War Crimes Prosecution Watch

The Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, War Crimes Chamber

Klickovic et al: Inevitable conflict in Bosanska Krupa
BIRN Justice Report
May 20, 2008

A Prosecution witness speaks about the arming of civilians and plans to establishment "a Serbian state."

A Prosecution witness claims that, while he was a policeman "in 1991 and in early 1992", he found out that there was a plan to divide Bosanska Krupa and "establish a Serbian state," which was prepared by the Serbian Democratic Party, SDS.

"The report on the economic justification of the division of Bosanska Krupa indicated why the Bosnian Serbs wanted to establish their own municipality. I also had a chance to see the map, showing the divided area, and I laughed as the division line split the bridge into two halves and ran behind Gojko's house," said Jadranko Saran, a pre-war deputy commander of police forces in Bosanska Krupa.

Saran testified at the trial of Gojko Klickovic, Jovan Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca, who are charged by the State Prosecution with crimes against the non-Serb population in Bosanska Krupa area committed in 1992. The indictment alleges that Klickovic was commander of the Crisis Committee of the Serbian municipality of Bosanska Krupa.

"Klickovic had an authority. Serbian people respected him and listened to him. I remember that many civilians were mobilized in 1991. They were sent to battlefields in Croatia and, I think, they were ready to act in Bosanska Krupa as well. Those were illegal forces, controlled by Klickovic and Vjestica, as well as the SDS," Saran said.

Data suggests that the State Prosecution is conducting an investigation against Miroslav Vjestica, former senior SDS official, concerning his participation in crimes committed in Bosanska Krupa area.

Saran claims that, in 1992, Serbian civilians were armed in Perna village, to which "the Yugoslav National Army and the SDS transported weapons by helicopters." He further said that military exercises were conducted in Radic village and "Bosniaks were not allowed to participate."

"On the eve of the attack on Bosanska Krupa on April 21, 1992, I went to Arapusa village, together with Gojko Klickovic and witness A2. Gojko asked all Bosniak inhabitants to hand over their weapons and he called for an arrest of all those who had shot at two members of the Serb police, which was illegal," Saran said.

During the course of cross-examination the witness said that, besides Vjestica, "Klickovic, Mladen Drljaca, a person named Mirko Oralj and a few members of the SDS" were responsible for the deportation of Bosniaks from Arapusa.

"I am saying this on the basis of operational data and records made by the Public Safety Station in Bosanska Krupa," the witness said.

Defense attorney Dusko Tomic said that this witness did not mention the indictee in his statement given to the ICTY investigators. Saran responded by saying that he was "not asked" about him.

Mejakic et al: Frightful detention camps
BIRN Justice Report
May 20, 2008

In its closing arguments the Prosecution calls for guilty verdicts against the three indictees, claiming that they were members of a joint criminal enterprise.

At the end of a two-day presentation of closing arguments, the State Prosecution said that it managed to prove the responsibility of the three indictees for the crimes in Omarska and Keraterm detention camps in the course of 1992. It called upon the Trial Chamber to announce a guilty verdict.

"We do not think that Mejakic was an architect of the Omarska detention camp but he should be severely punished for having played a key role in the criminal detention camp. We therefore ask you to sentence him to a long-term imprisonment. In determining the sentence against Gruban, we think that the Court should take the sentences announced against Kos and Fustar as an example. The Prosecution considers that Knezevic should be sentenced to at least 35 years imprisonment and this would be the only adequate sentence in his case," Prosecutor Peter Kidd said.

The Prosecution charges Zeljko Mejakic, Momcilo Gruban and Dusko "Duca" Knezevic with participating in a joint criminal enterprise from May to August 1992. This included murder, rape, beating and the forcible detention of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats in the Omarska and Keraterm detention camps.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Milojica Kos to six years imprisonment. In April 2008 Dusan Fustar admitted guilt before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, BiH. He was then sentenced to nine years imprisonment. The two men were guard shift commanders in Omarska and Keraterm detention camps.

Talking about Knezevic, the Prosecutor said that he "beat the detainees in a brutal and sadistic way, and he did that for his pleasure." He continued by saying that his presence was "the personification of the detention camp evil."

"Some people undersign the crimes they commit and Duca was just like that. He loved to hunt people in herds and Zigic was his main companion. The beatings were long and sadistic, which caused severe bodily injuries to the detainees, who were asked to act like marionettes, which were controlled by them," Kidd said.

The Hague Tribunal sentenced Zoran Zigic to 25 years imprisonment for his participation in abuse, beating, torture and murder of detainees in Omarska and Trnopolje detention camps.

The prosecutor said that all witnesses confirmed that there was only one person, whose name was Dusko Knezevic, who visited the detention camp and beat the detainees. They said that he was known as Duca.

"He was not some intruder or a person who came to Prijedor at the beginning of the war. On the contrary, he was born there and he grew up in that town. And he beat his neighbors," Kidd stressed.

The third indictee's Defense tried to prove that there had been a mix-up of identities, claiming that Knezevic was not the person who had beaten the detainees.

The three Defense teams are due to present their closing arguments on Thursday, May 22 and Friday, May 23.

Suspect Slavko Šakić ordered into custody
State Court of BiH
May 21, 2008

On 20 May 2008 the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) issued a decision ordering Suspect Slavko Šakić into one-month custody. Pursuant to the Decision, custody of the Suspect Šakić may last until 18 June 2008. The Suspect is suspected of having committed the criminal offenses of War Crimes against Civilians and War Crimes against Prisoners of War.

In its motion for custody, the Prosecutor's Office of BiH submits that there is a grounded suspicion that the Suspect Slavko Šakić, as a member of the Garavi Unit of the Croatian Defense Council (HVO), in mid July 1993 in the settlement of Vrbanja, together with other members of the HVO, took part in capturing of Bosniak civilians. The Suspect, as alleged in the Motion of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH, took part in the detention of the captured Bosniak civilians in the basement premises of the Akvarijum hotel in Bugojno, and also took part in their torture inflicting severe physical injuries on them. During the same period, the Suspect Šakić allegedly took part in the murder of three Bosniak policemen. Further, the Motion of the Prosecutor's Office of BiH alleges that the Suspect Šakić, from 17 to 27 July 1993, in basement and other premises of the Akvarijum hotel, beat and tortured two elderly Bosniak civilians. It is further stated that on 26 July 1993, the Suspect, together with other members of the Garavi Unit beat and abused three Bosniak civilians, killing one of them. Having reviewed the evidence submitted to it, the Court concluded that there was a grounded suspicion that the Suspect committed the criminal offences in question. The Court also found that there existed the circumstances suggesting the risk of flight of the Suspect and that if released, he might hinder the criminal proceedings by influencing witnesses, accessories, or accomplices.

Savic and Mucibabic: Murder in Nevesinje
BIRN Justice Report
May 21, 2008

The Prosecution examines two more witnesses in an attempt to prove Krsto Savic and Mile Mucibabic participated in the murder and capture of Nevesinje residents.

Prosecution witnesses, who testified at the trial of Krsto Savic and Mile Mucibabic, said that they lost their husbands in 1992 and they accused the indictees of what happened to them.

The Prosecution charges the two indictees with having participated in the murder, forced resettlement, torture, rape, forcible disappearances, detention and demolition of property of Bosniaks and Bosnian Croats from Nevesinje, Kalinovik, Gacko and Bileca area in 1992.

Behrija Trebovic from Nevesinje accused Krsto Savic of her husband's death. She said that she had still not found his remains.

"Krsto Savic used a megaphone to call us out of our houses. He invited my husband, Redzo, and I followed him. He asked him where his children and weapons were. When he said that he did not have any weapons and that the children had left Nevesinje, Krsto shot him in his leg," witness Trebovic recalled.

As she said, at first Savic did not let her come close to her husband, but then he told her to bring a bandage in order to bind his leg and stop the bleeding.

"I bound his leg, but I could not see where the wound was. I called my brother-in-law and his wife, who helped me load my husband into a car trunk and we then went to the ambulance. On our way to the ambulance Redzo died," the witness recalled, adding that they left her husband's body in the ambulance. His remains have never been found.

Trbovic said that indictee Mucibabic took her brother to the police station on the same day when her husband was killed. After she had left her husband's body in the ambulance, she went to the police station herself.

Upon her arrival to the police station, she "heard screaming and someone forcing Mujo Cupina to say a Muslim prayer." She said that, as she was leaving the police station in the early evening, she passed by a "blood dub" in the corridor and she saw the dead body of her neighbor Mujo Cupina in the courtyard.

Second Prosecution witness Fahira Ramovic said Milko Mucibabic "and a few other policemen" came to her house on June 16, 1992.

"I saw Milko and another policeman taking my husband by his arm and taking him away. Mucibabic returned in ten minutes. He searched the house and he took one single piece of paper with him. I asked him where my husband was and he said that he was taken to an informative interview," Ramovic said.

Ramovic said that, as her husband did not return home, she looked for him and "a uniformed person" told her that "all men were taken in the direction of Bileca."

Fahira Ramovic still does not know what happened to her husband. She said she left Nevesinje, together with her three minor children, four days after her husband had been taken away. She and other inhabitants took "some mountain roads" in order to get to Mostar.

Hodzic: Defense starts presenting evidence
BIRN Justice Report
May 21, 2008

First Defense witnesses examined at the trial of Ferid Hodzic.

The Defense for Ferid Hodzic, who is charged with crimes against civilians in Rovasi village, Vlasenica municipality, has started presenting evidence by examining two Defense witnesses. The Prosecution considers that Hodzic, as commander of the Territorial Defense in Vlasenica, ordered the arrest of a group of Serbian civilians and their detention in "Stala" ("Barn") prison in 1992. The detainees allegedly stayed there for seven months.

First Defense witness Salih Jusic said that, from April to July 19, 1992, he worked as "an officer for political work and morale" with the Units, which were based in Vlasenica. He said that he knew that some Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks were captured during the course of that year, but he "does not know if they were beaten or abused."

