ICTY ACQUITS ONE; SENTENCES THREE IN CELEBICI CASE

THE HAGUE, Nov 16 (Hina) - The International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday pronounced its judgement in the Celebici case, acquitting one and sentencing three indictees to prison. The ICTY acquitted Zejnil Delalic and sentenced Zdravko Mucic, Hazim Delic and Esad Landzo to seven, 20 and 15 years in prison respectively. The trial of the three Muslims and the Bosnian Croat started in March 1997. The indictment of 1996 charged them with killing and torture of Serb prisoners in the Celebici prison camp, near Konjic (central Bosnia) in 1992. This is the second verdict reached upon the completion of court proceedings before the ICTY. The first judgement was made in the trial of Dusko Tadic while the verdict in the case of Drazen Erdemovic, who pleaded guilty, was reached without a trial. The judgement in the Celebici case is also the first ICTY verdict on an indictment with more than one indictee as well as the first case which qualifies rape as the crime of torture. Since war crime trials after World War II, these are also the first verdicts by an international body regarding the issue of responsibility in the chain-of-command. According to this principle, the ICTY indicted Delalic, Mucic (the camp commander) and Delic, who was Mucic's deputy. Delic and Landzo were also indicted for carrying out killings. Zejnil Delalic was acquitted of the charge of having coordinated the activities of Bosnian Muslim and Croat forces in the Konjic area in 1992 and having been in charge of the Celebici prison camp. The Prosecutor announced an appeal against Delalic's acquittal. (hina) rml