DATE=1/26/2000
TYPE=CORRESPONDENT REPORT
TITLE=BOSNIA WAR CRIMES (L-ONLY)
NUMBER=2-258448
BYLINE=LAUREN COMITEAU
DATELINE=THE HAGUE
CONTENT=
VOICED AT:
INTRO: Appeals judges at the Yugoslav War Crimes
Tribunal today/Wednesday have struck five years
off the sentence of a Bosnian Serb convicted of
murdering and persecuting non-Serbs 8 years ago.
The judgment effectively ends the Yugoslav
Tribunal's first and longest-running case.
Lauren Comiteau reports from The Hague.
TEXT: Almost four years after it began, the
trial of Dusko Tadic is finally over. The former
cafe owner and karate instructor has been judged
and sentenced twice, all for crimes that took
place in and around three prison camps in the
northwest Bosnian area of Prijedor, including the
notorious Omarska camp. The crimes include
beatings, persecution and murdering non-Serbs.
Tadic had appealed both his original 20-year
sentence and a later 25-year sentence handed down
by appeals judges. His lawyers had argued that
in sentencing Tadic to 25 years, judges had
failed to consider his relatively low rank in the
scheme of the Bosnian conflict. It's an argument
presiding Judge Mohammed Shahabuddeen agreed with
when explaining Wednesday's sentencing reduction.
/// ACT SHAHABUDDEEN ///
Although the criminal conduct underlying
the charges of which the appellant now
stands convicted was incontestably heinous,
his level in the command structure when
compared to that of his superiors or the
very architects of the strategy of ethnic
cleansing was low.
/// END ACT ///
Any sentence exceeding 20 years, said the judge,
would be excessive. The appeals chamber
recommended that Tadic serve at least ten years
of his sentence, with credit for the almost six
years he's already been in custody. That means
Dusko Tadic most likely will not be released
until at least the year 2007.
But there is one possible legal avenue still open
to Tadic. His former lawyer has been accused of
contempt of court, and judges will announce their
decision on that case Monday. If they do find
the lawyer in contempt, Tadic could possibly use
it as grounds to ask for a review of his entire
case. (Signed)
NEB/LC/GE/KL
26-Jan-2000 07:54 AM EDT (26-Jan-2000 1254 UTC)
NNNN
Source: Voice of America
.
|
NEWSLETTER
|
|
Join the GlobalSecurity.org mailing list
|
|
|
