ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, Jan 10 (Hina) - Prosecutors at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday demanded life imprisonment for Croatian Serb wartime leader Milan Martic, who is charged with the
killing and expulsion of the non-Serb population from the Serb-occupied areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first half of the 1990s and with the shelling of Zagreb in May 1995. The time has now come for Mr Martic to answer for the crimes he committed, Prosecutor Alex Whiting said in his closing arguments, explaining that the prosecution was seeking the highest penalty because of the gravity of acts that had been committed over a long period of time.
ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, Jan 10 (Hina) - Prosecutors at the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday demanded life
imprisonment for Croatian Serb wartime leader Milan Martic, who is charged with
the killing and expulsion of the non-Serb population from the Serb-occupied
areas of Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina in the first half of the 1990s and with
the shelling of Zagreb in May 1995. The time has now come for Mr Martic to
answer for the crimes he committed, Prosecutor Alex Whiting said in his closing
arguments, explaining that the prosecution was seeking the highest penalty
because of the gravity of acts that had been committed over a long period of
time. Martic, former minister of the interior and president of the
self-styled Republic of Serb Krajina, is charged with 19 counts of crimes
against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.
The indictment says that from August 1991 until August 1995, while
participating in a joint criminal enterprise, Martic ordered and instigated
persecutions, extermination, murders, imprisonment, torture, deportation,
wanton destruction and plunder in Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina.
The alleged purpose of the joint criminal enterprise, led by former
Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic, was the forcible and permanent removal
of the non-Serb population from the Serb-held areas of Croatia.
Martic is also charged with the shelling of the Croatian capital in May
1995 and with a series of other crimes that left hundreds of Croatian
civilians killed.
Martic has been in the tribunal's custody since May 15, 2002. His trial
began on December 13, 2005.