Bosnia Seeking To Extradite Man Accused Of War Crimes From Australia
Tuesday 21 October 2014 @ 11.23 a.m. | Crime | Legal Research
A man who has been living in Canberra since the late 1990s is currently facing extradition to Bosnia to be charged over war crimes committed during the Bosnian conflict in the 1990s. Krunoslav Bonic, 39, was arrested in early October.
According to SBS News, the Bosnian government says in that Mr Bonic was charged in 2006 with war crimes against civilians. Mr Bonic’s name has come up at the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague, with witnesses alleging he was “involved in beatings and interrogations in central Bosnia during the conflict” and further allegations that “he was later captured with the ears of dead soldiers in a bag”. Mr Bonic would have been just 18 years old at the time. SBS News reports the Bosnian government first tried to extradite Mr Bonic in 2007, but:
“a reply from Australia the following year stated that under its Extradition Act, it was not one of the countries to which Australia could extradite someone, so the request could not be accepted.”
In December 2009, Australia advised Bosnia that it had become an extradition country under the Act and that Bosnia could renew its extradition requests. It renewed Mr Bosnic’s in February 2010, but he was not arrested until this year.
Criticism of Australia’s Response
Associate Professor Dr Gideon Boas from Monash University has said that the case demonstrates that Australia does not give enough priority to cases of alleged war crimes. He told SBS News:
“It sends a message that Australia is not a country that's serious about ending or at least dinting impunity for the commission of mass atrocity and gross violation of human rights. It's not enough to simply say that, "These crimes were committed in other countries at a different time and place, there are legislative, legal and policy difficulties that are associated with them, so we'll just stick our head in the sand and do nothing”.”
A former senior prosecutor from the Hague, Graeme Blewett, also raised his concerns with ABC News, saying:
“For many years now it's been known that if you come to Australia with a war crimes history its very unlikely you'll be brought to justice.”
Both Dr Boas and Mr Blewett have said that Australia’s lack of a specialised war crimes unit makes it more difficult to prosecute cases.
However, Don Rothwell, Professor of International Law at the Australian National University, has said extradition can take “considerable periods of time”, particularly in cases where Australia does not have a formal extradition agreement with the other country. In cases such as Mr Bonic’s, the countries are instead relying on the principle of reciprocity, meaning the lack of established mechanism thus makes the process more complex.
Next Steps
ABC News have reported that Mr Bonic’s lawyer told the ACT Magistrates Court he will fight the allegations. Mr Bonic claims he came to Australia as a refugee after being tortured himself.
Mr Bonic is not the only person living in Australia who has allegedly been involved in war crimes. The Bosnian government also said it had made other extradition requests to Australia, but did not want to name the individuals involved in case they left the country.
Croatia has also been trying to extradite Daniel Snedden (also known as Dragan Vasiljkovic) for at least eight years. SBS News have reported that the Attorney General’s Department “has been seeking advice whether Mr Snedden … could be prosecuted in Australia if he is successful in fighting Croatia’s extradition bid.”
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