Category Archives: Top Serbian genocidal war criminals; info,crimes,Hague
UN tribunal jails two Bosnian Serb ex-army officers for life over Srebrenica massacre
10 June 2010 – A United Nations war crimes tribunal today handed out life terms in jail to two former top Bosnian Serb military officers after convicting them of genocide for their role in the 1995 massacre of nearly 8,000 Muslim men and boys in the UN safe haven of Srebrenica, the most notorious episode of the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s.
In the largest ever case before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), judges also sentenced five other former military and police officers to lengthy terms in prison for their role in the killings at Srebrenica and another safe haven of Žepa – events the court said were unprecedented in scale and brutality.
The ICTY found that at least 5,336 people are confirmed to have been killed as a result of the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995, but that other evidence indicates the death toll could be as high as 7,826. Srebrenica and Žepa had been declared safe havens for civilians by the UN two years before the massacres, but they were both overrun by Bosnian Serb forces.
The attacks were carried out following the issuing of a “supreme command directive” in March 1995 by the then Bosnian Serb president Radovan Karadžic in which he set out the criminal plan aimed at forcing the Bosnian Muslims of Srebrenica and Žepa to leave the enclaves. Mr. Karadžic is himself on trial for his role in the Balkan wars.
The tribunal stated that the Drina Corps of the Bosnian Serb forces (known as the VRS) was tasked with creating “an unbearable situation of total insecurity with no hope of further survival or life for the inhabitants of Srebrenica and Žepa,” which are both located in eastern Bosnia and Herzegovina.
“The scale and nature of the murder operation, with the staggering number of killings, the systematic and organised manner in which it was carried out, the targeting and relentless pursuit of the victims, and the plain intention, apparent from the evidence, to eliminate every Bosnian Muslim male who was captured or surrendered proves beyond reasonable doubt that this was genocide,” the trial chamber found.
“In the context of the war in the former Yugoslavia, and in the context of human history, these events are arrestive in their scale and brutality.”
Vujadin Popovic, the chief of security of the Drina Corps, and Ljubiša Beara, the head of security in the VRS main staff, were each found guilty of genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to life in prison.
The judges said Mr. Popovic was one of the major participants in the attacks on the safe havens. He was found to have been present at a number of sites where captured Bosnian Muslims were detained or executed between 13 July and 23 July.
“Mr. Popovic knew that the intent was not just to kill those who had fallen into the hands of the Bosnian Serb Forces, but to kill as many as possible with the aim of destroying the group. Mr. Popovic’s ensuing robust participation in all aspects of the plan demonstrates that he not only knew of this intent to destroy, he also shared it.”
Mr. Beara was the “driving force behind the murder enterprise,” the judges said. He “had the clearest overall picture of the massive scale and scope of the killing operation. From his presence in Bratunac on the night of 13 July, to his personal visits to the various detention and execution sites and the significant logistical challenges he faced throughout, Mr. Beara had a very personal view of the staggering number of victims destined for execution.”
Drago Nikolic, the chief of security in the Zvornik Brigade, was found guilty of aiding and abetting genocide, extermination, murder and persecution and sentenced to 35 years in jail.
Ljubomir Borovcanin, the deputy commander of the Special Police Brigade of the police forces, was convicted of aiding and abetting extermination, murder, persecution and forcible transfer, murder as a crime against humanity and as a violation of the laws of customs of war under. He will serve a 17-year jail term.
Radivoje Miletic, the chief of the administration for operations and training at the VRS main staff, was found guilty of murder, persecution and inhumane acts and sentenced to 19 years in prison.
Milan Gvero, the assistant commander for moral, legal and religious affairs of the VRS main staff, was convicted of persecution and inhumane acts and acquitted of the two counts of murder and that of deportation. He was sentenced to five years in jail.
Vinko Pandurevic, commander of the Zvornik Brigade, was found guilty of aiding and abetting murder, persecution and inhumane acts. He was acquitted of charges of genocide, extermination and deportation and will serve 13 years in prison.
The trial was the largest conducted to date at the ICTY, which is based in The Hague. Proceedings began in August 2006 and concluded in September last year. The trial took a total of 425 days during which the ICTY heard or otherwise admitted evidence from 315 witnesses.
