Ljubicic to face trial in Sarajevo
This post is also available in: Bosnian
Pasko Ljubicic, the former commander of a Bosnian Croat military unit who is charged with war crimes committed in Vitez and Busovaca, will be transferred to Sarajevo from The Hague within a month.
The appeals chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) decided on Tuesday to transfer this case to the War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo in accordance with its completion strategy.
Ljubicic is charged with crimes against humanity committed against Bosniaksduring 1993, and violation of the laws and customs of war. The former commander of a military police unit within the Croat Defence Council, he is accused of crimes committed in the Lasva valley, central Bosnia and Herzegovina, between January and July 1993.
The ICTY indictment claims that during the attack on Vitez and the surrounding villages, he and his troops killed more than a hundred Bosniak civilians,detained and abused many others and destroyed Bosniak property, including two mosques in the village Ahmici.
Ljubicic surrendered on November 21, 2001 after which he was transferred to a detention unit in Scheveningen, The Hague.
In April 2006, the referral bench of the ICTY decided to accept the chief prosecutor’s motion to transfer this case to the War Crimes Chamber in Sarajevo. Ljubicic filed an appeal in May, but the appeals chamber ruled against him and ordered that he be transferred to Sarajevo within 30 days.
Ljubicic is the sixth indictee to be transferred from the ICTY to the War Crimes Chamber.
