Bakir Izetbegovic, the leader of the Bosniak-majority SDA party, said the release of Edin Vranj, former Bosnian high-ranking police officer who was apprehended in Serbia last month over alleged war crimes, means an “extended hand from Belgrade and Serbia,” and he congratulated Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic for that.

“Vucic can help a lot and I think this was a clear message. This means an extended hand from Belgrade and Serbia, and I sent a message to Vucic congratulating him for this decision. Not only for Edin Vranj but all other cases referring to the persons who allegedly committed crimes against the Serbs in BiH,” said Izetbegovic.

According to him, it was a good message that all those cases will be treated by the Prosecutor's Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina and not Serbia.

“It is good when good messages come from Belgrade,” said Izetbegovic.

Vranj was arrested on September 12 after he crossed the Serbian border on the Uvac border crossing on the charges of alleged war crimes committed in Gorazde, the eastern Bosnia, during 1993 and 1994.

According to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Serbia, Vranj is suspected of participating in the harassment and beatings of Serb war prisoners who were members of then army of Republika Srpska, the Serb-majority entity in BiH, between January 1993 and October 1994.

He is former high-ranking official of the Police Administration of Bosnia's Federation (FBiH) entity.

Last week, the Cabinet of Serbian President confirmed that the Serbian Prosecutor's Office for War Crimes issued an indictment against Vranj and asked the Belgrade Higher Court to hand over the case to the Bosnian authorities in charge of war crime processing.

Vranj was released from detention on Monday.