THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 22 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) officers Veselin Sljivancanin, Mile Mrksic and Miroslav Radic for a 1991 massacre in eastern Croatia is expected to start next summer, a Hague war
crimes tribunal judge has announced.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Oct 22 (Hina) - The trial of former Yugoslav
People's Army (JNA) officers Veselin Sljivancanin, Mile Mrksic and
Miroslav Radic for a 1991 massacre in eastern Croatia is expected to
start next summer, a Hague war crimes tribunal judge has announced.
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Judge Carmel Agius asked counsel for the prosecution and the
defence at a status conference on Wednesday to accept the summer of
2004 as a tentative time frame and to complete preparations for the
start of the trial by that time.
The defendants, known as the Vukovar Three, are charged with the
killing of about 200 Croatian civilians, previously taken from a
hospital in the eastern Danube river town of Vukovar, at the Ovcara
farm on November 19, 1991.
At the status conference, Sljivancanin protested at the way in
which he had been arrested in Serbia and dismissed the charges as
untrue. He said he had been prepared for the trial ever since he
arrived in The Hague and opposed the proceedings being delayed.
Major Sljivancanin was arrested in Belgrade on June 13, 2003 and was
transferred to The Hague on July 1 that year. During the attack on
Vukovar, he was in charge of security in the JNA 1st Guards
Brigade.
Mrksic, commander of the 1st Guards Brigade who at the time held the
rank of colonel, turned himself in voluntarily and was transferred
to The Hague in May 2002.
Captain Miroslav Radic commanded a military police unit. He was
handed over to the tribunal in May this year.
The tribunal issued an indictment against them on November 7, 1995,
charging them with crimes against humanity, violations of the laws
and customs of war, and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions.
(hina) vm