Ljubicic refuses to enter a plea

Pasko Ljubicic, the former commander of Croat Defence Council’s (HVO) Military Police 4th Battalion who is charged with crimes committed against Bosniaks in Central Bosnia, has refused to enter a plea.

In accordance with existing legal regulations, Judge Dragoje Vukoje then announced that the indictee is denying guilt.
 
Ljubicic, who was transferred to Sarajevo last year by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), has accused the Court of not following procedure by not accepting and confirming an adapted indictment.
 
Under existing laws, the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina accepts indictments that come from The Hague after the Bosnian prosecution adapts them to local law. However, if the prosecution changes the contents of the indictment or adds new charges, the court must confirm that indictment.
 
“This indictment charges my defendant with new acts and I believe that such an indictment requires confirmation and acceptance,” Ljubicic’s defence attorney Branka Praljak said.
 
Prosecutor David Swendeman responded that this office had requested confirmation and acceptance from the Court.
 
The Court did not respond to either of the statements.
 
In the Hague indictment, Ljubicic was charged with crimes against humanity while the Bosnian prosecution charged him “with crimes against humanity based on murder” as well as having command responsibility over other perpetrators.
 
It also stands in the adapted indictment that Ljubicic was, jointly with Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez – both of whom were sentenced by a first instance verdict to 25 and 15 years imprison mentrespectively, part of a joint criminal act.
 
The defence argued that the charges pressed in Sarajevo are more severe that the one from The Hague, to which Pasko pleaded not guilty.