In 2005 Semir Osmanagić, an expatriate Bosnian metalworker living in Texas, made a most startling announcement. The hills that surround the central Bosnian town of Visoko were not—as had always been thought—mere hills, but were in fact pyramids, man-made and ancient, built by a prehistoric civilisation that rivalled the ancient Egyptians in technological and cultural sophistication.
Spain to Extradite War Crimes Suspect to Bosnia
| 23 July 2010 | Erna Mackic
Zeljana Zovko, Ambassador of Bosnia and Herzegovina in Madrid, confirmed to Balkan Insight that the Spanish Government made a final decision ordering the extradition of Vlahovic to Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“Spanish police are now due to conduct the technical part of the extradition procedure. I hope they will do this as quickly as possible and be as expeditious in executing the decision as they were in making it,” Zovko said.
Vlahovic was arrested in the vicinity of the house in which he lived in Altea, Spain, at the beginning of March this year. While he is a Montenegrin citizen, at the time of his arrest he was in possession of false Bulgarian identity documents.
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspects that Vlahovic participated, from 1992 to 1995, in war crimes against civilians in the Grbavica district of Sarajevo. A warrant for his arrest was issued in October 2008.
The State Prosecution suspects he committed “54 legally criminal actions” against Bosniak and Croat civilians in Grbavica, including murder, torture, forcible disappearances and rape.
"The decision on Vlahovic’s extradition to Bosnia and Herzegovina represents another confirmation of friendly relations between Bosnia and Herzegovina and Spain, which has demonstrated its understanding of the importance of punishment of war-crimes perpetrators,” Zeljko Komsic, Croat member of the Presidency of Bosnia and Herzegovina, said in his letter to the Spanish prime minister.
In addition to Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Serbia also filed requests for the extradition of Vlahovic on the basis of crimes for which he was convicted and sentenced in the two countries.
Serbia requested his extradition for a 2001 murder for which he was convicted and sentenced to seven years in prison.
In June 2001 Vlahovic fled from a prison in Montenegro, where he was serving a sentence for banditry and violent behavior. Bosnian judicial institutions filed several requests for his extradition, but the requests were rejected because the country’s constitution does not allow for the extradition of its citizens to other countries.
