ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Commenting on former Croatian Serb rebel leader Milan Martic's plea-bargain with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Croatian Justice Minister Vesna Skare Ozbolt said that it
was the first plea of guilty entered to date by a person indicted for war crimes in Croatia.
ZAGREB, Jan 27(Hina) - Commenting on former Croatian Serb rebel leader
Milan Martic's plea-bargain with the International Criminal Tribunal
for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Croatian Justice Minister Vesna
Skare Ozbolt said that it was the first plea of guilty entered to date
by a person indicted for war crimes in Croatia.#L#
Babic pleaded guilty following an agreement with the prosecution on
January 22. In exchange for the guilty plea, the prosecution dropped
charges of murder, cruel treatment, and the destruction of villages
and religious and civilian buildings and requested that Babic be
sentenced to 11 years in prison.
The Croatian minister said that criminal proceedings were being
conducted against Babic in Croatia and recalled that domestic courts
cannot prosecute Babic for the crimes he has been charged with by the
UN tribunal in The Hague.
(Hina) rml sb