The tribunal has indicted 21 people for crimes committed in Srebrenica. They include Radislav Krstic, the first individual to be convicted by the ICTY of aiding and abetting genocide in Srebrenica. The appeals chamber sentenced him to 35 years’ imprisonment. The trials of Mr. Karadžic, Zdravko Tolimir, Jovica Stanišic and Franko Simatovic are ongoing. Ratko Mladic, the war-time VRS leader also charged with genocide in Srebrenica, remains at large.
Since its establishment, the ICTY has indicted more than 160 persons for serious violations of humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia between 1991 and 2001. Proceedings against 123 have finished and proceedings are open for another 40 accused.
http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=34986&Cr=icty&Cr1=
Mladic’s wife charged with possession of weapons
Belgrade: Serbian police briefly detained the wife of the country’s most wanted war crimes suspect, Ratko Mladic, and charged her with illegal possession of weapons, a lawyer said yesterday.
Authorities are hoping that pressure on Mladic’s family may help lead to his eventual arrest. Mladic was indicted 15 years ago for genocide in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of 8,000 Muslim men and the 43-month siege of Sarajevo.
Precondition
The arrest of Mladic, Bosnian Serb military commander during the 1992-95 Bosnian war, is a precondition for Serbia’s progress towards European Union membership.
http://gulfnews.com/news/world/other-world/mladic-s-wife-charged-with-possession-of-weapons-1.638994
Genocide fugitive Ratko Mladic’s family in Serbia wants him declared officially dead
The family of the fugitive ex-Bosnian Serb army chief, Ratko Mladic, is seeking to have him declared officially dead, according to Serbian media.
If approved, the declaration would allow Mladic’s wife to collect a state pension and sell his property.
Mladic is wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia on war crimes charges in connection with the 1992-95 Bosnia war.
Mladic – on the run since 1995 – faces charges including genocide.
In an interview with the Vecernje Novosti newspaper, the Mladic family lawyer said such a request could be made when a missing person was over 70 and there had been no reliable information on his whereabouts for more than five years.
Milos Saljic said he would submit a motion to the Serbian courts this month arguing that Mladic has poor health and has not been seen in years. Mladic is only 68.
Mr Saljic said the family were pursuing the motion “because of the prosecution they are facing”.
Rasim Ljajic, the head of the Serbian National Council for Co-operation with the ICTY (International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia), said the actions of the family “mocked the state”.
He told the newspaper that the legal action would in no way influence the effort to track down the country’s most wanted fugitive.
UN court officials believe Mladic is hiding in Serbia.
The capture of Mladic is considered a pre-condition for Serbia joining the EU.
Bosnian Serb general Zdravko Tolimir goes on trial for genocide
Bosnian Serb general goes on trial for genocide
THE HAGUE (AFP) – Bosnian Serb ex-general Zdravko Tolimir went on trial on Friday, facing genocide and war crime charges for the deaths of thousands of Muslims in 1995.
“This case is about Zdravko Tolimir’s choice to forsake his duty to abide by the rules of war in pursuit of a mono-ethnic Serb state,” prosecutor Nelson Thayer told judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague.
The prosecutor said Tolimir took part in an “unrelenting plan” to expel the Muslim population from the Srebrenica and Zepa enclaves, “by making their lives so unbearable that they had no hope for survival there”.
The court was also told that “he assisted, supervised and authorised the organised detention, execution and burial of thousands of Muslim men and boys.”
The 61-year-old Tolimir was one of seven deputy commanders to wartime Bosnian Serb army chief Ratko Mladic — who is still wanted by the tribunal 15 years after he was indicted.
The former general was arrested in Bosnia-Hercegovina on May 31, 2007, is accused of committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity between July and November 1995.
This includes the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of nearly 8,000 Bosnian Muslim men and boys.
The prosecution accuses Tolimir of having the “intent to destroy a part of the Bosnian Muslim people as a national, ethnical or religious group”.
He was responsible for intelligence and security for the Bosnian Serb army at the time.
