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Marina Bakic, spokesperson of the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said that, on Friday, October 4 Croatia officially confirmed that Ilijasevic, who fled in late September, was a citizen of that country and that he could not be extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
She says that the competent court that sent Ilijasevic to prison in order to serve his sentence, should request Croatia, via the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, to execute the verdict, but this has still not happened.
According to the Law on Execution of Criminal Sanctions of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina, FBiH, a court, which is competent for the area where a convict lives, is responsible for sending the convict to a prison to serve his/her sentence.
The Municipal Court in Zenica sent Ilijasevic to prison in order to serve his sentence, because his place of residence is located in Zenica municipality.
The Municipal Court in Zenica says that it has still not received anything from the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, pointing out that “it is not excluded that something will be received”. They say that, in case they receive something, they will respond.
Bakic said that the information from Croatia had been delivered to the Cantonal Court in Zenica and prison in Mostar, which could forward the data to the competent court, which sent the convict to prison.
Ilijasevic was serving his sentence in a prison in Mostar, but he failed to return to the prison following a period of leave. He fled to Croatia instead. He told the Croatian media that he wanted to serve the rest of his sentence in Croatia, according to the Agreement on Execution of Court Verdicts. He said that he believed that Croatia would release him to liberty, considering the fact that he had already served two thirds of his sentence.
Ilijasevic, former member of “Maturice” Special Purposes Unit with the Croatian Defence Council, HVO, was sentenced by the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2008 to 14 years in prison for crimes against the local population in Vares and Kiseljak municipalities, including murders committed in Stupni Do village.
One year later the Cantonal Court in Novi Travnik sentenced him to four-and-a-half years in prison for committing murders in Kiseljak during the war. Under the mentioned verdict, he was sentenced to a unitary sentence of 15 years.
