A prominent former Bosnian Muslim leader held in London on alleged war crimes charges following a Serbian extradition warrant failed in his efforts to be freed on bail Friday, as his lawyer claimed the arrest was "politically-motivated."
The High Court in London adjourned a decision on a bail application for Ejup Ganic, saying it needed more evidence from the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) expanding on the reasons why he was wanted by the Serbian authorities.
Meanwhile Clare Montgomery, a high-profile defence lawyer representing Ganic, said his arrest was politically-motivated and holding him in prison any longer would risk "making a mockery of justice."
In Sarajevo, around 1,000 people gathered at the British embassy Friday to protest at Ganic's arrest, before moving on to the Serbian embassy.
Muslims make up around half and Serbs one-third of Bosnia's four million inhabitants. Relations between ethnic groups in the former Yugoslav republic remain tense nearly 15 years after the war there ended.
Ganic, an academic with close ties to the University in of Buckingham in Britain, was arrested Monday on his arrival at London's Heathrow airport on a provisional arrest warrant issued by the Serbian government. He marked his 64th birthday in detention Wednesday.
But the judges, John Laws and Richard McCombe, said they needed to have more details of the nature of the Serbian extradition request before granting bail. Ganic's family has condemned his arrest and is reported to have provided 200,000 pounds (300,000 dollars) for his release.
The court heard that Terence Kealey, vice-chancellor of Buckingham University, had offered 25,000 pounds in bail security, while a "well-wisher" had provided 300,000 pounds.
He was told earlier by a London Magistrate's Court that he would have to remain in custody until March 29, the date set for a formal extradition hearing. His initial request for bail was dismissed by the same court Wednesday.
It is alleged that Ganic was involved in an attack in May 1992 on a Yugoslav army convoy in Sarajevo in which 42 soldiers were killed and 73 injured. He has denied the allegations.
Montgomery told the court that the Serbian government, which has yet to issue a formal extradition request, was abusing the extradition process.
His arrest was politically-motivated, she argued, coinciding with the trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic for war crimes in The Hague.
"There is an overwhelming case for granting bail," she said. Holding Ganic for up to 45 days at Wandsworth top security prison in London risked making a "mockery of justice."
Adjourning the case to next Thursday, judge Laws said he "did not like at all" the custodial "limbo" Ganic was currently in.
The arrest of the former leading politician, who formerly served under the rotating Bosnian presidency, has caused uproar in his home country and raised eyebrows in Britain, where former Conservative prime minister Margaret Thatcher is counted among his friends.
German politician and diplomat Christian Schwarz-Schilling, who served as the international administrator in Bosnia in 2006-07, called Ganic's arrest an "international scandal" and "outrage."
He told the German Press Agency dpa that "Ganic was defending his country from a Serb attack" and that Britain was participating "in Serbia's political ploy."
The case has reignited a debate in Britain about the threat of arrest to foreign visitors from international or European-wide arrest warrants.
Last December, former Israeli foreign minister Tzipi Livni cancelled a trip to London after a warrant for her arrest was issued by a British court on behalf of pro-Palestinian campaigners.
Colin Powell, the former US secretary of state, is also reported to have expressed concern about the possibility of arrest in Britain.
The government has said it wants to "clamp down" on what it deems to be "politically-motivated" arrest warrants.
It plans to switch responsibility for the prosecution of war crimes and other violations of international law away from the magistrates who issue the arrest warrants to the CPS, the central prosecuting agency.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown has said that Britain risked having its standing in the world "compromised" by "tolerating such gestures."
"As we have seen, there is now significant danger of such a provision being exploited by politically-motivated organizations or individuals who set out only to grab headlines knowing their case has no realistic chance of a successful prosecution," Brown wrote in the Daily Telegraph this week.
There was "growing reason to believe" that some people were no longer prepared to travel to Britain for fear of arrest warrants "motivated purely by political gesture," wrote Brown.
"Britain cannot afford to have its standing in the world compromised for the sake of tolerating such gestures," he wrote, urging change as "as soon as possible."