Ganic Extradition Hearing Date
In separate abuse of process hearing defence arguing that Serbia's extradition request not made in good faith.
Ganic Extradition Hearing Date
In separate abuse of process hearing defence arguing that Serbia's extradition request not made in good faith.
The extradition hearing in the case of former Bosnian president member Ejup Ganic will begin on July 5 at Westminster Magistrates Court in London, it was decided this week.
The hearing will last until July 10, Stephen Gentle, a solicitor representing Ganic, confirmed to IWPR.
The defence is required to submit all the documentation associated with their case by May 18, and the prosecution has until June 15 to respond.
An abuse of process hearing will also take place, and Gentle said that their team has until April 27 to decide if that will be held on June 11, or alongside the main hearing in July. The defence will argue that the "[extradition] request from Serbia was not made in good faith," Gentle said.
Serbia is seeking to extradite Ganic to stand trial for charges related to a May 1992 incident in Sarajevo, known as the Dobrovoljacka (Volunteer's Street) incident. At the time, Ganic was a member of the Bosnian presidency, effectively serving as a deputy to then-president Alija Izetbegovic.
A day before the incident, on May 2, 1992, Izetbegovic was kidnapped by the Yugoslav army, JNA, at Sarajevo airport when he returned from peace negotiations in Lisbon.
On May 3, a deal was done in which Izetbegovic would be released and a JNA column would be allowed out of the besieged city by the Bosniaks but subsequently the column was fired upon. Belgrade says 42 soldiers were killed, and blames Ganic, who was effectively in charge while Izetbegovic was being detained.
Ganic, now president of Sarajevo's School of Science and Technology, was arrested at Heathrow Airport on March 1 after attending a degree ceremony at the University of Buckingham, with which his school has links. He was released on bail on March 11 under several conditions, including a nightly curfew and a daily check-in at a police station.
Rachel Irwin is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.
