UN tribunal transfers convicted Bosnian Serb to Denmark to serve rest of jail term

A former senior Bosnian Serb police officer convicted of war crimes and crimes against humanity by a United Nations tribunal has been transferred to Denmark to serve the remainder of his 17-year prison sentence.

Ljubomir Borovcanin, the former deputy commander of the special police brigade of Bosnian Serb police forces during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, was found guilty last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of aiding and abetting extermination, murder, persecution and forcible transfer.

He was also found guilty, on the basis of command responsibility, of murder as a crime against humanity and as a violation of the laws and customs of war after he failed to punish subordinates who took part in the killing of prisoners.

The charges related mainly to his role during and after the notorious massacres of Bosnian Muslims in 1995 following the fall of the supposed safe havens of Srebrenica and Žepa.

The ICTY announced today that Mr. Borovcanin, 51, was transferred yesterday to Denmark to serve the remainder of his sentence, becoming the fourth person convicted by the tribunal to be transferred to that country.

Denmark is one of 17 countries that have signed an agreement with the ICTY, which is based in The Hague in the Netherlands, to enforce the tribunal’s sentences.