Switzerland to extradite Oric to Bosnia

Switzerland to extradite Oric to Bosnia

Oric was arrested in Switzerland on June 10 on a Serbian war crimes warrant. Serbia last week requested his extradition.

The warrant was issued in 2014, on suspicion that Oric committed war crimes against Serb civilians in the Srebrenica area in 1992.

Faculty of Law Professor Milan Skulic said earlier in the day that Bosnia's motives to also request his extradition were "suspicions" - considering that Sarajevo only announced it was conducting an investigation after Serbia requested Oric's extradition.

"It seems that the motive of the Bosnian request is to prevent his extradition to Serbia," commented Skulic.

The Serbian request was announced on June 21, and a day later the Prosecution of Bosnia-Herzegovina said it was conducting an investigation in the Naser Oric et al. case, and that it was launched in 2006.

Oric's legal representative Vasvija Vidovic told the Sarajevo-based daily Dnevni Avaz on Thursday that her client was "now a free man."

Previously, the Hague Tribunal found Oric guilty on one count of the indictment it raised against him and sentenced him to two years in prison for "indirect responsibility for killing seven and torturing 11 Serb prisoners" in 1992 and 1993.

But the Hague Chamber of Appeals acquitted him of all charges saying that "while serious crimes had been committed against Serbs in Srebrenica from September 1992 until March 1993" - the fact that crimes had been committed was "not enough to sentence an individual."

Ahead of his Hague trial, the media reported that during 1992 and 1993 he led attacks on more than 50 Serb villages in the areas of Brantunac and Srebrenica.

Before the latter fell to the Bosnian Serb forces in July 1995, Oric "and his associates" were evacuated by helicopter to the territory held by the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina.