The UN’s Yugoslav war crimes court will pass judgment today on Rasim Delic, one of the most senior Muslim military men to be charged for abuses committed during the 1992 to 1995 war in Bosnia.
The ex-commander of the Bosnian army has pleaded not guilty before The Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia to murder and cruel treatment of Bosnian Croats and Serbs at the hands of his troops.
The prosecution seeks a 15-year jail term for the 59-year-old ex-general over the murders of at least 74 people and the mistreatment of others between June 1993 and September 1995 — some of them civilians and some prisoners of war.
The crimes were allegedly committed by Muslim extremist fighters called the mujahidin or “holy warriors” who formed a unit of the Bosnian army that was comprised in part of foreign volunteers.
Delic is one of comparatively few Muslims to be indicted by the tribunal, which is frequently accused of partiality by Serbia.
He was tried on the basis of “superior criminal responsibility” for failing to prevent or punish his men’s actions.
“Rasim Delic knew or had reason to know that soldiers of the El Mujahed Detachment under his command and effective control were about to or had committed these acts and failed to take the necessary and reasonable measures to prevent and punish these crimes,” states a case fact sheet.
In one incident in June 1993, Muslim fighters under Delic’s command allegedly opened indiscriminate fire on a group of captured civilians and soldiers, executing survivors by shooting them in the head. Twenty-four people were killed.
The prosecution claims Delic was informed of the crimes but failed to punish the perpetrators, instead awarding some among them the army’s highest honors.
VAGUE: The criteria of the amnesty remain unclear, but it would cover political violence from 1999 to today, and those convicted of murder or drug trafficking would not qualify Venezuelan Acting President Delcy Rodriguez on Friday announced an amnesty bill that could lead to the release of hundreds of prisoners, including opposition leaders, journalists and human rights activists detained for political reasons. The measure had long been sought by the US-backed opposition. It is the latest concession Rodriguez has made since taking the reins of the country on Jan. 3 after the brazen seizure of then-Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro. Rodriguez told a gathering of justices, magistrates, ministers, military brass and other government leaders that the ruling party-controlled Venezuelan National Assembly would take up the bill with urgency. Rodriguez also announced the shutdown
Civil society leaders and members of a left-wing coalition yesterday filed impeachment complaints against Philippine Vice President Sara Duterte, restarting a process sidelined by the Supreme Court last year. Both cases accuse Duterte of misusing public funds during her term as education secretary, while one revives allegations that she threatened to assassinate former ally Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jr. The filings come on the same day that a committee in the House of Representatives was to begin hearings into impeachment complaints against Marcos, accused of corruption tied to a spiraling scandal over bogus flood control projects. Under the constitution, an impeachment by the
Exiled Tibetans began a unique global election yesterday for a government representing a homeland many have never seen, as part of a democratic exercise voters say carries great weight. From red-robed Buddhist monks in the snowy Himalayas, to political exiles in megacities across South Asia, to refugees in Australia, Europe and North America, voting takes place in 27 countries — but not China. “Elections ... show that the struggle for Tibet’s freedom and independence continues from generation to generation,” said candidate Gyaltsen Chokye, 33, who is based in the Indian hill-town of Dharamsala, headquarters of the government-in-exile, the Central Tibetan Administration (CTA). It
A Virginia man having an affair with the family’s Brazilian au pair on Monday was found guilty of murdering his wife and another man that prosecutors say was lured to the house as a fall guy. Brendan Banfield, a former Internal Revenue Service law enforcement officer, told police he came across Joseph Ryan attacking his wife, Christine Banfield, with a knife on the morning of Feb. 24, 2023. He shot Ryan and then Juliana Magalhaes, the au pair, shot him, too, but officials argued in court that the story was too good to be true, telling jurors that Brendan Banfield set
RSS