Officials say Martinovic, a former Bosnian Croat military commander, was transferred Tuesday to an Italian jail where he will serve the remainder of an 18-year prison sentence for committing war crimes against Bosnian Muslims, the ICTY reported.

Martinovic was a commander of a Convicts' Battalion sub-unit within the Croatian Defense Council involved in the criminal attempt to remove Bosnian Muslims from the west bank of Mostar, Bosnia.

Martinovic, convicted by the ICTY in March 2003, "forced (Muslims) out of their homes at gunpoint. ... Many Muslim civilians from Mostar were rounded up and placed in a detention camp, where they were forced to dig trenches or carry wounded and dead soldiers, and serve as human shields on the front line," the release said.

The ICTY transferred Martinovic to Italy, which is one of 15 European countries that have volunteered to enforce sentences of ICTY-convicted individuals.