WELCOME TO IWPRS TRIBUNAL UPDATE No. 517, September 17, 2007 KOSOVO DEFENDANT RUNS FOR PARLIAMENT Hague prosecutors and Serbs in the region are concerned at Ramush Haradinajs election plans. By Aleksandar Roknic in Belgrade
COURTSIDE: MUJAHEDIN ROLE NOT DISCUSSED BY BOSNIAN ARMY CHIEFS A witness at the trial of the former Bosnian army chief says he was unaware that mujahedin forces were accused of criminal acts. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo WITNESSES JOIN SQUABBLE IN ZAGREB TRIAL Wrangling continues over whether the two Croatian officers standing trial, or indeed anyone else, were really in command of a 1993 offensive. By Goran Jungvirth in Zagreb BRIEFLY NOTED: DEL PONTE TO STAY ON Chief prosecutor will remain in post until the end of December. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo SPANOVIC LAWYER CLAIMS SERBS FACE DISCRIMINATION IN CROATIA Lawyer for Croatian Serb says he would not receive a fair trial. By Rory Gallivan in London **** IWPR RESOURCES ****************************************************************** NEW VACANCY: EDITOR, THE HAGUE, NETHERLANDS. IWPR seeks an editor to be based in The Hague, Netherlands for our international justice project. 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For more information about how you can support IWPR go to: http://www.iwpr.net/donate.html **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** KOSOVO DEFENDANT RUNS FOR PARLIAMENT Hague prosecutors and Serbs in the region are concerned at Ramush Haradinajs election plans. By Aleksandar Roknic in Belgrade Prosecutors fear that a decision to allow Ramush Haradinaj, currently on trial for war crimes in The Hague, to run for parliament in Kosovo will be accompanied by an upsurge in threats to witnesses in the case against him. Serbs in Kosovo also expressed consternation at the decision, which they said reflected underlying western sympathies for the ethnic Albanian former guerrilla leader and politician, who served as Kosovos prime minister before handing himself over to The Hague in 2005. Last week, the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, said it had no objection to Haradinaj running in the November election. Haradinaj, one of the commanders in the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrillas in their battles with Serbian government forces in 1997-99, is currently detained in The Hague and standing trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, charged with 17 counts of crimes against humanity. But he remains popular in Kosovo, where former guerrillas dominate the government, and he heads the election list of the Alliance for the Future of Kosovo, a party he founded in 2000. We think that participation by Haradinaj would make the witness situation worse, Olga Kavran, spokeswoman for tribunal prosecutors, told IWPR. We have 14 subpoenas for witnesses to appear before the court, and at least 10 of those people have said that they have received threats, both directed at them and at their families, linked to their testimony. Several days ago, the tribunal ordered us to start an investigation into a witness who refused to be present at the court. Prosecutors allege that Haradinajs forces persecuted civilians and maintained a torture chamber at KLA headquarters in Jablanica between March and September 1998. According to the indictment, KLA forces under his command, harassed, beat or otherwise drove Serbian civilian and Roma civilians out of villages, and killed those civilians that remained behind or had refused to abandon their homes. It said other attacks also targeted Serb and Roma civilians, as well as ethnic Albanians seen as collaborators. The indictment says that at the end of August 1998, Serbian forces temporarily recaptured an area where they found the remains of at least 39 people, several of whom had been identified Serb, Roma and Albanian civilians who disappeared in the Dukagjin area while Haradinajs forces held sway there. UNMIK spokesman Alexander Ivanko said the international community could not stop Haradinaj taking part, and was just respecting the Kosovo constitution which allows trial defendants considerable freedom of action. The constitution says that people sentenced by the tribunal cant take part in elections, and neither can people who are indicted and refuse to cooperate with the tribunal, he said. A person is innocent till proven guilty. Haradinaj was charged, he voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal and he cooperates, so the Kosovo constitution allows him to participate in the elections. This is not the first time a defendant at The Hague has run for public office. Former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who was on for trial for war crimes until he died in custody in the Netherlands last year, headed the party list for his Socialist Party of Serbia in 2003 and 2004. Another Serbian defendant, Vojislav Seselj, ran for parliament while in custody, and his Serbian Radical Party emerged with the biggest share of the vote in elections earlier this year. However, the tribunal restricted public appearances by the two men since their actions broke the terms of custody rules something it has so far refused to do for Haradinaj. Kosovos ethnic Serbs