Briefly Noted

Friday, 18 November, 2005

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IWPR

Institute for War & Peace Reporting

During his initial appearance, the prosecutors repeated their request to join this case with eight others in what could become the biggest trial in the history of the tribunal.

Pandurevic, the wartime commander of the Bosnian Serb army’s Zvornik brigade, is charged with genocide, conspiracy to commit genocide, crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.

The indictment alleges that the forces under his command participated in rounding up and even executing the Muslim prisoners caught as they were trying to escape the overrun enclave. He is also indicted for the role his troops played in covering the traces of the crime by burying and later reburying the bodies of the executed men.

Pandurevic was indicted five years ago, but turned himself in to the tribunal only in March this year. Initially, he was co-accused with Bosnian Serb army general Radislav Krstic and colonel Vidoje Blagojevic. Both Krstic and Blagojevic have in the meantime been found guilty of complicity in genocide and sentenced to 35 and 18 years in prison respectively.

At his first initial appearance in March, Pandurevic requested the right to delay his plea by 30 days.

At this week’s hearing, prosecutor Peter McCloskey announced that he intends to file a motion to join the indictments against nine Bosnian Serb military and police officers charged with the Srebrenica related crimes – Vinko Pandurevic, Vujadin Popovic, Ljubomir Beara, Radivoje Miletic, Drago Nikolic, Milan Gvero, Ljubomir Borovcanin, Milorad Trbic and Zdravko Tolimir.

All of the accused, except Tolimir, have already arrived in The Hague following a wave of surrenders that began last October.

The prosecutors’ argue that the indictments should be joined as they “involve the same or very similar set of facts”, and trying the suspects together would save potential witnesses the effort of multiple testimonies, and conserve the court’s already stretched resources.

But Judge Jean-Claude Antonetti of France expressed some doubts as to whether it would be physically possible to have one single case for nine accused, given the tribunal’s cramped courtrooms. The court has little experience of trying large numbers of co-accused. The largest case to date involves six Bosnian Croat officials accused for their role in the Bosnian war, and these hearings are yet to begin.

However, the prosecution is determined. “None of us has ever tried such a case and I know it would be difficult, but I just cannot imagine trying this case twice,” said McCloskey, announcing that the motion will be filed soon.

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At his second appearance before the tribunal, former high-ranking Bosnian Serb police officer Ljubomir Borovcanin pleaded not guilty to charges relating to his alleged role in the massacre of more than 7,000 Bosnian Muslim residents of Srebrenica in 1995.

Prosecutors claim that Borovcanin was in command of the joint Bosnian Serb police forces during the Srebrenica operation. The units under his command are alleged to have participated in capturing Bosnian Muslim men and boys, who were fleeing the enclave after its fall. Hague prosecutors assert Borovcanin was even personally present when some of the executions took place.

Borovcanin is charged on the basis of his personal and command responsibility for crimes committed by his subordinates. He faces one count of complicity in genocide, four counts of crimes against humanity – extermination, murder, persecutions and forcible transfer – and one count of murder as a violation of the laws or customs of war.

Borovcanin is the only Bosnian Serb police officer to be indicted on charges relating to the Srebrenica massacre. He surrendered to Serbian authorities on March 29 after nearly three years in hiding and was transferred from Belgrade to the UN detention unit in The Hague three days later. He postponed entering his plea at his first appearance on April 7, pending the approval of his chosen defence counsel.

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A month after his initial appearance before the tribunal, Serbian police general Sreten Lukic entered a not guilty plea this week on charges related to his alleged role in a campaign to drive thousands of ethnic Albanians from Kosovo in 1999.

Lukic is charged with four counts of crimes against humanity and one count of violations of the laws or customs of war.

He is one of four Serbian generals indicted in 2003 for allegedly running a three-month long police and military operation with the aim of ethnically cleansing Kosovo of its Albanian inhabitants. The operation was conducted during the NATO air strikes on Serbia that started in March that year.

The indictment against Lukic and his three co-accused - generals Nebojsa Pavkovic, Vladimir Lazarevic and Vlastimir Djordjevic – lists 17 separate massacres allegedly committed by forces under their control in 1999, and 22 cases of mass expulsions.

Nebojsa Pavkovic and Vladimir Lazarevic have already surrendered to the tribunal and pleaded not guilty earlier this year, while Vlastimir Djordjevic is still at large.

Lazarevic has in the meantime returned to Serbia on provisional release, pending trial.

The prosecutors are hoping they would be allowed to join the case against the four generals with that against Serbia’s top political and military officials at the time - Milan Milutinovic, Nikola Sainovic and Dragoljub Ojdanic – all of whom face similar charges.

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Rasim Delic, former commander in chief of the Bosnian army, was granted provisional release by the Hague tribunal on May 6.

Delic has been charged with responsibility for murders, tortures and rapes committed by foreign mujahedin fighters in central Bosnia between 1993 and 1995. He surrendered to the tribunal earlier this year and pleaded not guilty in March.

He is the highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim officer to be called before the tribunal. The judges said they had taken into his seniority into account when making their decision.

The prosecution had argued that Delic would be likely to go into hiding if released, because his trial was scheduled only for the second half of 2007, near to the date by which the tribunal is supposed to wind up all proceedings.

But judges said that the period of time likely to elapse before the trial – around two and a half years – along with the serious nature of the crime and likelihood of a long period of incarceration if he were found guilty, were all factors that favoured provisional release.

They also took into account a guarantee from Bosnia and Herzegovina’s justice minister.

At the hearing to discuss provisional release last week, Delic’s lawyer told the court that his client would shortly be publishing a book about the history of the Bosnian army and would appreciate the opportunity to promote it.

Judge Patrick Robinson replied dryly that he was not sure whether a book tour was an appropriate activity for someone on provisional release.