Bosnia Seeks Fugitive Serb Ex-Soldier Convicted of Train Killings
The state court is seeking the arrest of former Bosnian Serb Army soldier Miodrag Mitrasinovic, who was convicted of involvement in abducting 20 passengers from a train at Strpci station in 1993 and then killing them.
The Bosnian state court told BIRN on Wednesday that Miodrag Mitrasinovic, one of seven Bosnian Serb soldiers convicted last week of participating in the abduction and subsequent killing of 20 passengers from a train at Strpci station in Bosnia in February 1993, has yet to be detained and is being sought for arrest.
Mitrasinovic’s current whereabouts are unknown. It is also not known whether or not he is still in Bosnia.
According to Alem Bajramovic's report for BIRN, the prosecution sought the arrest of all the defendants in the trial the day before the verdict, but it said that Mitrasinovic was not detained because he was in hospital in the town of Foca, where he had been admitted for surgery.
“This information was confirmed by defendant Mitrasinovic’s defence lawyer Milos Peric, who informed the court that his client was in a hospital in Foca, where he underwent surgery during the day, so he was immobile, and it was not known to him how long he would be kept in the hospital,” the court said.
After the verdict convicting the seven men, the court gave an order to bring Mitrasinovic into custody. But the Department for Execution of Criminal Sanctions said that he was no longer in hospital in Foca, having already been discharged.
The court then told the border police to detain Mitrasinovic if he attempted to cross the border.
Ex-soldiers Mitrasinovic, Obrad and Novak Poluga, Petko Indjic, Radojica Ristic, Dragan Sekaric and Oliver Krsmanovic were sentenced to 13 years each in a first-instance verdict on Friday for participating in the murder of 20 non-Serb civilians who were seized from a train that was travelling from Belgrade to Bar in Montenegro.
The victims were shot dead in the village of Musici and their bodies were then thrown into Drina River.
The first-instance verdict convicting the seven men can be appealed.
BIRN
