THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - Bosnian army war-time chief commander Sefer Halilovic, indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal (ICTY), of the killing of Bosnian Croats in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol, arrived in The Hague on
Tuesday afternoon. Halilovic, accused of the crimes on the basis of his commanding responsibility, voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY at The Hague. The contents of the sealed indictment against him, were disclosed upon his arrival in The Netherlands. According to the indictment, Halilovic is held accountable for crimes Muslim Bosnian army troops committed in the village of Grabovica where 33 Croats were killed and in the village of Uzdol where 29 civilians and one Bosnian Croat (HVO) soldier were killed in September 1993. The indictment alleges that Halilovic failed to prevent the massacre in Grabovica and to punish perpetrators of the atrocities in these two villages in the area o
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Sept 25 (Hina) - Bosnian army war-time chief
commander Sefer Halilovic, indicted by the UN war crimes tribunal
(ICTY), of the killing of Bosnian Croats in the villages of
Grabovica and Uzdol, arrived in The Hague on Tuesday afternoon.
Halilovic, accused of the crimes on the basis of his commanding
responsibility, voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY at The Hague.
The contents of the sealed indictment against him, were disclosed
upon his arrival in The Netherlands.
According to the indictment, Halilovic is held accountable for
crimes Muslim Bosnian army troops committed in the village of
Grabovica where 33 Croats were killed and in the village of Uzdol
where 29 civilians and one Bosnian Croat (HVO) soldier were killed
in September 1993.
The indictment alleges that Halilovic failed to prevent the
massacre in Grabovica and to punish perpetrators of the atrocities
in these two villages in the area of Herzegovina.
At the time Halilovic was the army headquarters' chief-of-staff and
co-ordinator of that military operation in Herzegovina, the aim of
which was to grab the territory between the towns of Bugojno and
Mostar held by the Bosnian Croat Defence Council (HVO).
The indictment which charges Halilovic with the violation of the
customs and law of war, was drawn up on 10 September 2001.
Halilovic, accompanied by his lawyer Faruk Balijagic, flew aboard a
special pane to The Netherlands.
In the Scheveningen prison he joined another three Bosnian army
commanders - Generals Enver Hadzihasanovic and Mehmed Alagic and
Lieutenant Amir Kubura - who turned themselves in to the ICTY in
August after they were charged with crimes committed against Croats
in central Bosnia.
The indictment against Halilovic is the second revealed indictment
pertaining to crimes in Herzegovina (southern region of the
country) which were perpetrated during the 1993 conflict between
Croats and Bosniaks (Muslims) who had previously fought as allies
against Serbs.
The first ICTY indictment referring to the conflict in Herzegovina
has been issued against Croats Mladen Naletilic alias Tuta and
Vinko Martinovic alias Stela, who are accused of the persecution of
Muslims in the area. The trial of these two defendants is under
way.
Contrary to Bosnian Serbs and Croats indicted by the ICTY
Prosecutor's office of crimes such as ethnic cleansing and massive-
scale persecution, Bosnian Muslim indictees are charged with
individual crimes.
The said three Bosnian army high-ranking officers -
Hadzihasanovic, Alagic and Kubura - are held accountable, on the
commanding responsibility, for crimes the Bosnian army's third
corps committed in 1993 and 1994 when its troops killed at least 200
villagers in Croat-populated villages of Dusine, Miletici, Maline
and Bikosi in central Bosnia.
Halilovic, who has been the Croat-Muslim federal entity's refugee
ad social affairs minister, will become the seventh and the
highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim to face trial at the International
Criminal Court for former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
(hina) ms