"Some people, who had lost their family members, threatened them and said that they wanted revenge. I personally spoke to Fikret Music, who had been in a detention camp and wanted revenge but he gave up on that and wrote a statement on what he had survived," Jusic said, claiming that "the detainees were not under indictee Ferid Hodzic's command."

In the course of his testimony Jusic mentioned various "reasons" for which Bosnian Serbs were detained. For example, he said that Jakov Djokic was captured as a member of the Yugoslav National Army (JNA) "while he was fully munitioned." He also said that Rade Pejic, known as Miso, "did not want to give over his shot-gun."

"We conducted an interview with Miso in Rovasi and he agreed to stay in the barn until an exchange was organized. This means that he did not want to become a member of the Territorial Defense or Civil Protection Unit," Jusic said.

During the course of direct examination Jusic said that he was a member of the Crisis Committee of Vlasenica municipality, just like Ferid Hodzic and "a few more persons."

During cross-examination, the witness added that "the indictee distributed some tasks to him occasionally".

Second witness Camil Talovic said that "some Bosnian Serbs and Bosniaks were detained in Vlasenica."

According to this witness the Bosniaks were detained because they were "collaborationists."

Talovic said that he was a member of the Civil Protection Unit in Cerska in 1992 and that he knew that the detainees used to get food "just like the numerous refugees, who were present in the area."

He said that the indictee arrived to Cerska from Vlasenica on April 21, 1992.

Klickovic et al: Concentration centers and incidents
BIRN Justice Report
May 21, 2008

A Prosecution witness speaks about the orders signed by Gojko Klickovic and the responsibility of military and civil police in the conflict in Bosanska Krupa.

Prosecution witness spoke about the existence of concentration centers in which Bosniak from Bosanska Krupa were detained in 1992.

"I know that there was a concentration centre in 'Petar Kocic' school building where Muslims, who were not able to leave, were held. As decided at a meeting of military and civil police representatives, military police was responsible for the detainees, while civil police took care of the public order, prevention of criminal actions and guarding of certain buildings," witness Slobodan Majkic said.

The State Prosecution charges Gojko Klickovic, Jovan Ostojic and Mladen Drljaca with the crimes committed in the Bosanska Krupa area during 1991 and 1992. The three men are charged, among other things, with having held a group of Bosniaks in detention in "Petar Kocic" school in the course of 1992.

The men were allegedly forced to perform hard labor, beaten, examined and a few of them were killed.

During the war, in 1992 and 1993, Majkic was commander of the police in Bosanska Krupa. He claims that indictee Klickovic's name was written on the order for his appointment, as well as on warrants, ordering the search of houses "due to alarms related to possible thefts". However, the witness did not know if the indictee "personally signed" those documents.

"We would receive house search orders, which had Gojko Klickovic's name typed on them, from the wartime presidency. However, I do not know if he actually signed those orders. I must stress that some houses in Bosanska Krupa were burnt down after the Muslims had left the town. I do not know if members of the Army set them to fire, or if it was done by freelancers," Majkic said.

Speaking of the events that happened in 1992, the witness said he heard about "an incident," when a few Bosniaks were killed in the "Petar Kocic" school building.

"I heard about that incident, but I do not know how many men were killed. I was not responsible for that, as this was a military prison and the military was responsible," Majkic explained, adding that, as far as he knew, women were also detained in the school building.

The indictment against Klickovic alleges that Jovo Plavanjac killed 11 detainees in the "Petar Kocic" school building from July 24 to August 21, 1992.

The Defense for Klickovic and Ostojic said that they would invite Majkic to testify as a Defense witness in the forthcoming period.

The examination of the second Prosecution witness, who appeared in the courtroom, was postponed because Senad Kreho, Defense attorney of Mladen Drljaca, did not return to the courtroom after the break.

"Kreho has not informed the Court about the reasons for his absence, so I do not know what the reasons are. Prior to making a decision on eventual sanctions we shall give him a possibility to explain his reasons by Monday, May 26," Trial Chamber Chairman Zoran Bozic said.

The trial of the three indictees is due to continue on Tuesday, May 27, when the State Prosecution will examine two witnesses.

Gasal et al: Performing forced labor at frontlines
BIRN Justice Report
May 21, 2008

The State Prosecution examines two more witnesses at the trial for Bugojno crimes.

A Prosecution witness who appeared at the trial for crimes in the detention camps in Bugojno, said detainees had to perform forced labor and some never came back, after being taken away.

"I was among 30 detainees, who were taken from "Iskra" football stadium to the Bosnian Serbs' Army positions in Guvno in order to dig trenches and build dug outs. No members of my group were wounded on that occasion, but some people were wounded the previous time. Some detainees were killed while they were performing works in Vakuf and Prusac," witness Josip Lukic said.

Lukic added that the detainees were mostly sent to dig trenches "in August, September and October 1993" and the guards decided which detainees would go "by pointing their fingers at them."

The State Prosecution charges Nisvet Gasal, Musajb Kukavica, Enes Handzic and Senad Dautovic with crimes against Bosnian Croats from Bugojno.

The indictment alleges that Gasal and Kukavica were responsible for functioning of the detention camp at "Iskra" stadium in Bugojno, where more than 300 people were detained.

The State Prosecution considers that Handzic and Dautovic participated in planning and supporting the detention of civilians and in detaining them. According to the indictment, Handzic was assistant commander for security with the 307th Brigade of the Bosnian Army, while Dautovic was commander of the joint staffs of the Army of Bosnia and Herzegovina for Bugojno.

Describing his detention in "Iskra" detention camp, witness Lukic said that the conditions did not improve much after Nisvet Gasal took over the post of the detention camp manager.

"The hygiene was still very poor. We only had one toilet and one was made later. During the 130 days of my detention I bathed once and this happened while I was performing forced labor, when we had to collect firewood," Lukic said.

He also mentioned that he was not mistreated while he was at the stadium but he was abused at some other places of detention, where he was held after his surrender. He also said that, "one night," he heard them mistreated a detainee in another room.

Jasminka Secic, "who used to be a secretary in the office of Mehmed Obradovic," former manager of "Iskra" detention camp, appeared as the second Prosecution witness. After Obradovic had been dismissed, indictee Gasal took over his post.

"My job was to type the guard shifts timetable and lists of prisoners who had to perform forced labor. Obradovic would provide me with handwritten lists and I returned them to him after having retyped them. I think that he or Ibrahim Letic, his deputy, used to sign the lists," Secic said.

The Trial Chamber announced that it would visit the locations mentioned in the indictment on June 11.

Kravica: Separation of proceedings
BIRN Justice Report
May 22, 2008

Thirteen months after the State Prosecution requested the separation of proceedings, the Court approved the request and divided the Kravica case into three parts.

Two years after the beginning of proceedings, the Trial Chamber sitting in the case of eleven indictees, who are charged with genocide in Srebrenica, decided to separate the case into three parts, thus fulfilling the request filed by State Prosecution in April 2007.

Indictees Milos Stupar, Milenko Trifunovic, Petar Mitrovic, Brano Dzinic, Aleksandar Radovanovic, Slobodan Jakovljevic, Miladin Stevanovic, Velibor Maksimovic, Dragisa Zivanovic, Branislav Medan and Milovan Matic are charged with having participated in the shooting of more than 1,000 captured Srebrenica residents on July 13, 1995.

The Prosecution asked for the separation of the proceedings in order to enable the Defense teams to cross-examine indictees Petar Mitrovic and Miladin Stevanovic, who gave a statement to the State Prosecution in late June 2005, which was used as a basis for filing the first indictment for genocide before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The Court agreed to include the statement as material evidence on April 19, 2007. In these statements Mitrovic and Stevanovic spoke about their and the participation of other indictees in the crime committed in Kravica. Following the filing of the indictment, both indictees pleaded not guilty and decided to defend themselves with silence.

"Trifunovic, Jakovljevic, Maksimovic, Radovanovic, Medan, Zivanovic and Stevanovic were shooting. I fired two bullets, but I do not know if I shot anyone," - this is a part of Mitrovic's statement which was read in the courtroom by Prosecutor Ibro Bulic in April last year.

The Court made the decision to separate the proceedings considering that this was the only way to "fulfill the different rights" - the right of Mitrovic and Stevanovic to defend themselves by silence and the right of the nine other indictees to a fair trial. This way they will get a chance to "deny the charging evidence."

"The only way to fulfill those two rights is to give the incriminated persons a chance to cross-examine these indictees. This can only be achieved by separating the cases, so we shall have three parallel proceedings from now on: Milos Stupar and eight other indictees, Petar Mitrovic and Miladin Stevanovic," Trial Chamber Chairman Hilmo Vucinic said.

As explained by Vucinic, in the first case the nine Defense teams will have a chance to cross-examine Mitrovic and Stevanovic. In the second case Mitrovic's Defense will cross-examine Stevanovic, while in the third case it will be the other way round.

"The indictees are obliged to appear as witnesses and they must not refuse to testify. We shall provide them with additional protection measures and an additional guarantee that whatever they say as witnesses at one trial will not be used as evidence at their trial," said the Trial Chamber Chairman.

Vucinic informed all parties that, by the Law on Criminal Proceedings of Bosnia and Herzegovina, they could not appeal this decision, adding that the lawfulness of the decision could only be denied in the appeal to the verdict.

The evidence presentation against the eleven indictees, who are charged with genocide, began in May 2006. Up to now more than 100 witnesses and ten court experts have been examined during the course of regular and additional evidence presentation by both parties. As indicated by the Trial Chamber at one of the earlier hearings, the proceeding should be completed by July 2008.

On May 28 next week the trial is due to continue by cross-examination of Petar Mitrovic and Miladin Stevanovic, who will appear as witnesses at three separate trials.

Karajic: Unlimited authority
BIRN Justice Report
May 22, 2008

A protected witness says he heard shooting and saw a dead body lying by the indictee while he was standing in front of the police station in Vrnograc.

