The 64-year-old was arrested March 1 for his alleged role in the 1992 death of Yugoslav army troops in Bosnia. Belgrade accuses Ganic of ordering an attack on retreating soldiers in the Bosnian capital Sarajevo. Bosnia argues the allegations are designed to minimize Serb guilt for the 1992-1995 war that tore the Balkans apart. The dispute has strained relations between Bosnia and Serbia, which had improved since the war ended in a US-brokered peace agreement in 1995. Speaking on Thursday, Lord Justice John Laws said it was fair to grant Ganic bail “subject to stringent conditions.” He added that Ganic’s lawyers had put forward “substantial argument to show that the prospective request for extradition of the claimant to Serbia ... is motivated by essentially political factors.”
The accusation relates to an attack on a convoy of Serb-led Yugoslav soldiers who retreated from Sarajevo in May 1992 taking President Alija Izetbegovic with them as a prisoner. Ganic was acting president during the less than two days that Izetbegovic was held. Belgrade first accused him of ordering the killing of over 40 Yugoslav soldiers during the attack on the convoy but then reduced the number to 18. The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague dismissed the allegations that war crimes were commited during the attack on the convoy.
Ganic was likely to be released from London’s Wandsworth Prison later in the day. He has been ordered to live at a specified London address, report daily to a police station and observe a curfew. Ganic’s children hugged each other in the courtroom after the decision was handed down. Ganic’s son Emir said the move was “a small victory for us.”
“This is obviously a first step,” he said. “Now in front of us is the much bigger picture of dealing with the extradition request.” He added that his father was holding up well in prison. “Being in prison is nothing for him compared to being shelled by the Serbs in Bosnia for three years,” he said.
Ganic is due back in court on April 13. Lawyers for the Serbian government said the extradition request was still being translated into English so it could be passed to British authorities. Outside the court, about a dozen critics of the former Bosnian leader waved placards reading “Ganic: Blood on his hands” and “Gotcha Ganic.”
