Bosnian fighting extradition indicted
Posted: Saturday, March 24, 2007
SIOUX FALLS, S.D. (AP) -- Grand jurors have indicted a Bosnian man on state charges as he fights extradition for a 1995 slaying in his homeland.
A court in the European country found Samir Avdic guilty in absentia of shooting and killing a man while they hid in a cave to escape the violence of the war-torn country.
Avdic, 40, is in the United States on a temporary visa and has been living in Sioux Falls with his family and working at the John Morrell & Co. meatpacking plant.
Sioux Falls police arrested him March 9 after he was accused of using his vehicle to ram into another vehicle carrying his stepdaughter's boyfriend.
A Minnehaha County grand jury on Thursday indicted Avdic on two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of simple assault and reckless driving. He has not yet appeared in court on those charges.
A federal complaint filed separately against Avdic accuses him of being a fugitive from a foreign country.
At a court appearance Thursday on that charge, U.S. Magistrate John Simko ordered Avdic held in jail until a June 5 hearing that will include testimony about the crime and whether the United States should extradite him to Bosnia.
Avdic said he understood the charges against him and promised the judge to tell the truth.
In August 1995, Avdic and two other men were hiding in a cave while the nearby town of Srebrenica was under siege by Serbian forces, according to the federal complaint.
The three men argued and Avdic fatally shot one of the other men in the back and, with the third man's help, threw the body down a ravine, the document states.
"Avdic later confessed to the crime," according to the complaint.
A Bosnian court issued a warrant for Avdic's arrest in November 1998 and he was convicted a month later.
Avdic was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison but an appeals court later reduced it to six years after re-evaluating mitigating factors, the complaint states.
"This case involves some complicated legal issues and facts," Avdic's lawyer, Bill Delaney, told the judge at Thursday's hearing. "Identity is clearly a major element."
Court proceedings in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the time Avdic was convicted have been criticized by some as staged trials that sent innocent people to prison without enough evidence.
Avdic shares a Sioux Falls apartment with his wife, stepdaughter, two stepsons and a baby.
A court in the European country found Samir Avdic guilty in absentia of shooting and killing a man while they hid in a cave to escape the violence of the war-torn country.
Avdic, 40, is in the United States on a temporary visa and has been living in Sioux Falls with his family and working at the John Morrell & Co. meatpacking plant.
Sioux Falls police arrested him March 9 after he was accused of using his vehicle to ram into another vehicle carrying his stepdaughter's boyfriend.
A Minnehaha County grand jury on Thursday indicted Avdic on two counts of aggravated assault, three counts of simple assault and reckless driving. He has not yet appeared in court on those charges.
A federal complaint filed separately against Avdic accuses him of being a fugitive from a foreign country.
At a court appearance Thursday on that charge, U.S. Magistrate John Simko ordered Avdic held in jail until a June 5 hearing that will include testimony about the crime and whether the United States should extradite him to Bosnia.
Avdic said he understood the charges against him and promised the judge to tell the truth.
In August 1995, Avdic and two other men were hiding in a cave while the nearby town of Srebrenica was under siege by Serbian forces, according to the federal complaint.
The three men argued and Avdic fatally shot one of the other men in the back and, with the third man's help, threw the body down a ravine, the document states.
"Avdic later confessed to the crime," according to the complaint.
A Bosnian court issued a warrant for Avdic's arrest in November 1998 and he was convicted a month later.
Avdic was initially sentenced to 12 years in prison but an appeals court later reduced it to six years after re-evaluating mitigating factors, the complaint states.
"This case involves some complicated legal issues and facts," Avdic's lawyer, Bill Delaney, told the judge at Thursday's hearing. "Identity is clearly a major element."
Court proceedings in Bosnia-Herzegovina during the time Avdic was convicted have been criticized by some as staged trials that sent innocent people to prison without enough evidence.
Avdic shares a Sioux Falls apartment with his wife, stepdaughter, two stepsons and a baby.
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