The Prosecution examined three witnesses at the trial of Suljo Karajic, former member of the Fifth Corps of the Bosnian Army. The witnesses spoke about the murder of Mujo Pehlic in Vrnograc village, Velika Kladusa municipality.

The State Prosecution considers Suljo Karajic, former commander of the Military Police Squad with the Fifth Corps, responsible for the murder of the former member of the National Defense of the Western Bosnia Autonomous Region (ND WBAR).

The indictment alleges that, on December 6, 1994, Karajic and his subordinates, members of the military Police Squad, took detainee Pehlic out of the detention unit of the police station in Vrnograc and killed him after a short examination.

Protected witness G, former policeman, said that Karajic and "two or three" armed persons came to the police station in Vrnograc, one evening in December 1994.

"I saw Karajic entering the detention unit, where he spoke to Pehlic. Later on the two of them went out and I heard shooting. I went out and I saw Karajic standing there together with the people he came with, and Pehlic was dead," witness G said.

During cross-examination conducted by the Defense, the witness explained that he did not see Karajic shooting at Pehlic. He also said that the persons, who accompanied him to the police station, could not have shot the man.

Witness G said that Karajic, who had "his own military police," used to bring "Serbian civilians and prisoners, as well as WBAR supporters" to the detention unit together with his subordinates.

"Our commander told us that Karajic had full authority over the detention unit and we did not have anything to do with him. He did not talk to us or visited us," the witness said, adding that Pehlic's murder was the reason for which he left the police.

Witness Husein Cerimovic, former member of the working squad in Vrnograc, described how he personally took over Pehlic's body and handed it over to his family.

"Pehlic's wife asked me if I could go and collect his body. She told me that Suljo Karajic had killed him. I saw eight wounds on Pehlic's body and they were in his chest and stomach area," Cerimovic said.

The Prosecution then examined Sulejman Sahinovic as its third witness. The former member of the reserve police forces in Vrnograc said Agic Malic had organized the search in Vrnograc, when Mujo Pehlic was captured.

"I think that Agic should have known about Pehlic's murder," Sahinovic said.

Agic Malic testified earlier as Prosecution witness. He said that he did not hear that Karajic was responsible for Pehlic's murder.

The trial is due to continue on June 12, when four new Prosecution witnesses will be examined.

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Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC)

Official Website of the Extraordinary Chambers
Official Website of the Khmer Rouge Trial Task Force
Official Website of the United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials (UNAKRT)

Tribunal Seeks Budget for Five Trials Soon
VOA Khmer
By Mean Veasna
May 12, 2008

Khmer Rouge tribunal administration chief Sean Visoth said Monday a revised budget must bring five leaders to trial soon.

"The budget presently under review should be as definite as possible," he said in a speech addressing donors last week and posted on the tribunal Web site Monday.

The budget should also project the time requirements in dealing with the trials of the five leaders in custody: Kaing Khek Iev, Nuon Chea, Khieu Samphan, Ieng Sary and Ieng Thirith.

Tribunal officials have asked for as much as $114 million in additional funds over the $56 million originally proposed. Donors need a smaller sum.

"We are still in the final stages of developing a precise budget because the budget presumed in early January was not welcome by jurists, because it was too big and it went for too long period," tribunal spokeswoman Helen Jarvis said. "So now we are seeing how it can be cut back."

Youk Chhang, director of the Documentation Center of Cambodia, said he agreed that the five leaders must be tried soon, but he said the use of the first $56 million was still unclear.

The tribunal "must use this money to try the first case, to show the donors," he said.

Cambodians mark 'Day of Anger' with call for speedier KRouge trials
AFP via Google News
May 20, 2008

Cambodian students staged a re-enactment of Khmer Rouge crimes at a notorious killing field on Tuesday to mark the country's annual "Day of Anger," in memory of those killed by the regime.

Some 2,000 Cambodians attended the rally to commemorate victims at Choeung Ek, a former Khmer Rouge killing field outside the capital Phnom Penh.

Twenty black-clad students mimed bludgeoning, strangling and eviscerating bound victims in front of a memorial stupa, just metres (yards) from mass graves where Khmer Rouge soldiers murdered thousands of people during the regime's 1975-1979 reign.

Many were moved to tears by the performance as survivors called for the former communist regime leaders to finally face war crimes trials.

"I want the trials of the surviving Khmer Rouge leaders to take place very soon so that justice can be rendered to millions of victims and survivors," said 63-year-old Un Youk Kroy, whose 20 relatives were killed under the brutal regime.

Ly Kim Huon, who lost about 10 relatives, echoed the sentiment.

"The trials must begin soon. I want to know the truth, why the Khmer Rouge committed such crimes," said the 65-year-old woman.

Up to two million people died from overwork, starvation, torture or execution under the Khmer Rouge as it sought to create an agrarian utopia. A joint Cambodia-UN tribunal was established in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling.

The five top surviving Khmer Rouge leaders were recently detained by the court on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes, and trials are expected to begin later this year.

Former Khmer Rouge social affairs minister Ieng Thirith is scheduled to appear before the court on Wednesday to appeal against her detention.

KRouge minister appears in Cambodia's genocide tribunal
AFP via Channel News Asia
May 21, 2008

A former Khmer Rouge government minister, known as the "first lady," appeared for the first time Wednesday before Cambodia's UN-backed genocide tribunal.

Ieng Thirith, the former social affairs minister, was arrested last November along with her husband, Ieng Sary, the ex-foreign minister in the murderous regime that unleashed widespread horror in Cambodia.

Her lawyers are expected to appeal for her release, arguing that the 76-year-old is mentally ill. Court officials, however, have said doctors have deemed Ieng Thirith fit to stand trial.

She has rejected the charges against her as "100 percent false," claiming she was helping to repair hospitals and produce medicines during the Khmer Rouge's 1975-79 rule.

The court has said its suspects she is a flight risk and her detention is necessary to protect her against possible revenge attacks from Khmer Rouge victims, along with concerns about pressure on witnesses.

The intelligent daughter of a well-off judge studied literature at the Sorbonne in Paris, where she met her future husband in a ballroom in 1951.

After returning to Cambodia, the pair, along with Pol Pot and his wife Khieu Ponnary -- Ieng Thirith's older sister -- became the ideological centre of the nascent communist movement that decades later would sweep through Cambodia.

Up to two million people died from overwork, starvation, torture or execution under the Khmer Rouge as it sought to create an agrarian utopia. The joint Cambodia-UN tribunal was established in 2006 after nearly a decade of haggling to try former Khmer Rouge senior officials for genocide and crimes against humanity. The trials of five surviving leaders detained by the court are expected to begin later this year.

Khmer Rouge head Pol Pot died in 1998.

Ex-Khmer Rouge leader hospitalized in Cambodia
Associated Press via Houston Chronicle
By Ker Munthit
May 21, 2008

The Khmer Rouge's 76-year-old former head of state was rushed to a hospital with high blood pressure Wednesday as one of his ex-comrades appeared before Cambodia's genocide tribunal.

Khieu Samphan's condition was not considered extremely urgent "but necessitated attention" given his history of health problems, tribunal spokesman Reach Sambath said.

The U.N.-assisted tribunal has charged Khieu Samphan with crimes against humanity and war crimes, detaining him since last November.

His hospitalization came as the tribunal was hearing an appeal against pretrial detention from Ieng Thirith, the Khmer Rouge's former social affairs minister.

Ieng Thirith and Khieu Samphan are among five defendants facing trial for their alleged roles in the regime's brutality. Trials are expected to begin later this year.

The tribunal is seeking justice for atrocities committed by the ultra-communist Khmer Rouge when it ruled Cambodia from 1975-79, with some 1.7 million people dying from starvation, disease, overwork and execution.

The Cambodian lawyer for the 76-year-old Ieng Thirith has said she suffers from chronic illnesses, "both mental and physical," that require constant treatment.

Diana Ellis, her British lawyer, told the court her client presented no risk of fleeing the country if freed.

"The constant need for medical attention, her infirmity, all mitigates against any sensible suggestion that she would flee the country," she said.

But Yet Chakriya, a Cambodian co-prosecutor, said Ieng Thirith must be kept in detention to prevent her from trying to influence potential witnesses. The 10-hour hearing ended without a ruling from the judges.

The defendant is the sister-in-law of Khmer Rouge supreme leader Pol Pot, who died in 1998, and wife of Ieng Sary, the regime's deputy prime minister and foreign minister, who is detained on charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes.

In a detention order issued in November, the tribunal's investigating judges said Ieng Thirith is to be tried for supporting Khmer Rouge policies and practices that were "characterized by murder, extermination, imprisonment, persecution on political grounds and other inhuman acts."

She rejected the charges as "100 percent false," according to the detention order.

Ieng Thirith followed her husband into the jungle to flee government repression in 1965. Their communist movement later became a guerrilla force that toppled the pro-American government in 1975, turning the country in a vast slave-labor camp, with anyone deemed bourgeois executed or imprisoned.

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Canada's Truth and Reconcilliation Commission

International Center for Transnational Justice

No Inuit on Truth Commission
Northern News Services
by Yumimi Pang
May 19, 2008

Some Inuit are disappointed by the lack of Inuit representation on the federal residential school Truth and Reconciliation Commission.

"It means that the kind of things that we as a unique group who went through experiences, different from all indigenous people in Canada, are hardly going to get our voice heard at the top level," said Jack Anawak, a former Nunavut MLA and MP.

The Truth and Reconciliation Commission was completed May 13 with the appointment of new commissioners, Jane Brewin Morley, a lawyer, facilitator and mediator and Claudette Dumont-Smith, a registered nurse who has been actively involved in aboriginal health issues since 1974.

Morley and Dumont-Smith will sit alongside Justice Harry LaForme, chair of the commission. The commission will provide an opportunity for people who were part of the Indian residential schools legacy of abuse to share their experiences and have them recorded.

