Bosnia-Herzegovina: Veterans protest Swiss arrest of Srebrenica military commander

Hundreds of war veterans, activists and members of the public took to the streets of Sarajevo on Friday in protest against the arrest of former Bosnian military commander Naser Oric. Carrying flags featuring the insignia of the 'Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina,' the group marched on the capital's State Parliament where a series of speakers addressed the audience. Police secured the area, with no clashes reported. Oric was arrested by Swiss border guards on Wednesday in Geneva after Serb authorities issued a warrant for his arrest in 2014. He was scheduled to travel to Bern for a commemorative event on the Srebrenica mass-killings which took place in July 1995, when an estimated 8,000 people were killed by units belonging to the Army of the Republika Srpska (VRS). Belgrade accuses Oric of killing Serb civilians before the Srebrenica tragedy broke out, a claim he staunchly denies. The former military leader was acquitted by a UN tribunal held at The Hague in 2008 after he was previously sentenced to two years in prison by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 2006. The arrest comes a month before the 20th anniversary of the tragic events that unfolded in Srebrenica, with the United Kingdom working to draft a UN Security Council resolution aimed at reflecting on the organisation's failure to "prevent genocide."