UN tribunal transfers convicted Bosnian Serb to Denmark

A United Nations tribunal announced on Friday that Ljubomir Borovcanin, a former senior Bosnian Serb police officer committed war crimes and crimes against humanity, has been transferred to Denmark to serve the rest of his 17-year prison sentence, UN officials said here. Borovcanin, former deputy commander of a special police brigade of Bosnian Serb police forces during the Balkan conflicts in the 1990s, was found guilty last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) for his crimes committed against Bosnian Muslims, including aiding and abetting extermination, murder, persecution and forcible transfer, said a press release from ICTY. Borovcanin, 51, 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, said the press release. 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 Zepa, the press release said. Borovcanin was one of the seven former high-ranking Bosnian Serb military and police officials convicted in the case concerning the wide range of crimes committed by Bosnian Serb forces in Srebrenica and Zepa in 1995, the officials said. Denmark is one of 17 countries that have signed an agreement with the ICTY to enforce the tribunal's sentences.