THE HAGUE, Jan 31 (Hina) - Defence attorneys in a trial which the Hague war crimes tribunal is conducting against Bosnian Croats Mladen Naletilic, aka Tuta, and Vinko Martinovic, aka Stela, this week announced that they would request
that their clients be acquitted. "The defence intend to submit a request for acquittal. The Prosecutor has failed to present evidence supporting the indictment," Naletilic's attorney Kresimir Krsnik said at a status conference in The Hague on Thursday, and attorney Branko Seric said Martinovic's defence team would do the same. The defence believes that the prosecution, which completed the presentation of evidence on January 24, has failed to provide evidence for important parts of the indictment, which charges the two Bosnian Croats with crimes committed in the area of Mostar and Jablanica in 1993 by the so-called Convicts' Battalion. Naletilic was the battalion's commander, whil
THE HAGUE, Jan 31 (Hina) - Defence attorneys in a trial which the
Hague war crimes tribunal is conducting against Bosnian Croats
Mladen Naletilic, aka Tuta, and Vinko Martinovic, aka Stela, this
week announced that they would request that their clients be
acquitted.
"The defence intend to submit a request for acquittal. The
Prosecutor has failed to present evidence supporting the
indictment," Naletilic's attorney Kresimir Krsnik said at a status
conference in The Hague on Thursday, and attorney Branko Seric said
Martinovic's defence team would do the same.
The defence believes that the prosecution, which completed the
presentation of evidence on January 24, has failed to provide
evidence for important parts of the indictment, which charges the
two Bosnian Croats with crimes committed in the area of Mostar and
Jablanica in 1993 by the so-called Convicts' Battalion. Naletilic
was the battalion's commander, while Martinovic was the commander
of the battalion's anti-terrorist squad. Martinovic and Naletilic
are also charged with superior and personal responsibility for
crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions
and violations of the law and customs of war.
(hina) sb rml