The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina requested an international arrest warrant for former Bosnian army commander Sakib Mahmuljin, who was sentenced to eight years in prison for crimes against captured Serb civilians, medical personnel and soldiers in the area of Vozuca and Zavidovici in central BiH, Radio Free Europe (RSE) reported.

The warrant is being issued because Mahmuljin, the former commander of the Third Corps of the RBiH Army, did not respond to the summons on November 23 when he was supposed to be sent to serve his sentence.

The Directorate for the Coordination of Police Bodies in Bosnia and Herzegovina told RSE that the National Central Bureau of Interpol Sarajevo has not yet received a request to issue a warrant.

The BiH Court passed a final verdict against Sakib Mahmuljin after the repeated court proceedings that started on December 7 last year.

The indictment accused Sakib Mahmuljin of not taking any action to prevent war crimes committed by members of the “El Mujahideen” unit against prisoners of war and civilian Serbs in the wider area of Zavidovici and Vozuca.

In October 1995, members of that unit killed around 50 prisoners of war and civilians in the area.

The indictment also states that Mahmuljin “had information that the members of this unit were preparing to commit a crime and that after the crime he did not take any action to punish the perpetrators of the crime.”

Mahmuljin was accused of having committed the criminal offence of war crimes against prisoners of war, war crimes against the wounded and sick, and war crimes against the civilian population.