of the Interpol Statute and furthermore the request for these warrants has been motivated purely by political reasons, about which Minister Sadovic immediately informed Interpol’s General Secretariat and requested their withdrawal,” said an Interior Ministry statement.
