A Bosnian Serb officer wanted for war crimes arrived at the war crimes court today after turning himself in at a NATO base, the latest in a string of high-ranking officers to answer to atrocities committed during the Bosnian war.
Lieutenant-Colonel Dragan Jokic, 43, was wanted under a sealed indictment issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Bosnian Serb Defense Minister Mr Slobodan Bilic said the government was not involved in the transfer of the war crimes suspect, adding that it was a "personal decision" taken by Mr Jokic.
"Jokic, who served as captain of an engineering corps in eastern Bosnia in 1995, has been questioned several times by war crimes prosecutors on the Srebrenica massacre," the minister said in Banja Luka.
More than 7,000 Muslims are believed to have been executed by Serb forces following the fall of the UN-protected safe zone of Srebrenica in July 1995, the worst atrocity of the 1992-1995 Bosnian war.
"Jokic turned himself in earlier today at a base of the NATO-led Stabilisation Force (SFOR) in Ramici, near Banja Luka," Mr Bilic said.
AFP