Srebrenica Defender Charged

Police said that eight people had been detained after raids on apartments in Sarajevo and Tuzla yielded larges caches of weapons and ammunition.

“They are suspected of having extorted money over the last few years after lending it at excessively high monthly interest,” a police statement said.

Oric was acquitted last July by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) of war crimes committed against Serbs in Eastern Bosnia during the 1992-1995 conflict.

Three of those detained, including Oric, were placed in the custody of the Sarajevo cantonal judiciary.

Also arrested were his ex-wife, Zahida Oric, and Damir Fazlic, a Sarajevo businessman who once was questioned and then released by authorities in connection to the assassination of Serbian Prime Minister Zoran Djindjic in 2003.  Fazlic was released after his arrest in this case.