THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said on Thursday that the trial of General Pavle Strugar, prime suspect in the attack on Dubrovnik, scheduled to commence on October
9, had been adjourned to a date to be fixed by a Trial Chamber.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 2 (Hina) - The International Criminal
Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) said on Thursday that the
trial of General Pavle Strugar, prime suspect in the attack on
Dubrovnik, scheduled to commence on October 9, had been adjourned
to a date to be fixed by a Trial Chamber. #L#
General Strugar, aged 70, was the commander of the second operative
unit of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) set up in October 1991 for
the purpose of attacking Dubrovnik.
The amended indictment, dated March 2003, charges Strugar with the
killing of 43 and injuring of 100 civilians, the destruction of
culture and historic monuments and robbery, as well as harsh
violations of Geneva conventions and violations of laws and customs
of war, committed during the attack on Dubrovnik in autumn 1991.
Strugar is indicted along vice admiral Miodrag Jokic and JNA
captain Vladimir Kovacevic-Rambo. The original indictment also
charged Milan Zec, but the ICTY Prosecutor's Office dropped the
charges against him in July 2002.
Jokic pleaded guilty in August this year to six counts of the
amended indictment for war crimes. Kovacevic was arrested last week
in Serbia and Montenegro and is waiting to be extradited to the
Hague tribunal.
Asked about the connection between Kovacevic's arrest and the
Strugar trial adjournment, ICTY spokesman Jim Landale said the
Trial Chamber did not state the reason for the adjournment is the
arrest of the other person from the indictment. He, however, did not
exclude this possibility.
(hina) it sb