Peter Irniq, former Commissioner of Nunavut, said he was concerned that the commission would not have the same impact because it was missing representation from the Inuit population.

"I want our people to speak freely about it," said Irniq. "We went through a lot of trauma at the hands of people who were supposed to be our (surrogate) mothers, fathers. We were all impacted."

Irniq, who attended four years of residential school in the late 1950s and early 1960s, including time in Chesterfield Inlet, added that the schools disrupted Inuit culture, language and spirituality.

Joe Krimmerdjuar, a court translator living in Pond Inlet who attended residential schools in the late 1950s and early 1960s including eight years at Chesterfield Inlet, does not hesitate in calling his experiences in the system terrible. Like Irniq and Anawak, Krimmerdjuar suffered abuse in the residential school system. He described his school as a cold environment, but also noted that the quality of education was good. He highlighted the effects of being separated from one's parents.

"When we were with our parents, we were like flowers, very strong roots. The minute we were on the aircraft, it was like the flower was pulled from its roots, from the ground," said Krimmerdjuar. "For so many years I couldn't look at anyone in the eye. The shame, the embarrassment."

As yet, no scheduling decisions have been made for if or when the commission will be travelling to Nunavut. The commission will begin its work on June 1.

Prime Minister Stephen Harper is scheduled to apologize on the government's behalf for the abuse suffered by former students in residential schools on June 11 in the House of Commons.

Irniq said he has no comment about the Prime Minister's scheduled apology with regard to the residential schools until he hears the content of the apology.

"It's interesting (Harper) would do that after doing away with the Kelowna Accord and the U.N. declaration on the rights of indigenous peoples," said Anawak, making reference to two policies aimed to improve aboriginal living standards and rights, recently rejected by the Canadian government.

School Abuse Victims to Get Apology
The Toronto Star
by Richard Brennan
May 16, 2008

The government of Canada will issue a long-awaited apology to former students of Indian residential schools on June 11, Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl announced yesterday.

The formal apology coincides with the start of the $60 million truth and reconciliation hearings on native residential schools slated to begin early next month.

"I am pleased and very proud to announce that the Prime Minister, ... Stephen Harper, on behalf of the federal government and all Canadians, will make a statement of apology to former students of Indian residential schools on June 11 in the House of Commons," Strahl said.

Strahl said thousands of former residential students, including National Chief Phil Fontaine, have been calling for a formal apology from the government of Canada for a number of years.

"Our government shares their view that the apology is a crucial step in the journey towards healing and reconciliation," he said.

With the settlement agreement and the truth and reconciliation commission, Strahl said, "I am hopeful the apology will help turn the page from the sad legacy of Indian residential schools and open a new chapter ... founded on renewed hope, faith, mutual respect and trust."

The three-person commission, which arises out of the Indian residential school settlement agreement, is to be launched June 1 and will be holding hearings across the country to listen to the stories told by former students of the schools.

Commission chair Justice Harry LaForme, of the Ontario Court of Appeal, has said history shows the treatment of native children was a "horrendous" period in Canada's history and that the hearings will help heal the emotional wounds still in evidence today among the 90,000 survivors of the original 150,000 children who attended the residential schools .

So far, $1.3 billion has been paid to the residential school survivors for simply having gone to these schools, with more to come to those who were physically and sexually abused.

Judge Hopes Residential School Commission Will Help Canada Move Forward
Vancouver Sun
by Norma Greenaway
April 28, 2008

The aboriginal judge appointed to head a federal truth and reconciliation commission exploring the legacy of "horrendous" abuse in Indian residential schools says he hopes the process will allow the country to come to terms with its past and move forward.

Justice Harry LaForme, whose appointment was announced Monday by the federal Conservative government, credited the victims and survivors of the abuse for inspiring the creation of the first truth and reconciliation commission established in the developed world.

"Your pain, your courage, your perseverance and your profound commitment to truth made this commission a reality," LaForme, a Mississauga Indian from Ontario, said after puffing on a "healing pipe" at a ceremony to mark his appointment at the National Art Gallery in Ottawa.

Speaking later to reporters, LaForme defended his use of the term "horrendous" to describe what transpired and challenged those who think the magnitude of the abuse is overblown to think again.

"If there was one child that was treated in the fashion that we know some children were treated, that's enough, that's enough to describe it as horrendous," LaForme said, referring indirectly to the accounts of physical, sexual and other abuse that went on at the schools.

The commission, which will be formally established June 1 after the appointment of two panel members to work with LaForme, flows from an out-of-court settlement reached two years ago with former students of the now-closed residential schools that also includes lump sum payments for thousands of school survivors.

Over the next five years, the commission will provide a countrywide forum for former aboriginal students, church representatives, teachers and others involved in what has been described as one of the darkest chapters in Canadian history to tell their personal stories.

Indian Affairs Minister Chuck Strahl said the government still expects to make a formal apology to the victims, survivors and their families before Parliament breaks for the summer as part of the on-going effort to "deal with this sad legacy."

Phil Fontaine, chief of the Assembly of First Nations, embraced what he portrayed as the long overdue commission and apology as a possible "turning point" in the relationship between aboriginal and non-aboriginal Canadians.

"There will be no more secrets," said Fontaine, who was one of the first leaders to go pubic with the abuse he endured as a residential school student.

The $60-million commission will have complete independence from government, the church, First Nations groups and others, as well as unfettered access to all archives as it explores events that spanned 150 years, LaForme said.

Strahl and LaForme stressed the commission is charged with preparing a comprehensive historical record of what occurred, as opposed to assigning blame and gathering evidence for criminal prosecution.

"The commission is not a judge and trial and a jury," Strahl said, adding that those who believe they have been victims of criminal activity should go to the police on their own.

LaForme, a graduate of Osgoode Hall Law School in Toronto, is a member of the Mississaugas of New Credit First Nation, located in southern Ontario. A former commissioner of the Indian Commission of Ontario, he is currently a member of the Ontario Court of Appeal, making him the first aboriginal to be appointed to an appellate court in the history of Canada.

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Darfur, Sudan (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Darfur, Sudan

EU parliament calls for freeze on Sudan leaders' assets
The Bore Globe Network
May 23, 2008

(STRASBOURG) - The European Parliament on Thursday urged the EU to freeze the assets of Sudanese leaders who don't cooperate with the international criminal court which has arrest warrants out for two officials.

The MEPs called on the 27 European Union leaders "to take steps", at their next summit in June, "against a clearly identified group of Sudanese officials who bear responsibility for Sudan's non-cooperation" with the Hague-based court.

The parliament specifically called for the seizure of assets for these officials plus the identifying and targeting of "the offshore assets of businesses affiliated with the National Congress Party (the government majority party), a major conduit for financing militias in Darfur".

The MEPs also called for the identified leaders to be denied access to all EU banks and European companies "targeting especially the revenue flow from the petroleum sector." The United Nations says the death toll from five years of war, famine and disease in Darfur may be up to 300,000. Khartoum puts the toll at 9,000.

The European Parliament, sitting in Strasbourg, observed that former Sudanese interior minister Ahmad Harun and former Janjaweed militia leader Ali Muhammad Ali Abd-Al-Rahman had been cited by the court for 51 counts of war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Harun, the parliament pointed out, is now humanitarian affairs minister while the militia leader, also known as Ali Kushayb, was released from jail in Sudan in October 2007 despite the international arrest warrant against him.

The EU has already imposed sanctions against some Sudanese leaders accused of breaking an arms embargo.

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Democratic Republic of the Congo (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in the Democratic Republic of the Congo

Call for Lubanga Charges to Cover Rape
Institute for War and Peace Reporting
By Katy Glassborow
May 12, 2008

A high-ranking United Nations official has urged international judges to bring justice to girls coerced to join a Congolese militia by interpreting the charges against rebel leader Thomas Lubanga Dyilo as including sexual crimes.

Lubanga, who was the first person indicted by the International Criminal Court, ICC, is due to go on trial at the in The Hague in June. He is accused of enlisting and conscripting children under 15, and using them to participate actively in hostilities during the conflict in the Ituri region of north-eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

In April, Radhika Coomaraswamy, UN Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict, travelled to The Hague to present a written submission to judges advising them on how to interpret the charges against Lubanga. She is recommending that the crime of using children to "participate actively" in hostilities should be understood to include the sexual violence suffered by girls forced to join Lubanga's militia.

"There have been interpretations that [the charge defined as] 'participate actively' should be confined to military activities. We argue that using women as sex slaves or wives, in a context of war in the DRC, can be meant as using them actively in hostilities," Coomaraswamy told IWPR.

Lubanga, head of the Union of Congolese Patriots, UPC, a mainly Hema faction in Ituri in northeastern DRC, stands accused of using children in a period of bloody inter-ethnic fighting against the Lendu ethnic group at the beginning of the decade.

The United Nations Children's Fund, UNICEF, estimates that there are currently 30,000 child soldiers in the DRC, fighting or living with armed groups. Between 30 and 40 per cent of these minors are girls.

In February, the ICC's Trial Chamber invited Coomaraswamy - whose role mandates her to work closely with international bodies to ensure the protection of children in armed conflict - to submit written observations on the definition of the charges.

Her submission took the form of an "amicus curiae" (friend of the court") brief, which may now be used to assist judges in the case.

Hala El Amine, Associate Legal Outreach Officer at the ICC, explained the reason why the court solicits this kind of document, "The acceptance of [the] brief does not imply that the court endorses the position set out therein, but rather that the court believes the amicus - the person or agency submitting the brief - may be able to be of assistance to the court in its determination of truth. In other words, that person or agency has a particular knowledge, interest or expertise of which the court should be made aware."

The defence responded to the amicus curiae submission on March 28 with a statement saying it was too early to respond to Coomaraswamy's remarks about the definitions of specific terms. It said these issues would be addressed during the trial itself, and asked the Trial Chamber to grant both defence and prosecution an opportunity to comment on them "in due course".

