ZADAR, Oct 2 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister will submit a request for the extradition of Zorana Banic, 49, a Croatian national arrested in Switzerland Thursday, once the minister receives necessary documentation from the Zadar
County court which sentenced Banic in absentia to 20 years in prison. Banic has been charged with participating in crimes against civilians in the Skabrnja village, Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic's Office said in a statement Friday. The ministry has confirmed it was informed by Interpol that Swiss police had arrested Zorana Banic at the Zurich airport Thursday and that it would ask for Banic's extradition after the court in Zadar provides the necessary documentation envisaged by the European convention on extradition from 1957, ratified by Croatia in 1995. An international arrest warrant for Zorana Banic, a Croatian Serb from Zemunik Gornji near Zadar and a professional n
ZADAR, Oct 2 (Hina) - Croatian Justice Minister will submit a
request for the extradition of Zorana Banic, 49, a Croatian
national arrested in Switzerland Thursday, once the minister
receives necessary documentation from the Zadar County court which
sentenced Banic in absentia to 20 years in prison. Banic has been
charged with participating in crimes against civilians in the
Skabrnja village, Minister Ingrid Anticevic Marinovic's Office
said in a statement Friday.
The ministry has confirmed it was informed by Interpol that Swiss
police had arrested Zorana Banic at the Zurich airport Thursday and
that it would ask for Banic's extradition after the court in Zadar
provides the necessary documentation envisaged by the European
convention on extradition from 1957, ratified by Croatia in 1995.
An international arrest warrant for Zorana Banic, a Croatian Serb
from Zemunik Gornji near Zadar and a professional nurse, was issued
in 1998 as soon as she was sentenced.
She was arrested pursuant to an order by a Swiss federal justice
office at the request of Zagreb's Interpol office. She is currently
in detention which could last for 40 days. During this period, the
Croatian Justice Ministry should ask for her extradition.
Zorana Banic is one of 18 persons convicted in 1995 and in 1998 in
appeal proceedings, for the killing of 43 civilians in Skabrnja on
November 18, 1991. Apart from Jovan Badzoka from Biljani near
Zadar, who was sentenced to 10 years in prison, the remaining
sentenced persons are on the run.
Several Skabrnja massacre survivors recognised Zorana Banic at the
end of the 1995 trial. The witnesses described in detail that Banic,
together with other Serb paramilitary members, invaded basements
where civilians were hiding. According to the witnesses, Banic was
offending them, cursing and forcing them to leave the basements.
One survivor said she stabbed one person in the back with a knife.
The witnesses claimed she wore a Serb paramilitary uniform and had
an automatic rifle.
Some witnesses said they saw her standing armed above the dead
bodies of Skabrnja civilians. Some said she was shooting at the
bodies and one witness said Banic took a watch and a cigarette-case
from one victim.
If the Swiss authorities extradite Zorana Banic, she will have the
right to a re-trial.
(hina) np