Bosnia: Three Genocide Suspects Arrested
The Prosecution of Bosnia and Herzegovina suspects that the three men, as members of the 10th Reconnaissance Squad with the Republika Srpska Army, VRS, “were direct executors of the shooting and killing of Bosniak men and boys” and participated in the murder of more than 1,000 victims after the fall of Srebrenica in July 1995.
According to the State Prosecution’s announcement, the suspects were arrested at various locations in Bosnia and Herzegovina. It also says that Stanko Savanovic was registered under the name of Stanko Kojic.
Until now, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina has sentenced six former members of the Second Special Police Squad from Sekovici to a total of 181 years in prison “for having assisted in the commission of genocide” in Srebrenica. The State Court has also rendered a first instance verdict sentencing Milorad Trbic to 30 years in prison for genocide committed in Srebrenica.
Mladic Will Be Tried Even If ICTY Closes
Belgrade | 18 February 2010 | Bojana Barlovac
Chief UN War Crimes Prosecutor Serge Brammertz said that if ICTY indictee Ratko Mladic is not arrested by the time the court’s mandate ends, the UN will develop a mechanism that will allow a trial to be held.In an interview with the online edition of Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung, Brammertz said that he “maintains optimism that Mladic will be arrested before the Tribunal closes its doors.”
The former Bosnian Serb military leader, Ratko Mladic, has been indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, for genocide committed during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Following the arrest of former Bosnian Serb political leader Radovan Karadzic in July 2008, Mladic and the former head of the breakaway Croatian Serb republic, Goran Hadzic, are the two remaining fugitives still on the run.
Brammertz also said that there is a possibility that Mladic’s trial could be joined with Karadzic’s ongoing trial if Mladic is arrested soon. He added, however, that the group of people supporting and aiding the Hague fugitive is not the same group that was helping Karadzic hide.
In January, the prosecutor said that Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic are hiding on Serbian soil.
“On the basis of information received from Serbia we have no reason to believe that they [Mladic and Hadzic] are not in Serbia,” Brammertz told the European Parliament.
Serbia’s War Crimes Prosecutor Vladimir Vukcevic said recently that the Serbian security services are constantly working to locate and arrest the remaining fugitives wanted for war crimes – Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic.
“Search actions are intensive and held on a daily basis, and security services are working at full capacity and in excellent coordination,” daily Danas quoted Vukcevic as saying.
Evidence suggest that indicted war criminal Ratko Mladic is hiding in Serbia
Evidence points to Mladic hiding in Serbia, says UN prosecutor
Jan 26, 2010, 16:36 GMT
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var PageContent= ‘ Brussels – Intelligence reports indicate that a Bosnian Serb general accused of the worst war crime committed in Europe since the Second World War is still hiding in Serbia, the top prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal for Former Yugoslavia told the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Ratko Mladic faces charges of genocide for the 1995 killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica, in one of the last acts of the Bosnian civil war that left over 100,000 dead between 1992 and 1995.
He is one of the last two fugitives from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The other is former Serbian Croat leader Goran Hadzic.
\’On the basis of the information we have received from Serbia, we have no reason to believe they are not in Serbia,\’ said ICTY chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz during a hearing before the parliament\’s foreign affairs committee, specifying he had \’daily contact\’ with Serbian intelligence.
Mladic and Hadzic\’s arrest is seen as a key precondition for Serbia\’s progress toward joining the European Union. EU governments are set to decide in June, on the basis of Brammertz\’ next report to the UN Security Council, whether the country\’s bid for membership deserves to be moved forward.
The UN prosecutor said it was \’extremely important\’ to maintain this \’conditionality,\’ but warned he had \’nothing new to report\’ beyond what he said in December, when Serbia\’s efforts to catch Mladic and Hadzic were deemed \’satisfactory.\’
That positive assessment led EU states to unfreeze a pre-accession deal with Serbia. If Brammertz is still satisfied in June, they could start ratifying the deal and allow the European Commission to start processing Belgrade\’s formal EU application, which was presented last month.
Croatia\’s accession to the EU also depends on Brammertz\’s evaluations, as the ICTY has urged Zagreb to produce documents on military operations conducted by Croatian indictee Ante Gotovina, or to explain why they disappeared.
