The Czech Republic has extradited Serb Branko Bogunovic (53), of Benkovac, to Croatia. He was arrested in mid September at airport in Prague on an Interpol arrest warrant, the director of the Veritas Documentation Center, Savo Strbac, has told SRNA.
“Bogunovic, who has been indicted for war crimes by Croatia, has lived in Canada for more than 18 years. He went to the Czech Republic to attend a graduation ceremony of his son,” Strbac has said.
He has said that the mother of Dusko Gacesa, another Serb who was arrested this year on charges of war crimes, confirmed to him that Bogunovic was extradited to Croatia.
“The two of them share the same cell, and with this extradition, the greatest number of Serbs under investigation are in one place, in a prison in Split, among whom are three officers: Pavle Ristic, Cedo Borojevic, Milan Pavlovic, Dusko Gacesa and Branko Bogunovic,” Strbac has said.
He has said that Bogunovic and another ten Serbs are accused of war crimes committed on September 2, 1991 in the village of Kakma and stressed that the indictment against Bogunovic is weak because he, as a traffic police officer, could not be tied to arrests and investigations.
“Also, the question is whether he was in Croatia at all at that time or he already moved to Serbia with his family,” Strbac has said.
He has said that Bogunovic’s arrest is the third arrest made this year in a “third country” on the basis of Croatia’s Interpol arrest warrants.
“So far, 169 Serbs were arrested all around the world on the basis of Croatia’s Interpol arrest warrants, of which number 61 have been extradited to Croatia. Proceedings have been halted or accusations were dropped in 23 cases. Such a great number of proceedings that have been halted against people from Interpol arrest warrants indicate the abuse of Interpol by Croatia,” Strbac has concluded.
