UN Wire Alert

Friday, April 21, 2000

BALKANS: Appeals Court Releases War Crimes Suspects

Two Bosnian Serbs accused of planning and abetting ethnic cleaning campaigns in the Balkans were released yesterday after an appeals court said pretrial delays had gone on too long. This marks the second time the appeals court has allowed an indictee to await trial at home, the Washington Times reports.

Simo Zaric and Miroslav Tadic surrendered to the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in February 1998. The appeals court first ordered their provisional release in April, but ICTY chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte objected on the grounds they were likely to flee.

The judges said yesterday that the two men have already been held awaiting trial for more than two years, and that "there is no likelihood of an early date being fixed for the commencement of (their) trial." The judges added that they were satisfied the two men would return to the tribunal in The Hague when summoned.

UN officials "have long been concerned" about the slow pace of tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda. The reasons for delays range from a shortage of chambers and judges to stalling tactics by attorneys (Betsy Pisik, Washington Times, 20 Apr).

Del Ponte "Alarmed"

In a statement, del Ponte said she was "deeply alarmed" by the men's release because it could have a negative impact on victims and witnesses in the case. Her concern was heightened by the fact that both men were convicted and sentenced in absentia in 1994 by courts in Bosnia-Herzegovina for the same offenses covered in her indictment.

According to the ICTY's 1995 indictment, the two Serbs in 1992 took part in planning the forcible transfer of hundreds of Bosnian Croat and Muslim civilians, including women, children and the elderly, from their homes in Bosanski Samac to other countries or areas not controlled by Serb forces (UN Newservice, 19 Apr).