A Place to Stand

Photo accompanying General Lewis MacKenzie's witnessing of the event "We're moving. Tell Ganic."


The Serbian government seem to be on the edge of a game changing move. They have asked for the extradition, from Britain, under an international warrant, of Ejup Ganic. Under international law there is no question that our government now has a duty to transfer him & he is currently in jail as various British politicians & media (ie C4) do their best to muddy the waters.

What happened

on May 3, 1992 .. a convoy of JNA soldiers was pulling back through Dobrovoljacka street, in central Sarajevo, to the barracks in Lukavica, remains unresolved.

In the middle of the convoy was Alija Izetbegovic, then President of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. He was seated in the first armored transporter, having been seized by the JNA at Sarajevo airport the previous day.

As per a previously reached agreement, the president was to be released once the convoy had passed through the city safely to the barracks. But in the afternoon hours the convoy was disjoined and a number of soldiers were killed.

Seventeen years on, it is not known exactly how many died.

A criminal report filed by the Public Safety Centre from Eastern Sarajevo claimed up to 42 soldiers were killed and 73 wounded.

Jovan Divjak, then deputy commander of the Territorial Defence, who was present in the street, says he knew about only “between seven and nine victims”, however.

The investigation conducted by the Serbian Prosecution, meanwhile, mentions 18, while another criminal report, filed by the Republika Srpska authorities, mention 15.

Various media reports have named as possible suspects: two former members of the Bosnian wartime presidency Ejub Ganic and Stjepan Kljujic, the former Territorial Defence commander Divjak, Backovic.

The report filed with the Serbian War Crimes Prosecution accused the aforementioned Ganic and Kljujic of having “organised and ordered [two] Bosnian Army officers, the late Mustafa Hajrulahovic and Jusuf Pusina, then and now an Interior Ministry member, to attack the army convoy.”

It says Ganic and Kljujic ordered the attack even though an agreement had been made to allow the Second Military Regional Staffs of the JNA to leave Sarajevo peacefully.

The report alleges that, in this way, the two men “directly participated in killing and wounding several tens of JNA members”.

While there is doubt about the number dead there is none that some died. Nor that Ganic, as deputy President with Izetbegovic arrested had command authority. Nor that he personally had signed on the cease fire that was to allow the JNA (Jugoslav National Army) forces to leave. Nor that they were doing so peacefully & were therefore in no way combatant. There is, at the very least, a clear prima facie case that Ganic was responsible for mass murder. In his defence he may & now appears to be saying that the attack started without his permission. That is something a defence lawyer would be perfectly right to claim & a prosecution one to examine. The fact that neither Jusef Pasina nor anybody else has been arrested for what would be, if not so authorised, not only mass murder but mutiny.

The Serbian government, which is recognised as the successor state of Yugoslavia has a clear interest here that may not apply to other cases - namely that the victims were serving members of the Yugoslav armed forces & presumably in most cases citizens of what is now Serbia. As such they have a remit which may not apply generally even though very many murders by our Bosnia Muslim, Croatian Nazi, KLA etc friends were much worse.

There is no question that we have undertaken a legal duty to extradite him if there is a case to answer.

The request is valid if it states that it is a request for a person accused or convicted of an offence and it is made by an appropriate authority of the requesting territory such as a diplomatic or consular representative.

Paperwork is needed to get the case off the ground:

particulars of the person whose return is requested
particulars of the offence of which he is accused or was convicted
in the case of a person accused of an offence, a warrant or a duly authenticated copy of a warrant for his arrest issued in the requesting state, or for a provisional arrest, details of such a warrant
in the case of a person unlawfully at large after conviction of an offence, a certificate or a duly authenticated copy of a certificate of the conviction and the sentence, or for provisional arrest, details of the conviction
evidence or information that would justify the issue of a warrant for arrest in the UK, within the jurisdiction of a judge of the court that would hold the extradition hearing.

If the court is satisfied that the request contains the required information an arrest warrant may be issued. It is sent to the police for execution.

NB Serbia is on a list of respectable countries which do NOT need to provide prima facie evidence in support of its extradition request. Likewise Bosnia and Herzegovina.

There is no question that there is a case to answer.

Legally the Serbs have the case bang to rights. It would be difficult to find a stronger legal case short of a confession. Of course legality has not been a significant consideration in British public life of recent years. Perhaps this is changing - we will see.

One of Ganic's supporters Robin Harris says

No one, knowing the circumstances, could imagine that Ganic would receive a fair trial in Belgrade. Yet Britain has limited its own options, by legislation passed in 2003 that reduces the scope for ministers to intervene to stop such cases.

but it seems to me the exact opposite is true. That the Belgrade authorities will bend over backwards to be seen to produce a fair trial. After all if the evidence is that the event happened & he bore responsibility then a fair trial will convict. If it does not it will be because it has been proven that some other named person, currently being shielded by the Bosnian Nazis was responsible & Serbia could demand his extradition. The prosecution has nothing to fear from a fair trial & indeed quite a lot to gain from one, whichever way the verdict goes. The important thing for Serbia & indeed for the world is that the rule of law be established. The ICTY have previously refused to bring Ganic to trial, as indeed they have refused to bring almost all non-Serbs to trial but nobody really believes the ICTY have ever been interested in purely fair trials.

The problem for western governments is not that Ganic will not get a fair trial but that he will.

The legal maxim is Fiat justitia ruat caelum - meaning "May justice be done though the heavens fall." If it is not then we have no rule of law. If it is then perhaps perhaps the world has at least made the turn towards having one.

Labels: International politics, Yugoslavia