Bosnia Court Frees Suspect in Vucic Investigation

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina confirmed to BIRN on Monday that it has not extended custody for a Bosnian citizen linked to an alleged plan to attack Serbian Prime Minister Aleksandar Vucic.

The Court said the person identified as Jovan Josilo, a citizen of Bosnia, was released as Serbia had not provided any evidence that would oblige the Bosnian authorities to keep him in detention.

Under Bosnian law, its citizens can be extradited to third countries in cases of organised crime or terrorism indictments, so the Josilo's extradition depended on the strength of the charges brought in Serbia.

Josilo, who has a criminal background according to the Bosnian media, was arrested on Saturday after Serbian police issued an Interpol warrant as part of a probe into a weapons stash recently found near Vucic's house.

Josilo was arrested in Banja Luka. According to the arrest warrant and the criminal proceedings before the Higher Court in Belgrade - Special Division, he was suspected of aiding in a criminal offence and of "illegal manufacturing, carrying and transporting weapons and explosives".

But a court in Sarajevo released Josilo from detention on Sunday, imposing a travel ban and mandatory reports to a police station, twice per week.

On October 29, Serbian police found a large quantities of weapons hidden close to Vucic's family home in Jajinci, near the capital, Belgrade.

The police said they found several hand grenades, a bazooka and large quantities of ammunition for machine-guns and snipers, hidden in the woods.

Josilo's lawyer, Nebojsa Pantic, confirmed his client's release to BIRN on Monday. He said that his client was not a citizen of Serbia and would not be extradited to Belgrade.

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