US Judge Mulls Extradition of Bosnian War Rape Suspect

A judge at the US District Court for the Eastern District of Missouri in the city of St. Louis on Tuesday gave former military policeman Adem Kostjerevac's lawyers a month to translate Bosnia and Herzegovina's extradition request and provide evidence that his alleged victim misidentified him.

Kostjerevac, a former military policeman with the Bosnian Army's First Muslim Brigade in Zvornik, who now lives in the St. Louis area, is charged in Bosnia with having raped a pregnant Serb woman who was being held prisoner in a building that he was guarding in September and October 1992.

"The rape and abuse caused the injured party to suffer a miscarriage," the Bosnian state prosecution said in March 2015 when the indictment was raised.

After the indictment was confirmed by the Bosnian state court in April 2015, an Interpol 'red notice' was issued for Kostjerevac's arrest because he was not in the country.

The St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported that Kostjerevac admitted to US FBI agents that he was a military policeman and that he saw the woman while she was in custody, but denied that he raped her.

Kostjerevac also claimed he sent her food and refused to kill her when others told him to do so.

The Post-Dispatch reported that the woman told investigators involved in the extradition procedure that she was arrested on September 17, 1992 "after Muslim forces had surrounded her village" and was held prisoner in a basement for about two weeks.

It also reported that Kostjerevac, who arrived in the US with his wife 17 years ago, was arrested on August 23.

After the extradition request is translated and the defence provides its evidence, the prosecutor's office in St. Louis will then have a week to respond.