ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - The Supreme Court will on Thursday rule on an appeal by ICTY indictee Ivica Rajic to a verdict passed by the Zagreb County Court on his extradition to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY).
ZAGREB, June 3 (Hina) - The Supreme Court will on Thursday rule on an
appeal by ICTY indictee Ivica Rajic to a verdict passed by the
Zagreb County Court on his extradition to the International
Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). #L#
Should the Supreme Court confirm the Zagreb County Court's verdict,
there will be no more legal obstacles to Rajic's extradition to the
Hague-based tribunal.
The extradition could possibly be stopped only by the justice
minister due to the defendant's condition or "other especially
justified reason".
Rajic has the right to appeal to the Supreme Court's decision, but
the appeal does not postpone the extradition.
Rajic's attorney Zeljko Olujic said, submitting the appeal, that
the Zagreb County Court failed to establish founded suspicion to a
sufficient extent that his client had committed the crimes the ICTY
had charged him with. Olujic also appealed against a series of
procedural errors.
On April 30, the Zagreb County Court approved Rajic's extradition
to the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague. Rajic entered a plea of
not guilty at a hearing held a day before and opposed the
extradition.
According to the Zagreb County Court's decision, Rajic is the
person wanted by the ICTY for crimes in the Hague tribunal's
jurisdiction which, according to the constitutional law on
cooperation with the ICTY, is sufficient for the defendant's
extradition.
The ICTY indicted Rajic for being responsible for the killing of at
least 16 Bosniak (Muslim) citizens in the central Bosnian village
of Stupni Do in October 1993. Rajic is charged based on command and
personal responsibility. He was a commander of the second
operations unit of the Croat Defence Council in Kiseljak at the
time.
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