Bosnia Frees POWs in One-Sided Swap

Responding to intense international pressure, the Muslim-led Bosnian government and its Croatian allies on Saturday released hundreds of Bosnian Serb prisoners in several locations across Bosnia.

Despite expectations, Bosnian Serb authorities failed to release any of their prisoners, citing technical problems. But they stressed that their prisons will be emptied of captives from the 3 1/2-year war by the end of the weekend.

The refusal of the former combatants to release the last of their registered prisoners had been the most blatant violation of the peace agreement forged in Dayton, Ohio, last fall. Under the U.S.-brokered accord, each of the parties was required to release all prisoners by Jan. 19, but none complied.

In a meeting Friday between top officials of the Muslim-Croat federation and the Bosnian Serb side, the parties again pledged to set all captives free.

Even though the Muslims and Croats held back some of their captives--and despite the Serbs’ failure to liberate any prisoners--Saturday’s release was the largest in one day since the peace accord was signed in Paris last month.

On Saturday afternoon, more than 200 Serbian captives, who had been held at various prisons run by Bosnian Muslim and Croatian authorities, were transported by bus to Sarajevo airport, where they were let go on the muddy tarmac.

While the Serbian prisoners had emotional reunions with their families on one side of the airport, relatives and friends of Muslim prisoners waited in vain on the other side. They had hoped that Serbian authorities would live up to their promise to deliver 150 prisoners.

“They did not comply,” said Pierre Gauthier, spokesman for the International Committee of the Red Cross. “I hope it will happen tomorrow or within the next few days.”

Mirza Hajric, spokesman for the Bosnian government, said the Serbian authorities broke a promise by failing to deliver the captives.

“I just think they are being rude to the international community,” Hajric said. “Their clear intention is to try to postpone the implementation of the agreement.”

Last week, Red Cross officials said that 645 prisoners were still being held: 318 by the Muslim-led government, 177 by the Bosnian Croats and 150 by the Bosnian Serbs.

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In addition to 203 prisoners released at Sarajevo airport, 47 captives who had been held by the Bosnian government at Zenica prison were allowed to go free Saturday. Most of them walked across an icy road toward territory held by Bosnian Serbs, but nine opted to stay in Zenica, a Bosnian Muslim town northwest of Sarajevo, according to the Red Cross, which oversaw the release.

The Red Cross said a total of 250 prisoners were released Saturday. But Bosnian Serb television said the Bosnian government freed an additional 111 Serbian soldiers in the northwestern Bosnian village of Koprivna. The Red Cross did not oversee that release, so it could not confirm the number.

Hajric said that Bosnian government officials had been reluctant to release their remaining prisoners for fear of losing a bargaining chip: They believe the Serbian side is hiding 4,000 unregistered prisoners--800 to 900 working in forced labor and the rest survivors of the deadly purges of Bosnian Muslims in Srebrenica.

“We strongly feared that, if we released all the prisoners we had, the Serbs would have good reason to keep those who were not on the list. In effect, we would be signing the death warrants for those being kept off the lists,” Hajric said.

They decided to release their captives, he said, because of the “severe pressure” of the international community.

A small number of captives were held by the government, but Hajric said they would all be released soon. In addition, Croatian authorities were retaining 50 prisoners with possible connections to war crimes.

Speaking to reporters at Sarajevo airport, Dragan Bulajic, chief of the state commission for prisoner exchange on the Serbian side, said that their prisoners were not released because of unspecified technical reasons.

“Tomorrow everything will be done,” he said.

Bulajic repeated charges that the Bosnian government is secretly holding 200 Serbs in a Tuzla prison. The Red Cross has been prevented from visiting some parts of that prison since September.

“It is true that there still could be prisoners in the Tuzla prison,” said Laurent Falley, the Red Cross’ Tuzla representative. “We believe there might be prisoners. But I think that, if there were such a large number of people in a hidden place, we would have heard about it.”

While the politicians exchanged accusations, Dragan Boskovic, a Serbian police officer imprisoned since 1992, savored his first minutes of freedom.

“They took the best 3 1/2 years of my life,” Boskovic said shortly after his release. “Nobody treated me badly, but I will never forget all of this. I don’t hate anybody, but I will never forget this.”