In her brief, the special representative noted that when Lubanga's charges were confirmed, the pre-trial chamber placed an outer limit on the standard to be used in defining "participate actively", stating that it did not apply when the activity in question was "manifestly without connection to hostilities". Thus, in crude terms, the definition would include combatants, but exclude individuals used by an armed force in non-combatant auxiliary roles or exploited for sexual purposes.

Coomaraswamy said the decision to set this threshold for deciding what activities fitted the definition was "ill-conceived and [likely] to exclude a great number of child soldiers - particularly girls" from being considered victims of the crime.

She told the ICC that "the exclusion of girls from the definition of child soldiers would represent an insupportable break from well-established international consensus".

As her brief noted, the definition of child soldier used for the 1997 Cape Town Principles "recognised that 'child soldier' includes 'girls recruited for sexual purposes and for forced marriage'". The Cape Town Principles were the first significant set of child protection standards which focus on children associated with fighting forces, and serve as guidelines for agencies working in war zones.

In her brief, Coomaraswamy reminded the court that the Paris Principles of last year, which reviewed the earlier set of principles, renewed the status of child soldier for all minors used for sexual purposes.

The distinction between active combat and other activities is in any case blurred. Coomaraswamy illustrated this point by recounting conversations she had with girls in eastern DRC, who spoke of being used as fighters one minute, a "wife" or "sex slave" the next, and domestic servants and food-providers at other times.

"Children are forced to play multiple roles - asked to kill and defend, carry heavy burdens, spy on villages and transmit messages. They are asked to perform many other functions and their use differs from group to group," Coomaraswamy told the ICC.

She went on to share the testimony of 12-year-old Eva who was abducted on her way to school, subjected to sexual abuse and kept in a state of forced nudity. "She worked in the camp cooking, cleaning and being a sexual slave, and was often taken along for armed attacks on the villages to be a 'porter' to carry the looted goods," wrote Coomaraswamy.

Since Lubanga's arrest in 2006, pressure groups have questioned why the ICC did not add crimes of sexual violence to the charges against him.

Brigid Inder from Women's Initiative for Gender Justice - an international human rights organisation which has documented testimonies of rape survivors in Ituri - said an integral part of the process of enlistment and conscription for girls in the region was rape and sexual violence.

"It is part of the way they are broken down and dominated, and separated from their families and values, and made into a fighter and a fighting force," she told IWPR.

However, in a pretrial document from August 2006, in which prosecutors detailed the charges against Lubanga, sexual violence suffered by girl soldiers was noticeably absent from references to the crime of 'using children to participate actively in hostilities'.

In the document, prosecutors said that children were forced to march to training camps in Ituri belonging to the UPC's armed wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, FPLC, where they were subjected to two months of military training which included drill and weapons handling.

The indictment said FPLC commanders provided each child with a uniform and gun, and ordered boys and girls to fight on the front line and kill all Lendu. Those reluctant to do so were threatened with execution.

Prosecutors also cited evidence that children were forced to commit sexual crimes against civilians.

One example was that of a thirteen-year-old girl abducted from the side of the road in 2002 by FPLC troops, who threatened to kill her if she did not get into their truck.

She was trained to use bayonets and daggers, and to fight with sticks, and was told she would be recaptured and killed if she tried to escape. At the end of her two months' training, she was given a military uniform, a firearm weapon and two magazines of ammunition.

In early 2003, under threat of being shot, the girl was made to participate in an attack on Largu, a Lendu village north of Bunia, in the course of which she was ordered to tie the testicles of a Lendu prisoner with a wire. The prisoner died as a result of the maltreatment.

Last month, Coomaraswamy told IWPR that sexual abuse was part of the experience of girl soldiers forcibly recruited to the UPC.

She is calling for the terms "using" and "participating" - which are narrowly defined in the ICC's statute to mean military activities linked to combat - such as scouting, spying and sabotage as well as fighting - to be broadened to include the sexual violence that girls had to endure during their time as conscripted or enlisted child soldiers.

"We are arguing that the word 'using' should include having been abducted, being a child sex slave or a wife, to reflect the girl child's experience. It is a combat situation, but their sex lives have been taken up through the participation in warfare," she told IWPR.

"Because of the context and nature of these groups, the activities are not kept separate, and many of these girls are one moment wives, and the next moment combatants and then domestic aides."

Coomaraswamy is adamant that through coerced participation as domestic labour and "wives", girls form part of the fighting force, whether or not they have a direct involvement in military operations.

She said the court must determine, on a case-by-case basis, whether a child's participation served an essential support function to the armed group during the conflict.

She explained that the broader interpretation she is recommending would follow existing UN guidelines, which recognise all children "participating in and associated with armed groups and forces" as victims of crime.

Inder agrees that the current charges against Lubanga can be interpreted to include the sexual abuse of girl soldiers.

"During the abduction and training phase, rape is a core, regular part of the process of enlistment and conscription for girls in the DRC," she said.

"Enlistment and conscription are acts that require a process, and an integral part of this process of girls becoming child soldiers is rape and other forms of sexual violence."

However, Mariana Pena from the International Federation of Human Rights, FIDH, cautions that a broader interpretation of Lubanga's charge sheet cannot compensate for the fact that he has not been charged with sexual violence.

"Coomaraswamy wants to present the whole picture, and we welcome this, but the whole picture should have been shown, with Lubanga being charged with crimes of sexual violence," she said. "Unfortunately, a wider interpretation of the current charges will not mean he is convicted of sexual violence charges".

Coomaraswamy agrees that this would be desirable, in addition to her recommendation about broadening the definition of child soldier. She told IWPR that for the ICC to be a deterrent to perpetrators, there needs to be a separate sexual violence indictment, in addition to the existing charges.

She drew a comparison with the Foca case at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which set an important precedent in classifying rape as a crime against humanity.

In this trial, three Bosnian men - Zoran Vukovic, Radomir Kovac and Dragoljub Kunarac - were found guilty in 2001 of raping and sexually enslaving Muslim women in the southeastern Bosnian town of Foca, and selling or renting them for forced prostitution to other soldiers.

"In [this case] sexual violence was indicted as torture, rape, outrages on personal dignity. Sexual violence in a fighting force such as Lubanga's is on the one hand, recruitment and conscription of child soldiers, and on the other hand, rape," she said.

"There does not have to be only one [charge]. A double indictment would be good".

The treatment of war crimes against girl soldiers at the ICC may also be influenced by a recent appeals judgement at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, SCSL, in Freetown, where this year, for the first time, judges recognised the crime of 'forced marriage' under international law.

In June last year, Alex Tamba Brima, Brima Bazzy Kamara and Santigie Borbor Kanu of the rebel Armed Forces Revolutionary Council, were found guilty of war crimes and crimes against humanity which included murder, rape, sexual slavery and conscripting child soldiers.

Crucially, the trial chamber used a broad interpretation of the charge of using child soldiers to participate in a conflict to include non-military activities.

"Using children to 'participate actively in the hostilities' encompasses putting their lives directly at risk in combat... any labour or support that gives effect to, or helps maintain, operations in a conflict constitutes active participation," stated the judgement.

In convicting the men, judges at the SCSL threw out the charge of 'forced marriage' which had been in the indictment, saying they saw no need to considerate it as a crime separate from sexual slavery.

However, Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp appealed the decision and the appeal chamber overturned the acquittal in February this year, recognising that forced marriage was a crime against humanity in its own right, under humanitarian law.

Rapp told IWPR he welcomed the finding, although he admits there are challenges to making such a charge stick.

"One of the most difficult aspects of this crime is the attitude that the girls were accomplices rather than victims," he said. "They were conscripted as wives, and had to travel with rebel leaders and cook food that had been looted in operations, and consume that food. Their role makes them appear part of the court of the rebels".

In spite of this, Rapp hopes that the decision by the appeals judges in Sierra Leone will have an impact on ICC trials with application to crimes against girls held by armed groups.

He hopes that prosecutors will soon secure the first-ever conviction of 'forced marriage' against members of another Sierra Leonean paramilitary group on trial at the SCSL, the Revolutionary United Front. In this case, similar evidence has been presented against the three accused, Issa Hassan Sesay, Morris Kallon and Augustine Gbao.

This could influence proceedings at the ICC, said Rapp.

"When these decisions are rendered, they are highly persuasive on other courts so to that extent, we are helping to create laws that the ICC will be prosecuting."

Coomaraswamy certainly hopes so. She ends her amicus brief to the ICC by explaining how girl combatants often end up "invisible" in post-conflict situations.

"Because they are also wives and domestic aides, they either slip away or are not brought forward for DDR [disarmament, demobilisation and rehabilitation] programmes. Commanders prefer to 'keep their women', who often father their children, and even if the girls are combatants, they are not released with the rest," said the brief.

"Their complicated status makes them particularly vulnerable. They are recruited as child soldiers and sex slaves, but are invisible when it comes to the counting."

Katy Glassborow is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.

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Uganda (ICC)

Official Website of the International Criminal Court
ICC Public Documents - Situation in Uganda

Secret dealings that got LRA before world court
The Monitor
By Angelo Izama
May 18, 2008

On January 15, 2004, Manuela Diallo, an assistant to Luis Moreno-Ocampo the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) faxed a draft copy of a letter that Mr Ocampo planned to eventually send to President Yoweri Museveni.

The letter, a copy of which Sunday Monitor has seen, was faxed to the second ranking official at Uganda's mission in New York, Ambassador Adonia Ayebare, who also happened to be a personal friend of Mr Ocampo.

Mr Ayebare's name has since featured in various nterviews is the diplomat responsible who played a key role in getting the President to agree to Uganda secretly referring the matter of the Lord's Resistance Army rebels' alleged crimes against humanity and war crimes to the ICC in December 2003.

This piece of correspondence that was addressed to President Museveni goes a long way in explaining Uganda's secret dealings with the ICC, its involvement in the indictment of the LRA's leaders that piled the pressure on the insurgents, forcing them to flee Sudan at the end of 2005, amidst calls for their arrest and trial for war crimes.