\’What we are asking is comprehensive and credible investigations (…) what we are expecting is not impossible,\’ he stressed.
Brammertz acknowledged the Croatian government, led by Jadranka Kosor, took some positive steps – establishing a \’task force\’ to hunt down the documents – but he added: \’I would have preferred if these efforts were made two years ago when we first asked for the documents, rather than now.\’
Finally, the Belgian-born prosecutor stated that the ICTY is set to complete all its first-instance trials between 2011 and 2012, and all its appeals by 2013 or 2014. He added that this year it will start \’seriously downsizing,\’ with \’important\’ cuts in the budget and a 60-per-cent reduction in staff.
The tribunal was meant to wind down in 2010, but delays in court proceedings and the unexpected arrest of some fugitives – including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in 2008 – have forced the original schedule to be abandoned.
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Brussels – Intelligence reports indicate that a Bosnian Serb general accused of the worst war crime committed in Europe since the Second World War is still hiding in Serbia, the top prosecutor of the United Nations tribunal for Former Yugoslavia told the European Parliament on Tuesday.
Ratko Mladic faces charges of genocide for the 1995 killing of 8,000 Bosnian Muslims in the town of Srebrenica, in one of the last acts of the Bosnian civil war that left over 100,000 dead between 1992 and 1995.
He is one of the last two fugitives from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The other is former Serbian Croat leader Goran Hadzic.
‘On the basis of the information we have received from Serbia, we have no reason to believe they are not in Serbia,’ said ICTY chief prosecutor Serge Brammertz during a hearing before the parliament’s foreign affairs committee, specifying he had ‘daily contact’ with Serbian intelligence.
Mladic and Hadzic’s arrest is seen as a key precondition for Serbia’s progress toward joining the European Union. EU governments are set to decide in June, on the basis of Brammertz’ next report to the UN Security Council, whether the country’s bid for membership deserves to be moved forward.
The UN prosecutor said it was ‘extremely important’ to maintain this ‘conditionality,’ but warned he had ‘nothing new to report’ beyond what he said in December, when Serbia’s efforts to catch Mladic and Hadzic were deemed ‘satisfactory.’
That positive assessment led EU states to unfreeze a pre-accession deal with Serbia. If Brammertz is still satisfied in June, they could start ratifying the deal and allow the European Commission to start processing Belgrade’s formal EU application, which was presented last month.
Croatia’s accession to the EU also depends on Brammertz’s evaluations, as the ICTY has urged Zagreb to produce documents on military operations conducted by Croatian indictee Ante Gotovina, or to explain why they disappeared.
‘What we are asking is comprehensive and credible investigations (…) what we are expecting is not impossible,’ he stressed.
Brammertz acknowledged the Croatian government, led by Jadranka Kosor, took some positive steps – establishing a ‘task force’ to hunt down the documents – but he added: ‘I would have preferred if these efforts were made two years ago when we first asked for the documents, rather than now.’
Finally, the Belgian-born prosecutor stated that the ICTY is set to complete all its first-instance trials between 2011 and 2012, and all its appeals by 2013 or 2014. He added that this year it will start ‘seriously downsizing,’ with ‘important’ cuts in the budget and a 60-per-cent reduction in staff.
The tribunal was meant to wind down in 2010, but delays in court proceedings and the unexpected arrest of some fugitives – including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic in 2008 – have forced the original schedule to be abandoned.
Genocide indictment against Bosnian Serb Zeljko Ivankovic, for murder of 1,000 Muslims in Srebrenica
The Court of Bosnia-Herzegovina charged in a statement Friday that, as a member of a Bosnian Serb special police unit, Zeljko Ivankovic, 37, killed the victims in a warehouse into which Bosnia Serbs had herded them, “with a view to entirely destroying a group of Bosniaks.”
The 1995 massacre of 8,100 Bosniaks that followed the Serb occupation of the east Bosnian town of Srebrenica is considered the worst carnage in Europe since World War II.
http://www.courant.com/news/nationworld/wire/sns-ap-eu-bosnia-war-crimes,0,4198256.story
