Posted on 09/05/2007 12:49:38 PM PDT by joan
05 09 2007 Sarajevo_ For the first time since the Hague Tribunal was established, its judges are to conduct a hearing away from its courtrooms when a foreign Islamic fighter testifies in the trial of former Bosnian army general Rasim Delic in Sarajevo.
According to a press release from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Ali Ahmed Ali Hamad (also known as Ubejda), a former member of the El Mujaheed Unit who is currently jailed in Bosnia, will be cross-examined in Sarajevo, at a hearing starting on September 7.
The hearing, to take place at the premises of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, is expected to last for up to three days.
General Delic is charged on the basis of command responsibility with "murder, cruel treatment and rape of captured Croatian and Serbian soldiers and civilians" allegedly committed in central Bosnia during the war of 1992-95.
ICTY’s press release states that this will be "the first hearing conducted by a tribunal chamber away from its seat in The Hague at the request of the prosecution, with the defence's consent, in accordance with the ICTY's Rules of Procedure and Evidence".
The reason for the decision is the "specific circumstances of the witness" -- the fact that Ali Hamad is currently in jail.
The witness was convicted in 1998 of involvement in a car-bomb attack in Mostar, and is currently serving a 12-year prison sentence in Zenica.
Ali Hamad, a citizen of Bahrain, agreed in 2005 to testify against Rasim Delic and speak about the role of the Mujahedin, foreign Islamic fighters who came to Bosnia mainly from Arab countries during the war.
The hearing will be conducted under the authority of the ICTY, and the hearing will be open to the public although "subject to the possibility of closed sessions".
The Delic trial got underway in The Hague on July 9, 2007.
ping
Do you think he will live long enough to testify?
I think he will, but much of his testimony will be hidden/in closed sessions, and likely most of any damning testimony against the Bosnian Muslim government and military and foreign help (charities, international community, NATO countries) will be kept inaccessible for many years.
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