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Bosnian Police Chief Freed by Croats After UN Protest
‘He was grabbed on U.N. property which violates the convention on privileges and immunities of the U.N.’
By Mark Heinrich
"The immediate problem has been resolved," U.N. spokesman
Alex Ivanko said. "But not the root problem, which is a
complete disregard by the Croats for U.N. personnel and
procedures set by the Dayton (peace) treaty for handling war
crimes issues." The United Nations had denounced the detention
of the police chief without formal charges or an arrest warrant
as "despicable" and threatened to take the issue to the
highest level before the Croats relented and freed the man.
Emin Zebic, chief of police of Jablanica in Bosnian
government territory, was seized during a meeting on freedom of
movement issues with separatist Croat counterparts in the Croat-
held sector of the divided city of Mostar.
"As a result of enormous pressure put on the Croats by the
U.N., Mr Zebic was released into the custody of U.N. police
today and is now being escorted in one of their vehicles back to
Jablanica," Ivanko said. The United Nations had fiercely protested over Zebic's
arrest, in part because it raised tensions in a shaky Muslim-
Croat federation ahead of countrywide elections in September.
Separatist Croats controlling west Mostar were upbraided by
the U.N. for snatching Zebic during talks in a U.N. office,
threatening and shoving U.N. police monitors aside, failing to
produce concrete war-crimes charges or an arrest warrant when
asked and obstructing U.N. access to Zebic in jail.
Ivanko said Peter Fitzgerald, commissioner of the
International Police Task Force (IPTF) which seeks to deter
human rights abuses in Bosnia, would still raise the matter with
Croat leader Kresimir Zubak to ensure nothing like it recurred.
The Muslim-led central government in Sarajevo retaliated for
Zebic's arrest by detaining eight Bosnian Croat militia officers
but freed them quickly following a protest by Fitzgerald.
Mostar split into Muslim and Croat sectors during a 1993-94
war between the communities. The western half remains a fief of
Croat nationalists who maintain a separatist entity in southwest
Bosnia in violation of Dayton.
An informed Western official who asked not to be named said
Zebic was detained possibly over unsubstantiated allegations
that men under his command during the war were involved in
expulsions of Croats from the Jablanica area. |
SARAJEVO, July 22 (Reuters) - Separatist Bosnian Croats,
under intense U.N. pressure, freed a Bosnian Muslim police chief
on Monday four days after arresting him during a U.N.-brokered
meeting for alleged war crimes.
Berserkistan, July 20 · Bosnian Croat Court Holds Muslim Police Chief Without Charges
July 19 · Federation Split by Croat Arrest of Muslim Police Chief
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