condemned the international communitys refusal to curb Haradinajs election ambitions as hypocritical. They alleged that Britain and the United States, both of which regarded Haradinaj as a friend before his indictment in 2005, were blocking efforts to stop his political campaign. Without the permission of these countries, this would not be possible, said Marko Jaksic, head of the Serb National Council of Northern Kosovo. Over the last 20 years, the international community has had a policy of double standards in the Balkans. One standard applies to Kosovo Albanians and another to Kosovo Serbs. This approach is widening the divide between Kosovos Albanians and Serbs. Aleksandar Roknic is a regular IWPR contributor in Belgrade. COURTSIDE: MUJAHEDIN ROLE NOT DISCUSSED BY BOSNIAN ARMY CHIEFS A witness at the trial of the former Bosnian army chief says he was unaware that mujahedin forces were accused of criminal acts. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo A former high-ranking Bosnian army officer, testifying last week at the trial of General Rasim Delic, told the Hague tribunal he became aware of the crimes committed by foreign Muslim paramilitaries only after the war. General Jovan Divjak, who was Delics wartime deputy, also claimed he was present at only one Bosnian army high command meeting where problems with the behaviour of mujahedin forces were raised. Delic, now 56, was appointed commander of the Main Staff of the Army of Bosnia-Hercegovina, ABiH, in June 1993, and is on trial in The Hague for allegedly violating the rules or customs of war between 1993 and 1995. According to the indictment, Delic failed to take the required steps to punish subordinates who executed captured Bosnian Croat civilians and soldiers in the villages of Maline and Bikosi in central Bosnias Travnik municipality in June 1993. Prosecutors say his position made him responsible for planning and directing the Bosnian armys operations, and meant he was in command of its forces including the foreign Muslim volunteers, some of whom had been incorporated into regular ABiH units at the time of the Maline/Bikosi incident. Divjak, who appeared as a prosecution witness at Delics trial on September 11 to 13, said he first heard of the mujahedin presence in Bosnia on June 18, 1993, at a morning meeting of the ABiH Main Staff. He told the court that other members of the Main Staff reported on the problems this group of foreign fighters had caused in some areas under ABiH control. Their behaviour was discussed because it was not in line with the behaviour expected from members of the Bosnian army, said the witness. He said the meeting heard that a group of 300 to 400 mujahedin had confronted police, were very violent towards the local population, and were stealing food from them. At the meeting, said Divjak, members of the Main Staff suggested to General Delic that these foreign fighters should either be sent [back] to the countries they came from, or should be put under the command of the Bosnian army. When prosecutor Laurie Sartorio asked the witness what Delics reaction to this suggestion was, he replied that Delic accepted it and agreed to inform [then Bosnian president Alija] Izetbegovic about it. Do you know whether anything was done about the problem with mujahedin after it had been discussed at this meeting? Sartorio asked the witness. No, I dont, he responded. But Im sure General Delic informed the president about our conclusions. According to the indictment, Delic issued an order on August 13, 1993, for a new foreign volunteer unit called El Mujahed to be set up as part of the ABiHs Third Corps. Prior to the creation of this unit, mujahedin combatants were already incorporated and subordinated within the Third Corps and had taken part in its combat operations including at Maline and Bikosi, the document said. Prosecutors are trying to prove that Delic was informed about the crimes committed by Muslim volunteers subordinated to the ABiH, including those serving in the El Mujahed unit, but failed to punish the perpetrators although they were officially subordinated to him. Divjak told judges last week that he was not aware that Delic had signed an order creating the El Mujahed force until very recently, when tribunal prosecutors showed him the document. He said he was unsure whether the defendant ordered the establishment of the unit himself, or was instructed to do so by President Izetbegovic. The witness added that he did know of El Mujaheds existence in 1994 from reports we received from our subordinates related to operations this unit was involved in together with the Third Corps. He added that the field reports in question contained no mention of atrocities. Divjak said that after that one meeting in June 1993, crimes attributed to the mujahedin were never discussed at any further staff meetings he attended. He acknowledged that he heard some rumours, but said he never discovered anything to confirm these. I heard about the crimes allegedly committed by this unit only after the war, especially at some trials taking place at this tribunal, he said. Merdijana Sadovic is IWPRs Tribunal Programme Project Manager. WITNESSES JOIN SQUABBLE IN ZAGREB TRIAL Wrangling continues over whether the two Croatian