Serbia Probes Bosnian Army Commander Naser Oric

The Serbian prosecution is investigating former Bosniak military chief Oric’s role in the killing of Serb civilians in Srebrenica in 1992, although extradition to Belgrade is unlikely.

The prosecution in Belgrade said it was investigating Oric and four other Bosnian Army servicemen over the killing of nine Serb civilians in the village of Zalazje near Srebrenica in July 1992.

Oric was acquitted of war crimes against Serbs in the Srebrenica area by the Hague Tribunal in 2008, when the court ruled that he did not have control over the Bosnian Army which committed the crime.

The murders over which Oric is now being investigated in Serbia were committed in the same area, where he was a commander of Bosniak forces.

But he has denied any wrongdoing and accused Serbia of hounding him without any justification.

“I don’t want to check [if there is any arrest warrant] because I am clean in my soul and head. I was prosecuted in The Hague, where I said everything and where I was released,” Oric told media in Bosnia on Tuesday.

He claimed that Serbia would continue to pursue him “as long as I am alive”.

The Hague’s acquittal of Oric in 2008 angered Belgrade.

Serbia’s national council for cooperation with the international court said at the time that the verdict “cannot contribute to either achieving justice and truth or to regional reconciliation”.

The Serbian prosecutor is hoping is hoping to receive evidence to bolster its case against Oric from its counterpart in Bosnia, under a protocol on cooperation on war crimes cases signed by Belgrade and Sarajevo last year.

“The prosecutor for war crimes, Vladimir Vukcevic, talked to the main prosecutor in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Goran Salihovic, about the possibility of exchanging information and evidence in this case,” the Serbian prosecution said in a statement.

The Bosnian prosecution confirmed that it had spoken with its Serbian counterpart “in order to possibly transfer the [Oric] case to the Bosnian prosecution”, but said it had nothing to do with the Belgrade investigation or any possible arrest warrant for Oric.

Bosnian media reported on Monday that the Belgrade office of Interpol had sent a request to Sarajevo asking to question Oric and several others.

The Belgrade prosecution started investigating Oric in 2011, after criminal charges were filed against him by Serbian police.

The war crimes cooperation protocol was signed two years later; however, it does not envisage the extradition of suspects from one country to the other, only the exchange of evidence. Serbia and Bosnia and Herzegovina have no extradition agreement when it comes to war crimes.