Djukic Did Not Receive Call for “Court’s Mistake”

The call said that Djukic, who is in Serbia, should appear in jail to serve his sentence on September 22.

However, since Djukic failed to appear in jail, the Bosnian court said that the basic court in Banjaluka has “wrongly recorded the request” they sent them.

The basic court in Banjaluka could not provide additional information about this case.

A new call for Djukic to serve his sentence will be issued through the court police, the Bosnian court said.

In case Djukic fails to appear to serve his sentence after he receives the call, and the arrest warrant is issued, he cannot be extradited to Bosnia and Herzegovina, because he has Serbian citizenship.

But he could be jailed in Serbia, which signed an agreement with Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2010 that prevents convicts whose final verdict has been handed down from avoiding serving their sentences by fleeing to a neighbouring country.

The former commander of the Bosnian Serb Army’s Ozren Tactical Group, Djukic was found guilty of ordering an artillery squad to shell Tuzla on May 25, 1995. Several artillery projectiles hit the down town area known as Kapija, killing 71 people.

He was jailed for a maximum of 20 years, after a more lenient Criminal code of Former Yugoslavia was used in the renewed trial.

His sentence from 2010, when he was convicted according to the Bosnian criminal code, was reduced by five years. The first verdict was quashed in February, and he was released from prison.