officers standing trial, or indeed anyone else, were really in command of a 1993 offensive. By Goran Jungvirth in Zagreb Former Croatian officers swapped accusations in a Zagreb courtroom this week over who commanded forces accused of war crimes in a controversial 1993 operation, but united to dismiss claims that their troops attacked United Nations peacekeepers. Mirko Norac and Rahim Ademi are on trial in Zagreb for war crimes allegedly committed by Croatian troops under their command during the fighting to seize an area of land called the Medak Pocket in September 1993. The indictment alleges that at least 29 Serb civilians were killed and dozens were seriously injured during the operation, and that Croatian forces killed at least five Serb soldiers who had been captured or wounded. The Hague tribunal agreed to a Croatian government request to have the case tried by its own judiciary in 2005, and the trial is ongoing. When General Petar Stipetic appeared in the stand this week, he disputed the account given by Canadian troops from the United Nations UNPROFOR mission who were sent in to separate the two sides in the fighting. Stipetic is a former chief of staff of the Croatian army, but at the time of the Medak assault he was in command of the Zagreb operational zone. He was involved in negotiations with the Serbs to end the hostilities in Medak. He told the court that the Canadians fabricated accounts of battles with Croatian forces. The real truth is there were no battles, he told the court, alleging that the Canadians invented the war crimes allegations after the event. UNPROFOR representatives warned us of destruction, fires and plundering, household appliances being taken away but they never discussed any crimes against civilians, he said. Stipetic added that Ademi at the time a brigadier serving as acting commander of the Gospic Military District - had asked troops to stop plundering, but that other officers had already usurped his powers. Ademis defence counsel produced a ships log in which a Croatian naval captain gave orders for a bombardment of the area located on the Dalmatian coastal strip without Ademis approval. This shows that Ademis powers as commander of the operation were reduced to zero, said Stipetic. If someone else commands the artillery and sends reports to the high command, that means powers have been taken away from the commander of the operation. Retired admiral Davor Domazet-Loso, who headed the Croatian General Staffs Intelligence Service at the time of the operation, gave testimony after Stipetic, and agreed with his contention that the Canadians exaggerated the scale of combat with Croatian forces. It is completely unclear to me what the award of 800 Canadian medals means. They were apparently handed out for the biggest battle since the Korean War, he said. They said they killed 26 Croats in that battle. Since that is not true, I wonder whether their victims were Serbs. The Croats never had battles with UNPROFOR. The Ademi-Norac trial has been marked by attempts by each defence team to downplay its own clients involvement in the Medak operation and highlight the commanding role played by the other. This week saw witnesses being drawn into the same kind of arguments. In his testimony earlier in the week, Stipetic alleged that in later years, when Domazet-Loso went on to become Croatian armys chief of staff, he removed documentation relating to the Medak Pocket operation. Domazet-Loso denied this allegation, and insisted he played no role in the 1993 operation. Personally, I never issued any orders in that area for the Medak Pocket operation, nor did I have the authority to do so. I could make suggestions to the commander and he could accept or dismiss them, but I could not issue orders, nor did I do so, he told the court. In cross-examination, Ademi suggested that the witness had in fact been fully aware of and involved in the operation. With the authorisation of Janko Bobetko, Chief of the General Staff, he [ Domazet-Loso] ordered the operation as well, said Ademi. The trial will continue on September 19. Goran Jungvirth is a regular IWPR contributor in Croatia. BRIEFLY NOTED: DEL PONTE TO STAY ON Chief prosecutor will remain in post until the end of December. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo As the mandate of the Hague tribunals Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte expired this week, her tenure was extended until the end of this year. A resolution issued by the United Nations Security Council on September 14 extended Del Pontes mandate in light of "the need to ensure a smooth transition between the departure of Ms Carla Del Ponte and the assumption of office of her successor". Del Ponte became Chief Prosecutor at the tribunal in August 1999, and is responsible for bringing cases against war crimes suspects from conflicts in the former Yugoslavia in the early Nineties and the subsequent Serbian crackdown on ethnic Albanians in Kosovo. Among those she prosecuted was former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic, who died last year before his genocide trial could be completed. Del Ponte, who has been a prosecutor for 26 years and served two mandate periods at the Hague tribunal, will move to Argentina in