THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 30 - The trial of a former Croatian Serb rebel leader, Milan Martic, before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague could commence this November, it was announced at Friday's status conference of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on this case.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, May 30 - The trial of a former Croatian Serb rebel
leader, Milan Martic, before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague
could commence this November, it was announced at Friday's status
conference of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) on this case. #L#
Asked whether he had anything to say about conditions in the court's
detention centre and his health condition, indictee Martic accused
the ICTY of applying "double standards" as it had not indicted any
senior official of the Republic of Croatia.
He stated that Croatia was founded on crime and carried out ethnic
cleansing against the people of the so-called Republic of Serb
Krajina (RSK) by attacking Serb-populated areas under UN
protection in 1995, when he was RSK president.
Martic continued by saying that the ICTY had indicted Serb leaders
but failed to indict the then Croatian president Franjo Tudjman,
and defence minister, Gojko Susak, who later died.
Judge Canivell interrupted Martic saying that his speech went
beyond the framework of the status conference and fell into the
category of defence, and concluded that the indictee obviously had
no objections to prison conditions.
Milan Martic (58) is one of the participants in "a joint criminal
enterprise", headed by Slobodan Milosevic, whose aim was to
ethnically cleanse approximately one third of Croatia's territory
and large parts of Bosnia-Herzegovina in order to set up a Greater
Serbia.
Martic is charged, according to his command and personal
responsibility, on 10 counts with crimes against humanity,
including persecution based on political, religious and racial
grounds, extermination, killings, detention, torture, cruel
treatment, inhumane acts and deportation. Another nine counts in
his indictment allege that he violated law and customs of war as he
committed crimes of murder, harassment, destruction of villages,
demolition of religious buildings, plundering of private assets
and attacks on civilians.
Martic has been at the ICTY detention centre of Scheveningen since
15 May 2002, after he surrendered to local police in Belgrade.
He pleaded not guilty at his initial appearance before the ICTY on
21 May 2002.
His original indictment, in which he was charged with the 1995
shelling of Zagreb, when six people were killed, was later extended
to 19 counts, to which he again pleaded not guilty.
(hina) ms sb