KARLOVAC, July 16 (Hina) - Fikret Abdic concluded his defence at Karlovac County Court which lasted for nine days.
KARLOVAC, July 16 (Hina) - Fikret Abdic concluded his defence at
Karlovac County Court which lasted for nine days. #L#
Abdic is accused of war crimes against civilians and prisoners of
war on two counts of the charges that were raised in August 1996 by
the High Public Prosecutor's Office in Bihac, BiH. A decision by the
Supreme Court of Croatia ordered that the trial be conducted in
Karlovac County Court based on an agreement in 1996 between the
governments of the two countries relating to legal assistance.
Abdic is accused that with the proclamation of the so-called
Autonomous Republic of Western Bosnia (APZB) and as the supreme
commander of the so-called National Defence of Western Bosnia, he
ordered, planned and organised a prison camp and collection centre
in Velika Kladusa for the purpose of detaining citizens who opposed
the establishment of the APZB. In the camps, the charges point out,
inhumane behaviour was recorded, prisoners were forced to join
paramilitary troops or were starved.
The next hearing is scheduled for July 30 when it is expected that
the prosecution and defence will make their concluding remarks.
It is possible though that the trial chamber accepts a proposal to
call international and humanitarian activists to take the witness
stand, including Thomas Krenz, David Lasman, Tadeusch Mazowiecki
and Charlotte Lindsday.
In his defence, Abdic referred to some of their letters and reports
of July 29, 1994, which the prosecution used as evidence that Abdic
was aware of the horrors that were occurring in collection centres
in APZB.
The letters came through UNPROFOR channels who knows when yet the
camp was shut down on August 13, 1994 already. So these letters
cannot prove that I knew but did not do anything about the Drmeljevo
centre, Abdic said.
If the trial chamber does not accept the proposal, as requested by
the defence which asked it to judge the credibility of the documents
and when they were written so that the dispute would not be spread
out too long, the declaration of a ruling can be expected in
August.
The legal deadline for a ruling to be passed is three days following
the closing speeches. However, how long the closing speeches may
last cannot be foreseen, the trial chamber's president, Jasminka
Jerinic-Musnjak, said.
The collection centres were set up in another autonomy for the
purpose of security of those who were against the initiative of
forming the Autonomy for which our people were being killed and we
were forced to leave Velika Kladusa when the 5th Corps of the Bosnia
army looted our homes, Abdic said during his defence.
"We in fact protected them in keeping with the Geneva Convention as
civilians and prisoners of war. And now my entire noble battle is
being treated as a war crime. This entire process is being rigged
and the chief prosecutor is Alija Izetbegovic. They wanted to use me
to bring the Party for Democratic Action (SDA) to power and then to
remove me," the defendant continued.
He gave a detailed description of the political circumstances at
the time and concluded that the battle is yet to be finished but not
in the courts but on the political scene.
Abdic was one of the forerunners of the (Muslim-led) SDA until his
parting with the leadership of the party and the armed conflict with
the Bosnian army.
His statement referred to his candidacy at the presidential
election in BiH this autumn and his confidence of being acquitted.
A spokesman for Abdic's political party, (DNZ) Admil Mulalic in
Karlovac said the party's secretary-general Ibrahim Djedovic went
to Sarajevo to meet with the president of the electoral commission,
Lidija Korac.
Korac had, according to Mulalic, requested an original document
issued by Primorje-Gorski Kotar police which indicates that Abdic
surrendered voluntarily to the police to attend the trial against
him.
Korac had previously stated that she would go to Rijeka to prove the
credibility of the document.
Asked whether the DNZ would support Abdic's candidacy at the
election, Mulalic said the only barrier to his candidacy was a final
sentence by the court.
The deadline for Abdic's candidacy is 22 July and the official
beginning of the pre-election campaign is 45 days prior to the
polls, set for 5 October.
We believe he will be acquitted. We've seen it before with the trial
of Ibrahim Djedovic, who was imprisoned, while being an MP in the
Federal Parliament, on the basis of the same charges. While in jail
he was promoted to the state parliament and was later acquitted and
released.
(hina) sp