US Extradites Srebrenica Genocide Suspect Nedjo Ikonic to Bosnia
January 20, 2010
The Congress of North American Bosniaks (CNAB) actively participated in pressuring the United States authorities to order Nedjo Ikonic’s deportation for prosecution by a panel of international judges under the jurisdiction of the Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Today, the United States extradited Nedjo Ikonic to Bosnia.
A spokesman for the state prosecutor’s office, Boris Grubesic, said 45-year-old Nedjo Ikonic had been arrested in the United States on an international arrest warrant. He said Ikonic was a commander of a special police brigade operating within the Serb Republic interior ministry during the Bosnian 1992-95 war that claimed 100,000 lives. Ikonic is a former Serb policeman suspected of taking part in the 1995 Srebrenica Genocide - Europe’s worst massacre since World War Two.
“In 1995 Ikonic commanded the unit which together with the Bosnian Serb army controlled the roads to and out of the eastern town of Srebrenica,” Grubesic told state radio.
Bosnian Serb forces, commanded by Gen. Ratko Mladic, killed about 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys after the eastern town, which was a United Nations-protected safe zone, fell into their hands in 1995. Most were killed while trying to escape through the woods, and were either shot or arrested and taken to places of execution before burial in mass graves.
The U.N. war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague has sentenced seven Bosnian Serbs for the Srebrenica massacre. Nine more are on trial. Mladic is still on the run, 14 years after he was indicted.
Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic, whose trial before the Hague-based court is adjourned until March, denies all 11 counts of war crimes relating to the Bosnian war, including the genocide at Srebrenica.
The Bosnian war crimes court, set up in 2005 to relieve the burden on the Hague-based tribunal, has put dozens of Bosnian Serbs on trial over Srebrenica. Twelve have been jailed, seven acquitted and seven are still being tried.
Pay Your Pledge to CNAB!
Since 2000, CNAB has defended the interests of Bosnia-Herzegovina and Bosniaks in diaspora by ensuring that our voice is heard and respected. Strong relations between our motherland and the United States and Canada is our priority. It is only through your support, and the support of members like you, that CNAB can remain effective and continue its important work. To support Congress of North American Bosniaks, click here. We sincerely thank you for your generosity.