Hague: Final judgment for Halilović

The Hague, October 16 (Source: B92) - The Appeals Chamber will this week rule on the prosecution appeal against the acquittal of a former Bosnian Army chief.

Also this week at the UN war crimes court, a hearing in the case of Dragan Zelenović who appealed against the sentence he received after he pleaded guilty to rapes in Foča. General Dragoljub Ojdanić will also take the stand at the Kosovo Six trial. The prosecution case will continue in the five ongoing trials.

On Tuesday, October 16, the Appeals Chamber will deliver the final judgment in the case against the former chief of the Bosnian Army General Staff, Sefer Halilović. The Trial Chamber acquitted Halilović of crimes the Bosnian Army troops committed in September 1993 against Croat civilians and prisoners of war in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in the Neretva valley. The prosecution appealed, noting that the Trial Chamber erred when it found that Halilović had not been a de facto commander of Operation Neretva 93 and that he had not had "effective control over the direct perpetrators of the crimes in Grabovica and Uzdol."

The prosecution also considers that Halilović knew or had reason to know that the murders would be committed, yet he failed to take reasonable measures to prevent them or to punish the perpetrators. The prosecution therefore calls upon the Appeals Chamber to find Halilović guilty of the murder of 13 civilians in Grabovica and sentence him accordingly. Halilović will be present for the judgment, his defense counsel indicated.

Today, the Appeals Chamber heard oral arguments on the appeal filed by Dragan Zelenović. In April 2007, Zelenović was sentenced to 15 years in prison following his guilty plea for the rapes and torture of Bosniak girls and women in Foča in 1992. Zelenović appealed against the sentence, claiming it was "too severe" and that the Trial Chamber failed to give proper weight to his admission of guilt and willingness to cooperate with the prosecution. The accused Dragoljub Ojdanić, former chief of the Yugoslav Army (VJ) General Staff, will begin his evidence at the end of his defense case at the trial of the six military, political and police officials from Serbia, charged with crimes in Kosovo in 1999.

The prosecution will continue with its case at the remaining five trials before the ICTY: against six former Bosnian Croat leaders charged with crimes in Herceg Bosna, the trial of Rasim Delić for Mujahideen crimes in Central Bosnia, the trial of three former KLA leaders charged with abductions and murder of Serbian, Albanian and Roma civilians in the Dečani area. The trial of Ljube Boshkoski and Johan Tarchulovski for unlawful attacks on Albanian civilians in the village of Ljuboten near Skopje, Macedonia, will also continue.

The trial of seven Bosnian Serb military and police officers for the crimes in Srebrenica and Žepa in 1995 was conducted in closed session for the past two weeks. The proceedings are expected to become public this week.

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