Chairman of the BiH Presidency Haris Silajdzic sent a letter to President Boris Tadic calling for the release of Ilija Jurisic, who was sentenced to 12 years in prison for involvement in the massacre of former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) soldiers in Tuzla, BiH.

According to Republika Srpska daily Press, in the letter sent on August 10 Silajdzic called on Tadic to use his influence with the Serbian Supreme Court to overturn the verdict against Jurisic, who was sentenced by a court of first instance for the slaughter of the 'Tuzla convoy' in 1992.

Silajdzic warned that BiH would press charges against Serbia before the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg if Jurisic is not set free. In the letter, Silajdzic reminds Tadic of the case of wartime BiH Presidency member Ejup Ganic, who was set free by a London court even though Serbia sought his extradition.

Muslim paramilitary forces ambushed a JNA convoy while it was retreating from Sarajevo, and the same scenario played out in Tuzla a few days later.

Silajdzic believes that the Ganic case proved that there was no agreement on a peaceful retreat of JNA troops from BiH, which is conclusive evidence for dismissing all charges against Jurisic, who was convicted on the basis of this "phantom agreement."

Silajdzic claims that this violated Jurisic's right to a fair trial, guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights.