BOSNIAN SERB SENTENCED UNLAWFULLY BY SARAJEVO CANTON COURT - WESTENDORP'S OFFICE

WESTENDORP'S OFFICE ( Editorial: --> 5836 ) SARAJEVO, 20 Jan (Hina) - The Office of the High Representative for the implementation of the Dayton agreement has accused justice authorities of the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina of ignoring the law and using unlawful procedure in the case of Bosnian Serb Veselin Cancar, who was found guilty of war crimes and sentenced to 11 years in prison. Spokeswoman for Westendorp's office, Aisling Byrne, on Tuesday expressed deep concern over Cancar's trial before the Sarajevo Canton Court. The Court on Monday found Cancar guilty of war crimes, including maltreatment of prisoners and the killing of a civilian. At the beginning of the war, Cancar allegedly participated in attacks by Serbian-Montenegrin units on Foca, in eastern Bosnia. According to his indictment, Cancar also participated in establishing a prison camp which later had some 100 Bosniak prisoners and one Croat prisoner. According to witnesses, Cancar, who came to Sarajevo last year to visit his brother's apartment, killed one Bosniak prisoner. The Office of the High Representative believes that in Cancar's case, Sarajevo police and justice authorities had violated the so called 'right of way', that is, the Rome agreement of 1996. The agreement states that only the Hague Tribunal is meritorious in trials based on war crimes indictments. The Hague Tribunal judged that the documentation on Cancar's case gathered in Sarajevo was insufficient for conducting a war crimes process and approved only of a trial on the basis of the indictment on illegal detainment of civilians. Westendorp's office will request that the process be revised before the Federation Supreme Court, so that the integrity of the judicial system could be preserved. (hina) mm rm 201524 MET jan 98