Netherlands extradites Damir Lipovac

At Sarajevo International Airport, the extradition of Damir Lipovac, suspected of war crimes in the Derventa area, was realized today. The accused Lipovac was extradited from the Kingdom of the Netherlands, where he had been residing for several years, and the extradition was requested based on the BiH Prosecutor's Office's request.

During the investigation, while searching for the suspect, the prosecutor and investigators learned that the said person had left BiH and subsequent checks determined that he was in the Netherlands, where he had been residing for several years.

After that, intensive activities were launched to locate and extradite this suspect to the BiH judiciary, and after several activities and submissions by the prosecutor's office, the Dutch authorities approved the extradition to the judiciary of our country.

Damir Lipovac was born on 05/10/1970 in Derventa, a citizen of BiH and Croatia.

He is accused of having, in June 1992, in the area of the Derventa municipality, as a member of the 103rd HVO Derventa Brigade and commander of a camp established in the premises of the elementary school in Poljari, acted contrary to the provisions of the Geneva Conventions on the Protection of Civilian Persons in Time of War, and committed war crimes against victims of Serb nationality from the Derventa area.

He is accused of participating in the unlawful detention of about 70-100 civilians of Serb nationality, at the school site which was set up as a camp, with guards and surrounded by barbed wire, where civilians were subjected to inhumane treatment, killings, torture, and various forms of physical and psychological abuse.

The accused is charged with personally committing the murder of two detainees by shooting them at close range with a firearm, and of personally participating in the torture, beatings, and abuse of detainees in particularly humiliating ways, as well as for the robbery of detainees' property, ordering them to gather all money and valuables on a blanket in the middle of the room, which he subsequently appropriated.

The accused Lipovac is charged with the criminal offense of war crimes against the civilian population.

The indictment was filed and confirmed in September 2008.