Party of Democratic Action (SDA) president Sulejman Tihic on Tuesday visited Croatian war veteran Tihomir Purda, who is in custody in Zenica, central Bosnia and Herzegovina, pending a Bosnian State Court ruling on Serbia's extradition plea over war crimes charges.
The visit was prompted by the fact that both men were detained in a Serbian camp at the same time, the SDA said in a press release.
"I came as a citizen and fellow sufferer of Tihomir Purda, with whom I was detained in a camp in Sremska Mitrovica, where we experienced such torture that being hit with a stick was a privilege in comparison to the other methods," said Tihic.
He added he came to see Purda to encourage him to hold on.
Tihic said Croatian, Serbian and Bosnian authorities must reach the appropriate agreements so that there were no more cases like Purda or Bosnian citizens Ejup Ganic and Ilija Jurisic, for whom the Serbian judiciary has also issued international arrest warrants on war crimes charges.
"I expect the decision by the Serbian bodies of authority in Purda's case to be lawful and most of all just. The hearings we were subjected to between two 'portions' of beatings were the hardest and all statements given in such conditions should be checked," said Tihic.
Serbia charges Purda of alleged war crimes after he gave confession under duress while being detained in Serbian concentration camps.
