Washington man arrested for alleged war crimes in Bosnia

[News_Editor]

Washington man arrested for alleged war crimes in Bosnia

2011-04-14 03:20:41 GMT+7 (ICT)

SEATTLE (BNO NEWS) -- U.S. Marshals arrested a man in Washington state on Wednesday morning at the request of the government of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina, where he is wanted for alleged war crimes.

Edin Dzeko, 39, of Everett, Washington, is accused of helping lead an attack on the Bosnian village of Trusina in April 1993, killing 16 civilians and seriously injuring four others, including two infants.

According to the extradition request, Dzeko was at the time of the attack a senior member of the unit command for the Zulfikar Special Purposes Detachment of the Supreme Command Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The extradition request alleges that Dzeko and the members of his unit specifically targeted Croat civilians and soldiers of the Croatian Defense Council.

According to the request, during the attack on Trusina, Dzeko forced an injured man out of a house at gunpoint, whereupon another member of the unit shot and killed the man with an automatic rifle. Dzeko also allegedly threw another man into the yard of a house and then shot and killed him.

When the man's wife would not stop grieving over her husband's dead body, Dzeko allegedly shot at the woman's head with his automatic rifle and killed her as well. In addition, the request alleges that Dzeko was a member of the execution squad that killed a number of civilians and Croatian Defense Council soldiers who had been captured and disarmed by Bosnian forces. Dzeko immigrated to the United States in 2001 and became a naturalized citizen in 2006.

The U.S. Attorney's Office for the Western District of Washington said Dzeko was scheduled to make his first court appearance on the extradition matter on Wednesday afternoon. He faces a mandatory minimum of 10 years in prison if he is extradited and subsequently found guilty in Bosnia.

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