January 2008, where she is due to take post of Swiss ambassador to the country. It is not known who will replace her once she leaves the Hague. SPANOVIC LAWYER CLAIMS SERBS FACE DISCRIMINATION IN CROATIA Lawyer for Croatian Serb says he would not receive a fair trial. By Rory Gallivan in London Milan Spanovic, whose extradition Zagreb is seeking so that he can be put on trial for war crimes, will call on witnesses from Croatia to support his contention that as a Serb, he would not receive a fair trial there. Spanovic, a Croatian Serb, lives in Britain, where he appeared before the City of Westminster Magistrates Court on September 11. His lawyer, Julian Atlee, said he would be calling on expert witnesses from Croatia to demonstrate that Serbs still face discrimination in the countrys courts and that therefore Spanovic would not receive a fair trial there. Spanovic is accused of being part of a Serb paramilitary group that attacked civilians and plundered and torched buildings in the villages of Maja and Svracica in the Glina region of Croatia on August 18, 1991, in the early stages of the Croatian war. In 1993, he was convicted in absentia and sentenced to 20 years in prison, but the Croatian government says it will retry him if he is extradited. Croatia sought his extradition last year after he was arrested in London on a shoplifting charge. He has been living in Britain since 1998. Spanovics case was returned to the Westminster court following a ruling by the High Court that the judge hearing the case, Timothy Workman, had been wrong to conclude that it would be unjust and oppressive to extradite him. Judge Workman made this decision on March 20 on the basis that Spanovic had been in contact with the Croatian authorities several times since he moved to Britain, and that they had not taken the opportunity to apprehend him for his alleged crimes. Croatia appealed against this ruling, which was based on the passage of time argument, saying that it had not been aware of Spanovics whereabouts since 1997 as had been alleged. The case was then sent to the High Court, which agreed with Zagrebs contention and ruled that Judge Workman must look at the case again to see whether there are any other bars to extradition. At the hearing held this week, Spanovics lawyer spoke of one witness whom he wished to call, and who would have to be granted anonymity because his life would be under threat if he were to testify that Croatias legal system discriminated against Serbs. Melanie Cumberland, representing the Croatian government, opposed such anonymity, saying it would give the defence an unfair advantage to have a witness providing evidence on matters that require expertise, if the witnesss credentials were not known by all sides. Atlee responded that as a solicitor, he had a duty of fairness and that he could assure the court of the unimpeachable credentials of the witness. Judge Workman ruled that the witness should be allowed to appear anonymously, since this seemed to be the only way his evidence could be brought before the court. Atlee said he also intended to call on other witnesses, including a former judge from Croatia who now lives in Serbia. This witness would not appear anonymously, Atlee said, although he did not give the individuals name. Judge Workman asked Atlee to compile a list of witnesses he wished to summon to Britain in time for the next hearing to be held on October 4, where issues to be discussed at further hearings would be set out. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** TRIBUNAL UPDATE, the publication arm of IWPR's International Justice Project, produced since 1996, details the events and issues at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, at The Hague. These weekly reports, produced by IWPR's human rights and media training project, seek to contribute to regional and international understanding of the war crimes prosecution process. The opinions expressed in Tribunal Update are those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of the publication or of IWPR. Tribunal Update is supported by the European Commission, the Dutch Ministry for Development and Cooperation, the Swedish International Development and Cooperation Agency, the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, and other funders. IWPR also acknowledges general support from the Ford Foundation. TRIBUNAL UPDATE: Editor-in-Chief: Anthony Borden; Managing Editor: Yigal Chazan; Senior Editor: John MacLeod; International Justice Senior Editor: Merdijana Sadovic; Translation: Predrag Brebanovic, and others; Project Director: Duncan Furey. IWPR Project Development and Support: Executive Director: Anthony Borden; Strategy & Assessment Director: Alan Davis; Chief Programme Officer: Mike Day. **** www.iwpr.net ******************************************************************** IWPR builds democracy at the frontlines of conflict and change through the power of professional journalism. IWPR programs provide intensive hands-on training, extensive reporting and publishing, and ambitious initiatives to build the capacity of local media. Supporting peace-building, development and the rule of law, IWPR gives responsible local media a voice. 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