Mr Ocampo, who has been accused in the past of being partial to the Ugandan authorities, has always claimed that he was not investigating one side of the conflict. But the bare facts in this letter (Ref. OTP/040115/UGLTR/02) tell a completely different story, and in fact confirm the suspicion that he was quietly in bed with one of the interested parties to the conflict.

For instance, it reads in part: "In my view meaningful peace in Africa requires strong African leadership" in reference to his interlocutor (President Museveni), adding "I am confident that the successful investigation and prosecution of those bearing the greatest responsibility for the crimes committed in the North will be a critical contribution to achieving lasting peace".

Mr Ocampo then said "It will, of course be for Uganda, to decide on how to deal with any remaining issues connected to the crimes committed". He also expresses concerns over how confidential Uganda's referral of the LRA could be kept and suggests that the issue be made public so as to garner support.â€¨"However, the decision of when and where to publicise the referral is for you (President Museveni)," he writes, ending "be assured of my highest consideration of the matter".

On January 29, 2004, two weeks after this correspondence, indeed Mr Ocampo and President Museveni stood side by side and confirmed that Uganda had indeed referred the LRA case to the world court.

The indictment of the top LRA commanders has provided the ICC with its first high profile case. At a personal level, it has handed Mr Ocampo the sort of controversy that he badly needed to divert the attention of the world media cameras to The Hague and himself.

The government of Uganda meanwhile has used the involvement of the court to apply pressure on the elusive rebel group and their allies in the government of Sudan's Omar El Bashir, the present net effect of which was Khartoum being forced to get rebel leader Joseph Kony to shift his outfit to the Garamba Forest of the DR Congo.

While the court is yet to prosecute a single LRA leader, its involvement has had the effect of rendering the LRA under a perpetual siege even if they have made the lifting of the ICC warrants of arrest a precondition for successful conclusion of the Juba peace process.

Last week, Mr Kony and a group of his most trusted fighters were walking towards the Sudanese border post of Nabanga, ostensibly to meet with the Vice President of the Government of South Sudan, Dr Riek Machar. Some say the LRA is tired, Kony is dispirited and afraid and that the prospects for the group ever escaping the dragnet of international human rights law and regional military action appear ever dimmer.

But the opposite view is that emboldened by the supply of new provisions (military and otherwise) from as yet unnamed quarters, the LRA that has been on an abduction campaign on the outer reaches of the Central African Republic (CAR) is actually preparing for a new shooting war. There are reports of training underway in both the DR Congo and CAR.

Kony's options have not always been so dim but for the referral which changed his status from the brutal abductor of children and butcher of old women to an internationally wanted criminal in January of 2004.

Ambassador Ayebare who sources at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs say is busy trying to find a solution to unravelling peace process in Burundi, did not return Sunday Monitor's request for an interview.

However, informed sources confirm that the ambassador and Mr Ocampo had known each during the time when the present Chief Prosecutor of the ICC was still running a legal practice in Argentina.

That relationship played a useful part in securing a meeting for Mr Ocampo with President Museveni at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in London in 2004. The closed door meeting was kept away from senior members of Museveni's entourage.

Human rights groups and local NGO's have criticised the ICC warrants as being a stumbling block to peace in Northern Uganda but others have gone further to say that Ocampo's personal relationship with the Ugandan authorities has closed the door to any future investigation of the Ugandan army for its alleged part in the commission of atrocities in Northern Uganda.

Peace Deal Dissolves
IWPR
By Charles Mpagi Mwanguhya
May 19, 2008

Rebel leader again fails to meet negotiators, dimming hopes of permanent peace being signed.

Northern Uganda leaders returned empty handed last week from South Sudan after waiting in vain for days to meet Joseph Kony, the elusive commander of the rebel Lord's Resistance Army, LRA.

Kony's no-show was the second time in two months that he has snubbed peace negotiators and appears to have killed what hope remained that a peace deal, 22 months in the making, will be signed.

"Kony said he wanted to meet the elders," said Colonel Walter Ochora, the Gulu district commissioner who had helped initiate links with the rebels earlier in the negotiations. "Government knew this wouldn't happen, but we still said okay. All the behaviour of Kony [doesn't] indicate that he wants peace."

Ochora said he was not surprised by Kony's actions.

"To me the peace process was off right from tenth May, 2008 when Kony failed to show up," he said. "But as we did not want the government to be blamed [for the failure], we wanted to give Kony the benefit of the doubt."

Kony had earlier failed to turn up for a scheduled signing of the peace agreement on April 10, at a remote location on the border of South Sudan and the Democratic Republic of the Congo, DRC, even though some 200 people traveled to the jungle to witness the event.

Kony then said he wanted to meet with his fellow ethnic Acholi leaders on May 10 at the same location for talks about how he might be treated by Ugandan courts if he would sign the deal.

Reliable sources told IWPR that instead, Kony issued demands for money, protection, and a mansion in the Ugandan capital, Kampala.

Ochora said Kony has refused to communicate with or meet the top negotiators since last October when he reportedly killed his second-in-command, Vincent Otti.

Those top negotiators include United Nations special envoy Joachim Chissano; chief mediator and vice president of South Sudan, Riek Machar; and South Sudan president Salva Kiir.

"These are the three most important people in the negotiation process, but he doesn't want to talk them," said Ochora. "The last time he sent a message to Machar, it was through a third party."

Ugandan interior minister Ruhakana Rugunda, leader of the Uganda delegation, indicated his frustration at the collapsed talks by noting that Kony had been rebuilding his army while frustrating efforts to finalise the northern Ugandan peace deal.

Kony has led a rebel war in the north since 1986 that has left an estimated 100,000 dead and displaced nearly two million people, who only recently have begun returning to their homes following nearly two years of peace talks.

As IWPR reported earlier, Kony has rebuilt his force while holed up in the Garamba Park region of northeastern DRC - and now has about 600 or 700 fighters and about 300 others still in training.

The rebuilding of the rebel force has been accomplished through abductions in the DRC, South Sudan and the lawless southeastern corners of the Central African Republic.

Rugunda told IWPR that such reports show Kony is not interested in peace.

"We have covered at least 95 per cent of this [peace] process," said Rugunda. "The remaining five per cent was only for the two parties to append their signatures, which has not yet happened."

"We cannot say the talks are dead," he continued, but added that the government was unsure if the talks would resume. "We will have to wait and see the report of the chief mediator and the elders."

For some, however, the peace talks are over.

Speaking in Gulu, Kenneth Oketta, "prime minister" of the Acholi ethnic group which dominates the north, said tribal leaders were finished talking with Kony.

"This is the last time we shall [go] to him because just one man cannot be holding everyone in his palms," said Oketta. "Kony will never sign a peace accord because he doesn't [have] anything to do with the peace talks. He is there because he was pushed to be there."

Oketta has been in touch with the Acholi paramount leader, David Acana, who was part of the delegation waiting for Kony, and confirmed that the LRA leader had issued new demands.

"The last time we went to meet Kony in April, those demands were not there," said Oketta, and suggested that the new ones came from "bad advisers" who apparently have a lot of influence over Kony.

The apparent collapse of the talks has renewed speculation of a possible military strike against Kony - a possibility that was raised recently by officials with the International Criminal Court, ICC, in The Hague.

Speaking to IWPR in Chicago, Chief Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo suggested that a special unit of UN forces currently in the region, as part of some 17,000 peacekeeping contingent in the DRC, could be mobilised to strike Kony.

Kony and his top commanders have been sought for trial by the ICC since October 2005 when they were indicted for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

An attempt at the beginning of 2006 to move against Kony failed when eight Guatemalan peacekeepers, members of a special forces unit, died in a clash with LRA fighters in Garamba Park.â€¨

"The unit, which was conducting an operation in this area, established contact with rebel elements at 6 am There followed an exchange of fire lasting four hours, requiring the intervention of armed helicopters," a UN statement said at the time.

A UN military spokesman said at least 15 LRA fighters were killed, out of a group estimated to number 50 or 60. Five members of the peacekeeping force were injured in the incident and were flown to hospital in Bunia, several hundred kilometres south of the park.

Any future military move by the UN, Uganda, or others will require some coordination, said Ochora.

A week ago, Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni met his DRC counterpart Joseph Kabila in Tanzania, apparently to discuss a smoldering border dispute and the situation with Kony and the LRA.

"Kony has been a pain to the DR Congo," said Ochora. "[Kony] has abducted many children from there. He could choose to involve himself in Darfur. He has caused problems in Sudan, the Central Africa Republic, and now Chad is on the alert. We will have to discuss with all these countries about the way forward."

Charles Mpagi Mwanguhya is political editor at The Daily Monitor in Kampala and a contributor to IWPR. Caroline Auygi, an IWPR intern in The Hague, contributed to this report.

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The Trial of Alberto Fujimori

Fujimori on Trial

Fujimori supporters request that trial be Suspended
Fujimori on Trial
May 20, 2008

Sixtieth session. Retired military general Rodolfo Robles Espinoza continued his testimony, having testified for the last four sessions where he has insisted that Fujimori had command of the Colina detachment through the National Intelligence Service (SIN). Also during this session, Fujimori’s supporters, or “fujimoristas,” requested that this criminal trial against the former president be suspended.

1. Incidents during the hearing:

Contradictions regarding Fujimori’s health.

According to the doctor from the Institute of Legal Medicine (IML), Eloy Loayza Sierra, last session Fujimori suffered from enterocolitis — an inflammation of the small and large intestine. However, the doctor confirmed that Fujimori is in a clinically stable condition.

Later, Fujimori said that on that day, May 14, the health ailment began at 3 am and he received medicine at 8:30 am. For this reason he was dehydrated at the beginning of last Wednesday’s session.

The Court, in turn, declared that during the last session, they received absolutely no information from the IML or its doctors, and requested that the Court be informed the next time these kinds of incidents occur.

Fujimoristas’ request to suspend the trial.

