Lawyers acting for a former Bosnian president who was arrested at Heathrow over war crime allegations will return to the High Court in a bid to secure him bail.

Ejup Ganic, 64, a friend of Baroness Thatcher, was detained at the request of the Serbian government and stands accused of killing wounded Bosnian Serb soldiers in 1992 during the Balkan wars.

Lawyers for the academic say moves to make him face trial in Serbia are politically-motivated and his arrest is illegal.

Lord Justice Laws and Mr Justice McCombe, sitting at the High Court in London, adjourned the bail request last week to give the Serbian authorities more time to put in evidence to back their war crime allegations and oppose bail.

As last week's hearing took place, thousands of Bosnians protested in front of the British and Serbian embassies in Sarajevo. Protesters waved Bosnian flags and held banners, accusing Serbia of lying and Britain of siding with it in the legal action.

Dr Ganic, who is being held in Wandsworth prison, was initially refused bail on Wednesday last week at City of Westminster Magistrates' Court on the grounds that there was a danger of him absconding. He made another appearance on Tuesday this week, but was kept in custody pending Thursday's High Court hearing.

He was arrested on March 1 as he went to leave the country after attending a degree ceremony at the University of Buckingham, which is partnered with the Sarajevo School of Science and Technology, where he is president.

The judges were told the university vice-chancellor, Dr Terence Kealey, was offering a £25,000 bail surety, while "a well wisher" had provided a £300,000 security.

Last year, a Belgrade court indicted Dr Ganic, a wartime leader who briefly acted as president, and 18 others over an incident in which 42 soldiers from the Yugoslav army were killed at the start of the Balkan war as they retreated from Sarajevo. A convoy of Yugoslav soldiers, accompanied by UN peacekeepers, was attacked during the retreat from a Bosnian Muslim area of the city. Serbia says this was in violation of a safe passage pact.

Clare Montgomery QC, representing Dr Ganic, says the allegations have already been rejected by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and accuses the Serbian government of abusing extradition laws for political reasons.