SARAJEVO, May 29 (Hina) - Vincent Courderoy, commissioner for the International Police Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina (IPTF), demanded on Tuesday that the Bosnian Serb police speed up investigations into recent incidents in Banja
Luka and Trebinje and find and punish the perpetrators. Douglas Coffman, spokesman for the UN Mission to Bosnia-Herzegovina, told reporters in Sarajevo today Courderoy had conveyed to Bosnian Serb officials his extreme dissatisfaction with the current state of the investigations. Only 11 perpetrators have received punishment for the incidents in the form of fines and the violence in Banja Luka now has a more serious dimension because a person stoned in the incident died two days ago, he said. This is now a murder case and we want those responsible for it to be found and punished, Coffman said reminding that the police had still not managed to establish responsibility for numerou
SARAJEVO, May 29 (Hina) - Vincent Courderoy, commissioner for the
International Police Task Force in Bosnia-Herzegovina (IPTF),
demanded on Tuesday that the Bosnian Serb police speed up
investigations into recent incidents in Banja Luka and Trebinje and
find and punish the perpetrators.
Douglas Coffman, spokesman for the UN Mission to Bosnia-
Herzegovina, told reporters in Sarajevo today Courderoy had
conveyed to Bosnian Serb officials his extreme dissatisfaction
with the current state of the investigations.
Only 11 perpetrators have received punishment for the incidents in
the form of fines and the violence in Banja Luka now has a more
serious dimension because a person stoned in the incident died two
days ago, he said.
This is now a murder case and we want those responsible for it to be
found and punished, Coffman said reminding that the police had
still not managed to establish responsibility for numerous other
serious criminal acts.
More than 30 persons, mostly Bosniaks, were injured and a number of
diplomats and international representatives were forced to take
shelter and stay for hours in a Muslim community building in Banja
Luka on May 7, after an organised group of thugs prevented the
laying of a foundation stone for the reconstruction of the city's
central Ferhat-Pasha Mosque. The building of the Muslim community
was seriously damaged in the incident.
The incident forced Republika Srpska Interior Minister Perica
Bundalo and the head of the Bosnian Serb security service, Dobro
Planojevic, to resign, however, the Banja Luka police authorities
have still not identified any of the organisers or perpetrators
of the violence.
(hina) sb rml