That same day, pro-Fujimori Congressman and personal doctor of Fujimori, Alejandro Aguinaga — who has been proposing a pardon or amnesty for Fujimori since September 2007 — declared that a 15-day recess in the trial would be convenient, since it is possible that the former president has cancer. However, Luis Bromley, head of the IML, has said that this miniscule lesion should not hold up the trial and assured that Fujimori will undergo a biopsy.

However, as state prosecutor José Peláez pointed out, a recess in the trial cannot surpass eight days, according to Article 267 in the Criminal Procedures Code. A recess that exceeds eight days results in the trial being annulled altogether, in which case the trial would have to be reinitiated later from scratch.

2. Robles’ testimony:

SIN intervetion in impunity for La Cantuta crime.

Robles told how in 1993 the National Intelligence Service intervened in the military court’s criminal trial for the Cantuta crime, based on documents and testimony that Robles presented to Congress in 2001, of which he recalled:

1. Rafael Merino Bartet, former political advisor to high directors of the SIN, testified that from his computer somebody wrote the sentence that the Supreme Council of Military Justice (CSJM) used to deny authorization for members of the Peruvian army to testify on this crime before the Constituent Democratic Congress. Likewise, the CSJM’s June 9, 1993 resolution declaring it inappropriate for Vladimiro Montesinos — Fujimori’s former advisor and spy chief — to testify before the Constituent Democratic Congress, was also written from within the SIN.

2. Hugo Pow San Sotelo, auditor of the military’s War Court in the trial for the Cantuta crime, was one of the military officials who in March 1999 signed the Act of Submission, through which military officials pledged their defense of the coup d’état executed on April 5, 1992.

3. The announcement of high military command and police backing given to then Commander General of the Peruvian Army, Nicolás Hermoza Ríos (prompted by the investigation of the Cantuta crime initiated by the Constituent Democratic Congress), was also written within the SIN.

Exchange of words between witness and defense lawyer.

Due to the questions posed by Fujimori’s lawyer, Robles responded at one point that the questions on intelligence terms were incoherent and what the defense was trying to do is confuse him. Nakazaki’s response was: “if you are saying that I’m causing confusion, it seems to me that you are avoiding the answers” and “believe me, I know more about intelligence than you do about law interpretation.” At this, the Court had to intervene and demand order.

Strategy of Fujimori’s defense

Nakazaki’s questions centered on an exhaustive range of military norms. It’s important to note that each time a witness that incriminates Fujimori has been presented, the former president’s defense strategy has been just as one of the lawyers for the victims’ families described at the beginning of the trial.

Robles said that through the SIN, Fujimori had command of the Colina detachment since an intelligence chain parallel to the official one was established, which does not appear in the regulations.

In response, defense lawyer Nakazaki said that Fujimori could only dictate orders and not any other document, meaning that Robles was mistaken.

Robles answered that the president could indeed use any document to establish criteria, for example, the praise-giving memo that Fujimori signed in 1991, which established that the members of the analysis group should be praised and recognized. These members — close friends or relatives of Montesinos — were later integrated to the Colina military detachment.

To date in the criminal trial against Fujimori for human rights violations, various defense strategies have appeared:

1. Political and journalistic strategy of seeking to annul the trial by claiming Fujimori has a serious health condition. However, the Peruvian Institute of Legal Medicine has denied the seriousness of the situation.

2. Legal strategy established by Fujimori’s lawyer, which argues that since there is no order signed by Fujimori for the crimes he’s being tried for, culpability cannot be proven.

Peru judge approves precancerous tests for Alberto Fujimori
Living in Peru
By Israel J. Ruiz
May 21, 2008

Cesar San Martin, head of the Supreme Court panel of judges which is hearing the Fujimori case, has announced that Peru's former president will have tests done to determine the cause of a pain in his mouth.

San Martin stated that tests would be done by the National Institute of Neoplastics to determine what kind of wounds the former president has on his tongue and inner cheek.

Alberto Fujimori's daughter, Keiko explained that the open wounds could be signs that her father is coming down with leukoplakia, a disorder the former president was diagnosed with 10 years ago.

Fujimori underwent surgery after his diagnosis one decade ago.

According to Keiko, the wound is precancerous and could lead to cancer if it is not treated in time.

She has asked President Garcia to change her father's security status to normal so his health would not continue to deteriorate.

Fujimori is currently being held under maximum security.

"I'm not asking for a favor, I'm just requesting fair conditions," said Keiko.

Luis Bromley, head of the Legal Medicine Institute affirmed on Wednesday that the wound was millimeters in size and was not worth stopping the hearings over.

He stated that it was too early to say whether the wounds were precancerous or not, explaining that the former president only had a few "millimeter-size" white stains around the area where surgery had been performed 10 years ago.

The former president has attended approximately 60 hearings since he was extradited to Peru.

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International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

Official Website of the ICTY

UN tribunal postpones trial of Serbian security figure due to ill health
UN News Centre
May 16, 2008

16 May 2008 – The United Nations tribunal set up to deal with the worst crimes committed during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s today adjourned the trial of a former high-level official with the Serbian secret service after ruling that he is not fit to stand trial on health grounds.

Today’s decision overturns that of the trial chamber last month that ruled that Jovica Stanišic could stand trial.

But the appeals chamber found that Mr. Stanišic has the right to be present in the court, deeming a video-conference link from the detention unit to be insufficient.

The proceedings will be postponed for three months, at which time the defendant’s health condition will be reassessed to determine whether the trial should resume.

Mr. Stanišic is accused of directing, organizing, equipping, training, arming and financing secret units of the Serbian State Security which murdered, persecuted and deported Croats, Bosnian Muslims and other non-Serb civilians from Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia between 1991 and 1995.

Court head wants Serb fugitives tried in Hague
Reuters
Reporting by Daria Sito-Sucic; editing by Keith Weir
May 19, 2008

SARAJEVO, May 19 (Reuters) - The president of the United Nations war crimes tribunal said on Monday that the Hague-based court must not close until all the fugitives from the Yugoslav wars of the 1990s were arrested and tried.

Four indicted war crimes suspects, including Bosnian Serb wartime leader Radovan Karadzic and his military chief Ratko Mladic, are still at large and are widely believed to be hiding in Serbia.

"Karadzic, Mladic, (Stojan) Zupljanin and (Goran) Hadzic must be arrested," judge Fausto Pocar told a news conference during a visit to Sarajevo.

The tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, created in 1993, is under pressure from the U.N. Security Council to complete trials by 2008 and finish appeals by 2010.

"The tribunal must not close its doors until these fugitives are arrested and charged," Pocar said, adding that their arrest would prove the international community's commitment to justice and would enable the region to move forward.

Karadzic and Mladic have been charged with genocide over the 1995 Srebrenica massacre of some 8,000 Muslim men and boys and the 1992-95 Sarajevo siege in which about 11,000 people were killed.

Bosnian Serb Zupljanin was charged in 1999 with crimes against Muslims and Croats in western Bosnia early in the 1992-95 Bosnian war. Hadzic, a Croatian Serb leader, has also been indicted by the tribunal.

Pocar said that he was concerned about Bosnia's ability to keep convicted war criminals in detention after one of them escaped from prison last year.

Radovan Stankovic, a Bosnian Serb who was sentenced to 20 years for serial rape, enslavement and torture of civilians in the eastern town of Foca during Bosnia's war, broke away from prison guards and fled from Foca prison last May.

"It's clear that the situation would not happen if there were appropriate detention facilities and appropriate training of the guards," Pocar said, adding that he expected international support for the Balkan country's judiciary.

Stankovic was one of 10 war crimes suspects transferred from the Hague-based court to Bosnia for local trials.

Ex-Prosecutor Calls for Tribunal Reform
Institute for War & Peace Reporting
Simon Jennings
May 20, 2008

Sir Geoffrey Nice tells IWPR seminar that ICTY should review procedures dealing with confidentiality.

A former prosecutor in the trial of the late Serbian president, Slobodan Milosevic, has questioned the policy of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, ICTY, when it comes to applying confidential measures to state documents on the grounds of national security.

Sir Geoffrey Nice, who was speaking at a conference in The Hague organised by IWPR on May 15, said that tribunal rules which allow a state to be granted a private hearing in which to argue its case for protecting documents due to national security concerns were "a real systemic problem".

Nice was drawing on his experience as a prosecutor at the ICTY, when he observed first-hand the treatment of records of minutes of Serbian Defence Council, SDC, meetings. These documents are said to contain details that could paint a more accurate picture of Serbia's involvement in the Yugoslav wars.

Tribunal judges granted the documents confidential status during the Milosevic trial in a private hearing. But in the period available to appeal the judges’ decision, the prosecution was notified only of the decision and not of the arguments presented by Serbia.

"What can be done about really important decisions that, under the present structure, may be almost completely in private and not exposed?" asked Nice.

He takes the view that when such decisions are made in private, the prosecution should be notified of their substance to a degree that enables it to respond.

Together with three other panelists, Nice was discussing the confidential SDC documents. The subject has prompted observers to examine the issue of transparency at the ICTY and ask how concealing information about Serbia's role in the war might be affecting justice and reconciliation in the region.

Nice said that not being party to Serbia's arguments for having the documents sealed was "the original problem" that led to him not being able to challenge the judges' decision and ask for the documents to be made public.

"The notion of adversarial law includes the very excellent proposition that if you've got a position, its security and validity is best established by being tested and exposed to the other side, and this never was," said Nice.

The former prosecutor, who has seen the unredacted version of SDC minutes, said they contain records of meetings between high-level Serbian politicians and military leaders.

"Their discussions cover many aspects of security, but in particular they deal with support for the Bosnian Serbs. They deal with knowledge of paramilitaries, or not; they deal with contacts between members of the SDC and people like [Ratko] Mladic," said Nice.

Ratko Mladic is the Bosnian Serb commander-in-chief wanted by the tribunal on charges of orchestrating the 1995 genocide in Srebrenica which killed more than 8,000 Bosniak men and boys.

