Naser Oric arrested in Switzerland

Naser Oric arrested in Switzerland

Swiss police arrested Naser Oric, Bosniak wartime commander of Srebrenica, at the airport in Bern today, because he is on Serbian Interpol's wanted list.

Oric was arrested on the basis of the indictment against him by the Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes in Belgrade in 2014, based on court records transferred to the Tribunal in The Hague.

Oric was commander of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina in the territory of Srebrenica during the wars in the '90s. The Hague acquitted him of charges of crimes against Serbs in the Drina valley.

The Serbian War Crimes Prosecution in January last year announced that on August 4, 2011, on the basis of criminal charges MUP Serbia, submitted a request for investigation against Naser Oric and four other people suspected of war crimes.

The request was submitted on suspicion that they committed war crimes against civilians in Zalazje, Donji Potocari, Srebrenica municipality on July 12, 1992.

Naser Oric and the other suspects are charged that on that occasion they killed nine civilians of Serbian nationality.

It is uncertain whether Oric will stay in custody or he will be released.

As always in the case of the arrest warrants for war crimes, and Oric is currently uncertain whether it will be determined  to stay in custody or be released.

Recall, though these warrants in force, headquarters of Interpol in Lyon is convenient to each Member State to leave the decision whether to act upon them and extradite those arrested.

As a reminder, although Hashim Thaci was arrested in 2003 in Budapest by Serbian arrest warrant, he was soon released.