U.S. extradites war crimes suspect to Bosnia
Tue, 20 Dec 2011 17:37 GMT
SARAJEVO, Dec 20 (Reuters) - U.S. authorities on Tuesday extradited to Bosnia a Muslim ex-soldier accused of taking part in the mass murder of Croat civilians in southern Bosnia-Herzegovina during the Muslim-Croat conflict there in 1993, Bosnia's prosecutor's office said.
Edin Dzeko, a 39-year-old naturalised U.S. citizen who moved to the United States in 2001, agreed in November before a judge in Seattle to return to his native Bosnia to face charges that he participated in war crimes.
"Defendant Edin Dzeko was deported from the United States and handed over to Bosnia-Herzegovina authorities on Dec. 20," the prosecutor's office said in a statement. Dzeko was placed in detention and would be handed over to a war crimes prosecutor.
Dzeko was investigated for crimes he allegedly committed as a member of the Bosnian army special unit known as "Zulfikar", the statement said.
He is accused of taking part in an attack on the Croat village of Trusina in April 1993, in which 18 civilians and four soldiers were murdered and several people wounded, including two children.
During the Bosnian war of 1992-95, Muslims and Croats fought each other in 1993-94 even though they entered the conflict as allies against the Bosnian Serbs.
During his stay in the United States, Dzeko was a resident of Everett, Washington, and worked as a U.S. Navy groundskeeper until his arrest in April.
The Bosnian war crimes court is currently trying six members of the "Zulfikar" unit for war crimes in Trusina, including the unit's commander, Zulfikar Alispago.
(Reporting By Daria Sito-Sucic)
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