Bosnian Serb Ratko Samac, a former Yugoslav army officer and participant in the Bosnian civil war, has been granted Russian citizenship.
Bosnia and Herzegovina sought his extradition on suspicion of committing war crimes against civilians during the massacre in the town of Ključ, as well as the murder of three civilians in 1993.
In 2013, Bosnia and Herzegovina put him on an international wanted list on suspicion of committing war crimes and participating in the massacre of civilians.
He was detained in January 2016 during a joint operation of Interpol and the FSB and placed in a pre-trial detention center, and then transferred to house arrest.
In April of the same year, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office refused to extradite Samac to Bosnia and Herzegovina and released him from arrest, and now Putin has granted him Russian citizenship by personal decree.
