Bosnian Serb Suspects Handed Over to Bosnia

According to local media, Bosnian judicial police took Mitar Rasevic and Savo Todovic into custody at Sarajevo airport on October 3.



The indictment against the two men, which covers the period from April 1992 to October 1994, accuses them of the persecution, murder, torture and illegal imprisonment of Bosnian Muslims in the Serb-run prison in Foca in south-eastern Bosnia.



According to the indictment, Rasevic commanded the prison guards and Todovic was second in command of the prison staff there.



This transfer is part of the tribunal strategy of meeting its 2008 completion date by focusing on trials of higher-ranking political and military leaders, and sending suspects lower down the chain of command to be tried in the national courts of the former Yugoslav countries.



The tribunal first ruled that the two men should be referred to the Bosnian judiciary on July 8, 2005. Todovic’s defence counsel appealed against the decision on the grounds that his client might not receive a fair trial in Bosnia.



After some legal wrangling, the appeals chamber dismissed Todovic's appeal on September 4, 2006 and reinstated the order to transfer him.