TRIAL OF BOSNIAKS CHARGED WITH CRIMES AGAINST CROATS STARTS

MOSTAR, Jan 23 (Hina) - The trial of six Bosniaks, members of the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, indicted for crimes committed against Bosnian Croats during a 1993 Croat-Bosniak conflict, started at the Herzegovina-Neretva Canton Court in Mostar on Tuesday. This is the first trial of Bosniaks accused of crimes against Croats. The six Bosniaks, who turned themselves in three months ago, are members of a group of 21 Bosniaks indicted for war crimes committed against Croats. The international war crimes tribunal in The approved their trial in Mostar. Several of the remaining 15 indictees have not surrendered yet and will be tried subsequently, court sources said. The trial chamber conducting the case consists of Croats, Bosniaks and a Serb. The indictment charges the Bosniaks of torturing a group of Croat Defence Council (HVO) soldiers on September 19, 1993, who had been captured previously some ten kilometres north of Mostar and taken to the command of a local BH Army unit in the Mostar neighbourhood of Bijelo Polje. An HVO soldier died as a consequence of the torture and another one was shot dead by Bosniak soldiers. The first indictee, Zikrija Ljevo, charged alongside another BH Army member of executing the HVO soldier, pleaded not guilty. Ljevo claims the HVO soldier had been shot dead by another BH Army member, who he said lived in Bijelo Polje. Ljevo said he had information that the BH Army soldier in question had killed three other HVO soldiers from another prisoner group. The second indictee, Vernes Zahirovic, also pleaded not guilty to the charges. (hina) rml