"The prisoner Furundzija has today been released from the jail of Kylmakoski in which he has served his sentence since September 2000," a prison official, Leo Oya, told Hina on the phone on Tuesday.
In compliance with rules of the UN war crimes tribunal which convicted Furundzija, on 29 July this year the tribunal's president, Theodor Meron, made a decision on the early release of this Bosnian Croat who had been convicted in December 1998 of violations of the law and customs of war.
In reaching his decision, the President Meron considered the fact that the Government of Finland notified him that "Mr. Furundzija will have served two thirds of his sentence on 17 August 2004 and will therefore, in accordance with the law of Finland, become eligible for early release" and that this notification satisfied the requirements of rules of the tribunal on early release
In addition, Meron took into consideration "the gravity of the offences committed by Mr. Furundzija," that he "is resolved to be integrated into society, exhibited good behaviour in detention, and has a strong attachment to his family," and "as reported by the Finnish authorities, Mr. Furundzija has accepted the judgement he received as fair and has expressed remorse for the suffering of victims," according to a press release issued by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) recently.
Anto Furundzija, born in the central Bosnian town of Travnik in 1969, was sentenced to 10 years in jail by the Trial Chamber on 10 December 1998 and his sentence was affirmed by the Appeals Chamber on 21 July 2000.
Furundzija, who was the commander of special local units known as Jokers of the Croat Defence Council (HVO) in central Bosnia in 1993, was found guilty as an aider and abettor in rape and torture of a Muslim woman and a Croat soldier, which was qualified as the violation fo laws and customs of war
Furundzija is expected to arrive in Zagreb aboard a Croatia Airlines plane flying from Frankfurt on Tuesday afternoon.