THE HAGUE, May 7 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Friday sentenced Zlatko Aleksovski, former commander of a Bosnian Croat military prison, to two years and six months in
prison for violations of the law and customs of war. The panel of judges issued an order that Aleksovski be released at once given that two years, ten months and 29 days had passed since his 1996 arrest in the southern Croatian port of Split. Panel of judges chairman Almiro Rodrigues ordered that Aleksovski, who wept upon hearing the verdict, be set free regardless of a complaint. The panel of judges ruled he was innocent of violations of the Geneva conventions on account of the prosecution's failure to prove that an international conflict was taking place in the Busovaca area, central Bosnia, where the prison was located, in the first half of 1993, the period of time referred to in the
THE HAGUE, May 7 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for
the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Friday sentenced
Zlatko Aleksovski, former commander of a Bosnian Croat military
prison, to two years and six months in prison for violations of the
law and customs of war.
The panel of judges issued an order that Aleksovski be released at
once given that two years, ten months and 29 days had passed since
his 1996 arrest in the southern Croatian port of Split.
Panel of judges chairman Almiro Rodrigues ordered that Aleksovski,
who wept upon hearing the verdict, be set free regardless of a
complaint.
The panel of judges ruled he was innocent of violations of the
Geneva conventions on account of the prosecution's failure to prove
that an international conflict was taking place in the Busovaca
area, central Bosnia, where the prison was located, in the first
half of 1993, the period of time referred to in the indictment.
Aleksovski, a sociologist, born in Pakrac, south of Zagreb, in
1960, was arrested in Split on June 8, 1996. He was placed in
detention at the ICTY on April 28, 1997, while the trial began on
January 6, 1998.
In its final address in March, the ICTY prosecution demanded a
minimum ten-year imprisonment for Aleksovski. Prosecutor Grant
Niemann, absent from today's ruling, at that time explained the
defendant was guilty on all counts and that there were no
extenuating circumstances.
Aleksovski was charged with violations of the Geneva conventions
and the law and customs of war, in particular of inciting and
ordering illegal treatment of Muslim prisoners in a Bosnian Croat
military prison in Kaonik in the first half of 1993.
This included sending civilians and soldiers to dig trenches, using
them as a human shield, looting, physical abuse, and killing.
Aleksovski was also charged on commanding accountability for
crimes committed in the prison by guards members of the military
police.
In its final address in March, Aleksovski's defence demanded a 'not
guilty' verdict, assessing the prosecution had failed to prove the
defendant's guilt on any count.
Prosecutor Niemann claimed it was irrelevant for the defendant's
guilt whether the central Bosnian conflict was international or an
internal one, but the defence stated that to prove the accusations
of Geneva convention violations it was first necessary to prove
that the Croat-Muslim conflict in central Bosnia was an
international one.
(hina) ha