THE HAGUE, March 1 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal said on Thursday chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte had filed an indictment for 1991's attacks on the southern Croatian port of Dubrovnik and the surrounding area,
without disclosing the names of the accused and the content of the indictment. Tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told a news conference it was tribunal practice to accompany each indictment with a sealed warrant for the arrest of the accused. It is tribunal practice to serve the indictment with the warrant to the country in which the accused are supposed to live, she said, declining to say if any state had been served with the warrant. The tribunal has said in a statement earlier today it can presently be confirmed that several individuals have been accused of serious breaches of the Geneva conventions of 1949 and of breaches of the laws and customs of war committed during
THE HAGUE, March 1 (Hina) - The Hague-based UN war crimes tribunal
said on Thursday chief prosecutor Carla del Ponte had filed an
indictment for 1991's attacks on the southern Croatian port of
Dubrovnik and the surrounding area, without disclosing the names of
the accused and the content of the indictment.
Tribunal spokeswoman Florence Hartmann told a news conference it
was tribunal practice to accompany each indictment with a sealed
warrant for the arrest of the accused.
It is tribunal practice to serve the indictment with the warrant to
the country in which the accused are supposed to live, she said,
declining to say if any state had been served with the warrant.
The tribunal has said in a statement earlier today it can presently
be confirmed that several individuals have been accused of serious
breaches of the Geneva conventions of 1949 and of breaches of the
laws and customs of war committed during attacks ex-Yugoslavia's
federal army launched on the Dubrovnik area from Oct. 1 to Dec. 31,
1991.
The specific breaches, making up the 16-count indictment, include
murders, cruel treatment, attacks on civilians, destruction
without military grounds, illegal attacks on civilian targets, the
destruction of historical monuments, ruthless destruction of
villages, and the plundering of public and private property.
Chief prosecutor del Ponte issued the indictment on Feb. 22, while
Judge Patricia Wald confirmed it on the 27th. The United States
judge ruled against disclosing the names of the accused or the
contents of the indictment for the time being.
Hartmann declined to say if the indictment, which deals with
attacks by ex-Yugoslavia's federal army, included politicians.
In recent years, the Croatian media ascribed liability for the
attacks on Dubrovnik, a renowned seaside resort, to former Yugoslav
Prime Minister Momir Bulatovic among others.
Last October, Montenegro's Niksic-based weekly Onogost said the
Hague indictment could also include General Pavle Strugar, Admiral
Milan Zec, and commander Miodrag Jokic, who led JNA operations in
the Dubrovnik area, as well as Branko Kostic, at the time member of
ex-Yugoslavia's federal Presidency.
In November 1999, Zvonimir Separovic, Croatia's justice at the
time, handed del Ponte evidence against and a proposal to indict
Strugar and Bozidar Vucurevic, then mayor of Trebinje.
(hina) ha sb