THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Former Croatian Serb rebel leader Milan Babic pleaded guilty before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday to prosecuting Croatian civilians in 1991 and 1992 as a crime against humanity,
and complicity in a joint criminal enterprise the aim of which was occupation and ethnic cleansing of one third of Croatia's territory and its annexation to a new Serbian state.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Former Croatian Serb rebel leader
Milan Babic pleaded guilty before the UN war crimes tribunal in The
Hague on Tuesday to prosecuting Croatian civilians in 1991 and 1992 as
a crime against humanity, and complicity in a joint criminal
enterprise the aim of which was occupation and ethnic cleansing of one
third of Croatia's territory and its annexation to a new Serbian
state.#L#
Babic admitted guilt when asked by a judge to enter a plea on the
first count of the indictment charging him with persecution on
political, racial or religious grounds and with complicity in a joint
criminal enterprise.
Expressing a deep sense of "shame and remorse" over the crimes in
which he had been involved, Babic called on the Serb people to face
the truth and relieve themselves of the burden of the collective
shame, asking his "Croatian brothers to forgive their Serb brothers"
in the interests of living together.
Babic, the prime minister and president of the self-styled Republic of
Serb Krajina from 1991 to 1995, admitted guilt after signing a plea
agreement with the Office of the Prosecutor on January 22 this year.
Count 1 of the indictment charges Babic with the extermination or
murder of hundreds of Croat and other non-Serb civilians, the
imprisonment and confinement of several hundred civilians, the
deportation or forcible transfer of thousands of civilians, and the
deliberate destruction of homes, other property, cultural
institutions, historical monuments and sacred sites.
Under the plea agreement, the charge of complicity in a joint criminal
enterprise was added to the first count of the indictment.
Babic pledged to fully cooperate with the Office of the Prosecutor and
give testimony in some other cases. Last year he testified in the
trial of former Yugoslav president Slobodan Milosevic as a
well-informed witness for the prosecution.
The prosecutors, in turn, will drop the remaining charges relating to
violations of laws and customs of war and will change the allegation
of Babic's responsibility for "aiding and abetting" in the joint
criminal enterprise to "complicity".
Prosecutor Hildegard Uertz-Retzlaff said the prosecution would not
submit an amended indictment as had been the case with a majority of
the accused who had pleaded guilty.
The prosecutors also pledged to recommend that Babic be given a prison
sentence not exceeding 11 years and that he be ensured personal
protection.
Babic's confession represents an important contribution to the efforts
by the Office of the Prosecutor to prove allegations from the
Milosevic indictment of war crimes in Croatia. Babic is the only
participant in the "joint criminal enterprise" in Croatia to have
admitted guilt.
(Hina) vm sb