Several other soldiers who took part in the events have already been caught, tried and sentenced. One of them, Drazen Erdemovic, testified that at a certain stage during the hours-long massacre, Cvetkovic said the executions were going too slowly and proposed using a heavy M-84 gun, normally tank-mounted, instead of automatic rifles. Erdemovic and the others agreed, Erdemovic told the ICTY in 2007. The heavier gun was used on two groups but didn't kill everyone, leaving many injured on the ground, begging soldiers to kill them. Erdemovic testified during the trial of Vujadin Popovic and other senior officials behind the mass murders in Srebrenica; he was sentenced to five years in jail.

Like others involved in the Srebrenica incidents, Cvetkovic himself also testified before the ICTY investigators in October 2005. He said he had joined the unit in question earlier that month but said he served as a driver. On that day, Cvetkovic told his interrogators, he drove soldiers, including Erdemovic, to 
Branjevo, and was to return to pick them up after their assignment.

In his testimony, Cvetkovic said when he returned to the farm, he saw a group of soldiers, including those he had driven earlier. A few minutes later, a bus arrived and men came out of it, their hands tied. Some were blindfolded. Soldiers led people behind the building. Gunfire was heard, and the soldiers returned alone. The same scenario repeated itself as more buses arrived. He didn't see the prisoners being shot, Cvetkovic told the ICTY, but he assumed this is what happened. He denied Erdemovic's claims when confronted with that testimony. Cvetkovic, though, was named by others as an active participant of the firing squad.

A year after testifying, Cvetkovic immigrated to Israel with his family. Married to a Jewish woman, he received Israeli citizenship. His attorney said Tuesday he was shocked by Cvetkovic's arrest and thoroughly denies the allegations. His family is stunned, according to Hebrew media reports, as are  neighbors that described him as a cheerful family man, always ready to help others. They said they hoped the arrest was a mistake.

The Israeli Justice Ministry maintains that the materials provided in the request for Cvetkovic's extradition indicate evidence that would be sufficient for trying him in Israel, had the crimes been carried out in the country --  a key condition in the extradition law. The allegations make him extraditable in keeping with both Israel's extradition law -- revised around a decade ago to allow extradition of Israeli citizens under certain conditions -- as well as the international extradition charter Israel signed decades ago.

Cvetkovic, born in the former Yugoslavia in what is today Bosnia-Herzegovina, was not an Israeli citizen or resident at the time of the alleged crimes. Therefore, he is not entitled to serve his sentence in Israel, should he be sentenced to prison in Bosnia-Herzegovina, according to the petition signed by Gal Levertov, who heads the ministry's international crimes division.

The Justice Ministry is asking that Cvetkovic remain in custody for the proceedings until the court rules on the extradition request. Last week, at the end of a two-year legal process, five Israelis suspected of organized crime in the Los Angeles area were extradited to the U.S., where they will stand trial. If convicted, they will return to Israel to carry out their sentence. 

-- Batsheva Sobelman in Jerusalem

Top: Aerial view of Branjevo Farm. Credit: Srebrenica Genocide blog

Bottom: Burial of 465 Bosnians identified in 2007. Credit: Wikimedia Commons