BiH Court issues international arrest warrant for Ranko Grab, charged with crimes in Bosanski Novi

In addition to ordering the warrant, the Court stated that Grab had previously been placed in detention at the request of the State Prosecutor’s Office.

At the beginning of May, Grab failed to appear at a hearing where closing arguments were scheduled to be presented. During that session, presiding judge Lejla Konjic Dragovic said that the Judicial Police had been unable to locate Grab at his registered address on May 4. His wife reportedly told authorities that he had spent the previous three weeks receiving medical treatment in Serbia.

Judge Konjic Dragovic then noted that Grab had violated the imposed restrictive measures, while the Prosecutor’s Office proposed issuing an international arrest warrant and ordering detention due to the defendant’s failure to appear in court.

At a hearing held in November last year, medical experts determined that Grab was fit to attend and follow the trial proceedings. He also failed to appear at a subsequent hearing, despite Judge Konjic Dragovic stating that he had received a court summons on April 8 and warning that Judicial Police would bring him to the next session.

Grab is charged in a case in which ten defendants were previously sentenced to a combined total of 162 years in prison for crimes committed in June 1992 in the villages of Alići and Ekici near Bosanski Novi. Proceedings against Grab were separated due to his health condition. Earlier, proceedings against Ljuban Babic were also separated for the same reason.