Request for Court Order Execution Filed

Bozana Banduka, president of the Kiseljak court, said that today, on October 9, she would send the documents by mail to the Ministry of Justice of Bosnia and Herzegovina, in accordance with the agreement on execution of court orders between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.

The Ministry of Justice, which in cases like these is a “liaison body”, will pass the request on to the competent institution in Croatia, which is not extraditing its citizens.

Ilijasevic was serving his sentence in Mostar, but failed to return to the prison following a period of leave granted by the governor. He then resurfaced in Croatia where he told local media he hoped Croatia would grant him early release.

Ilijasevic, a former member of the Maturica special unit of the Croatian Defence Council, was jailed for 15 years in 2009 for war crimes in the Vares and Kiseljak municipalities, including the murders of civilians in an attack on the village of Stupni Do.

Bosnian Croat forces took control of Stupni Do in central Bosnia in October 1993 and massacred most of the Bosniaks that they captured. The confirmed number of victims is at least 35.