There is reasonable suspicion that Vucurevic was involved in the destruction of Dubrovnik without any military necessity whatsoever, which constitutes a war crime, and it would be fair to organise his trial in Dubrovnik, Josipovic said during his visit to that southernmost Croatian city.
Josipovic expressed hope that a fair trial would be held for this wartime mayor of Trebinje, a town in southern Bosnia-Herzegovina, near the border with Croatia.
Serbian police arrested Vucurevic on Monday, acting on an international warrant issued by Croatia, media said citing the Serbian Ministry of the Interior. Vucurovic was arrested at the Karakaj border crossing between Zvornik, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Mali Zvornik, Serbia, at around 1pm on Monday. Later he was placed in custody.
Vucurevic is wanted in Croatia for the shelling of the historic coastal city of Dubrovnik during the war, when he served as mayor of Trebinje. In October 2008, the Dubrovnik County Prosecutor's Office indicted him for war crimes against civilians and the destruction of cultural monuments during the 1991-1995 war in Croatia.
According to the indictment, in September 1991 Vucurevic ordered mobilisation of Territorial Defence forces in the municipality of Trebinje and the formation of special police units which were included in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA), which attacked Croatia from the territories of Herzegovina and Montenegro on October 1, 1991. By October 26, those units had occupied the Croatian territory stretching from Prevlaka to Ston and had held Dubrovnik under total blockade.
During their attacks, the JNA forces violated international conventions by deliberately and wantonly shelling civilian targets, as a result of which 91 civilians were killed and 200 were wounded. They destroyed, burned and looted the property of civilians and took people to detention camps at Morinje and Bileca. They also shelled Dubrovnik's Old Town, which is included on the UNESCO World Heritage List, causing extensive damage to monuments within the city walls.
After the withdrawal of the JNA from the occupied area of Croatia on October 26, 1992, exercising full control and power over the armed forces of the self-styled Serb Autonomous District of Eastern Herzegovina, Vucurevic and commanders of the Herzegovina Corps ordered further shelling of Dubrovnik, which lasted until October 29, 1995. During that time, seven civilians were killed and 11 were badly wounded, and property damage was caused.