[JURIST] Police in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Monday arrested [press release] former Bosnian Army commander Zulfikar Alispago for war crimes allegedly committed during the Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archive]. Alispago, the former commander of a special unit known as "Zulfikar," is under investigation by the BiH war crimes prosecutor [official website] and is suspected of leading a 1993 attack on the village of Trusina, in which 19 civilians and three soldiers of the Croatian Defense Council were killed. According to the BiH prosecutor's office, Alispago was apprehended after an order was issued by the prosecutor for the department of war crimes:

The BiH Prosecutor's Office has collected sufficient evidence to support the claim that the suspect is responsible for the crimes committed and arrested him. The suspect shall be handed over to the Assigned Prosecutor of the BiH Prosecutor's Office within the legal deadline, and the Prosecutor will question him and later decide whether to file a motion to order custody.

Alispago is suspected of having committed war crimes against civilians and prisoners of war under Articles 173 and 175 of the BiH Criminal Code [text, PDF].

Last year, BiH police arrested five other members of Alispago's unit who allegedly participated in the attack on Trusina. Last month, the BiH war crimes court [official website] indicted [JURIST report] three former Bosnian Serb policemen on charges of genocide for their alleged roles in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [JURIST news archive] during the Bosnian civil war. Also last month, BiH police arrested [JURIST report] two former Bosnian Serb detention camp guards who were allegedly responsible for the death of around 50 civilians and Bosnian soldiers during the Bosnian civil war. The BiH war crimes court was set up in the 2005 to relieve the caseload of the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website], and is authorized to try lower-level war crime suspects.