But Nice emphasised that the documents alone do not show to what extent Belgrade was responsible for atrocities in Bosnia.

"What they do not contain is instructions to go out and butcher people. Nothing like that. They do not provide easy answers to any questions," he said.

Nice also said that the decision to grant the SDC documents confidential status based on Serbia's "vital national interest", was not a reason that was covered by tribunal rules.

The rules state that confidentiality can only be provided on the grounds of protecting national security.

"I don't know what [vital national interests] means, because it certainly has nothing to do with national security interests," he said.

Edina Becirevic, senior lecturer at the University of Sarajevo's faculty of criminal justice sciences, explained how the tribunal's handling of the SDC documents had led to scepticism about the court's purpose.

"If we look at… the case of the SDC minutes, we can see a number of characteristics that should not have been internalised in an institution that nourishes a liberal idealistic approach to international criminal law," she said.

Marko Atilla Hoare, a former tribunal investigator and a Balkans specialist at the University of Kingston, then expanded the debate to its relevance today, pointing out that the issue is not going to die down.

He explained that the SDC minutes were important "both for the sake of justice and political progress in the region".

Hoare referred to events in Serbia – such as the assassination of Serbian prime minister Zoran Djindjic and riots in Belgrade over Kosovo – that stem from the country's failure to tackle its involvement in the wars of the 1990s.

"You have elements that are responsible for this war who are simply not letting the region and Serbia move on, and they are sabotaging regional progress at every level," he said.

Fadila Memisevic, head of the Sarajevo-based section of the Society for Threatened Peoples, said that in Bosnia, the tribunal's handling of the SDC minutes had undermined victims’ hopes of achieving justice.

"[Victims] were expecting that justice would be achieved and expected [that the] international community would recognise what happened and how they suffered," she said.

Memisevic also read out a letter written by women from Srebrenica, which will be sent to the president of the tribunal on the July 11 anniversary of the genocide.

According to her, the letter explains how the tribunal had let down genocide victims in Bosnia.

"The ICTY did not manage to fulfill the task that was given to it, because those that are responsible for the genocide are still free," she said.

"Instead of [achieving] justice, you have [imposed] secrecy on the documents which protect the interests of Serbia."

Asked by a member of the audience how important the SDC documents are to Bosnian victims of the Yugoslav wars, Memisevic replied that although the conflict is over, animosity between the various parties in the region persists because the facts of what happened have not been fully disclosed.

"There's no peace without justice being done. If you want justice, you have to know what happened in the past," she said.

Becirevic sought to shed light on elements of the SDC minutes that were hidden from public view.

She quoted passages of a book by the former president of Montenegro, Momir Bulatovic, in which he quoted sections of the documents that were granted protective measures by ICTY judges.

She referred to a section in the book, "Unspoken Defence", in which Milosevic states, "It is not a secret to us that NATO plans had the following information: that the radar system and communication system of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and… Republika Srpska are actually united, they are one system."

Milosevic seemingly had intelligence information about NATO plans to attack Yugoslavia, and Becirevic speculated that acknowledging control of Republika Srpska's radar system amounted to considering it part of Yugoslav territory – an admission that could have had serious consequences in Serbia's trial for genocide at the International Court of Justice.

IWPR had hoped tribunal staff would join in the discussion about the SDC documents.

However, an invitation to the tribunal president, registrar and prosecutor was declined on the grounds that the panel would be discussing information that had been classified as confidential by the court.

An internal memo, seen by IWPR, posted on the tribunal's intranet two hours before the event started, told staff who planned to come along to keep quiet.

"Those staff intending to attend the [IWPR] event are advised NOT to discuss confidential matters at the event," read the memo.

IWPR contacted tribunal spokesperson Nerma Jelacic about the debate, but she was unable to comment either on the subject or on the internal memo.

However, in a letter to IWPR she insisted that the ICTY has gone to considerable lengths to accommodate the needs of the public and ensure judicial transparency. "I would suggest that the Tribunal is a world leader in judicial transparency," she said.

With the SDC documents under seal and the appeals chamber upholding their confidential status, Nice does not foresee the records being made available by the tribunal. This, he believes, is a blow for international justice.

"With every day, people's memories fade and witnesses to these events die. These documents would enable a large number of questions to be asked of a large number of people…. If they don't come out for another decade or until after we're all dead, that opportunity will be lost and gone for good," he said.

Kosovo newspaper editor pleads not guilty to contempt of court at UN war crimes tribunal
International Herald Tribune
May 21, 2008

THE HAGUE, Netherlands: An award-winning ethnic Albanian newspaper editor pleaded not guilty Wednesday to contempt of court for allegedly publishing the name of a protected witness at the U.N. war crimes trial of Kosovo's former prime minister.

Baton Haxhiu, editor of Kosovo daily Express, faces a maximum sentence of seven years or a fine of up to €100,000 (US$156,600) if convicted by the U.N.'s International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

"I am absolutely not guilty," said Haxhiu.

Prosecutor's say the editor's reporting of the trial of Ramush Haradinaj violated a court order banning publication of a witness' identity. Public disclosure of his name is still banned by the court.

Although Haradinaj was acquitted earlier this year, the judges acknowledged his trial was plagued by fears of retribution against witnesses. Of 81 witnesses summoned, the identities of 34 were protected, a far higher percentage than normal. Prosecutors have appealed his acquittal.

Haxhiu is the sixth Kosovo Albanian charged with contempt of court in the trial of Haradinaj and two other defendants, Idriz Balaj and Lahi Brahimaj. The charges against two unwilling witnesses were dropped soon after they agreed to give evidence. Shefqet Kabashi is awaiting trial as he repeatedly refused to testify.

Former Kosovo culture minister Astrit Haraqija and Bajrush Morina were recently indicted for trying to pressure a witness into not testifying in The Hague. Their trial is scheduled to open on June 16.

Haxhiu previously had appeared at the tribunal as a prosecution witness in two other trials, including the genocide case against former Serb leader Slobodan Milosevic.

On Wednesday, Judge Alphons Orie did not set a trial date and ordered Haxhiu detained, despite his lawyer asking for his release because Haxhiu's father is suffering prostate cancer. Orie indicated, however, that Haxhiu would be freed as soon as his lawyer filed a written request for his release.

The court in the past has convicted three other journalists of contempt, prompting criticism from press freedom watchdogs.

On Wednesday, Reporters Without Borders criticized the fact that Haxhiu was detained in Kosovo, but said it was "understandable" the court would want to question a reporter suspected of breaching a witness protection order.

"But we can only regret the methods used to ensure his cooperation," the Paris-based group said in a statement. "It seems that Haxhiu was entirely ready to cooperate freely with the ICTY, so his arrest could have been avoided."

A court spokeswoman defended Haxhiu's indictment.

"It illustrates that the tribunal and prosecution take very seriously the issue of the protection of witnesses," said prosecution office spokeswoman Olga Kavran. "In cases such as this, where people choose to violate tribunal orders and ... publish information about protection of witnesses, they will be brought to trial on contempt charges."

In 1999, Haxhiu was honored with an International Press Freedom Award by the New York-based Committee to Protect Journalists, for his impartial reporting of the crisis in Kosovo and for publishing the independent Pristina daily Koha Ditore, despite harassment and death threats.

The paper's offices were torched in 1999 and a guard killed. NATO reported that Haxhiu had been killed, but actually he had fled to Macedonia. Later he recalled sitting in a basement hideout and watching international news reports of his own death.

Protests follow war crimes acquittal
Independent Online
May 21, 2008

Pomorie, Bulgaria - Serbian President Boris Tadic hit out Wednesday at the acquittal last month of former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj on ethnic cleansing charges.

"Such a decision has, in the eyes of a vast majority of our populace, undermined the tribunal's reputation and seriously brought its legitimacy under question," Tadic said in the eastern Bulgarian town of Pomorie.

Haradinaj, a former guerrilla leader, was acquitted in April by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) but chief UN war crimes prosecutor Serge Brammertz has appealed that decision.

Tadic welcomed the appeal, saying: "The truth must win out. Justice must be done. Punishment must be accorded."

He also vowed that despite the "great national disappointment" of Serbia, the country will continue to fully cooperate with the UN war crimes court.

"Let there be no doubt, the Republic of Serbia will continue doing everything it can to successfully complete its cooperation with the ICTY," Tadic said.

"Not only because it is our international duty. Not only because it is a requirement of our legal system. But because it is our moral obligation to the victims, to ourselves, and to our children," he added.

On April 3, the UN war crimes court acquitted ethnic Albanian Haradinaj, who was accused of murdering, raping and torturing Serbs during the 1998-1999 conflict in Kosovo. Prosecutors had wanted 25 years.

Haradinaj, 39, was a commander of the Kosovo Liberation Army guerrilla group at the time of the alleged atrocities.

The presiding judge admitted that the trial had taken place in an atmosphere in which witnesses could not feel secure. Thirty four out of 81 witnesses had to receive special protection.

Haradinaj stepped down as prime minister of Kosovo in 2005 and surrendered to the UN court.

Serbia has come in for criticism especially from the former prosecutor at the tribunal, Carla del Ponte, for perceived failure to cooperate in arresting war crimes suspects from the 1990s Balkan wars.

On February 17, ethnic Albanian-majority Kosovo unilaterally declared independence from Serbia. It has since been recognised by some 40 countries led by the United States and most European Union nations.

Many Serbs were furious as they regard Kosovo as a cradle of Serb culture and an integral part of their country even though the vast majority of the inhabitants are ethnic Albanian and favoured independence.

Mass grave unearthed near Zvornik
B92
May 22, 2008

TUZLA -- An expert exhumation team from Tuzla has found a mass grave dating back to April or May 1992 near the Zvornik suburb of Ulice, reports Radio Free Europe.

Murat Hurtic, heading the team, said that the mass grave, according to initial analysis, contained the remains of 42 citizens from Zvornik and neighboring villages who were murdered at the start of the war in that municipality.

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