Zdravko Mucic was sentenced to nine years in prison for his role in running a reign of terror against Serb civilians in the Celebici detention camp in central Bosnia.(AFP/POOL/File)
Posted on 04/08/2003 9:13:18 AM PDT by joan
THE HAGUE, April 8 (AFP) - The UN war crimes court is to hand down Tuesday a final sentence against two Bosnian Muslims and a Bosnian Croat convicted of committing atrocities against Serb civilians during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
Hazim Delic, Esad Lanzo and Zdravko Mucic were already found guilty in an appeals case in 2001 of war crimes for their role in running the Celebici detention camp in central Bosnia and the torture, beatings and sexual assaults suffered there by Bosnian Serb inmates.
The appeals chamber will now hand down its final sentence for the three men.
The Celebici case first opened in March 1997 and is the first before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to deal with Muslim suspects and Serb victims over the 1992-95 Bosnian conflict.
Often referred to as the UN court's "forgotten trial," the case has dragged on for six years. The case has gone back and forth between lower chambers and the appeals chamber of the UN tribunal.
The three men were first found guilty in 1998 and sentenced to jail terms of up to 20 years, but subsequently appealed. In the appeal in 2001, the men were all found guilty of war crimes but because several charges were quashed, the case was sent back to a lower court for sentencing.
New prison terms were handed down by a lower chamber in 2001.
Delic, a 38-year-old Bosnian Muslim, was deputy commander of the detention camp set up by joint Bosnian Muslim-Croat forces in 1992 in the riverside village of Celebici, near the town of Konjic in central Bosnia.
Several dozen Bosnian Serb civilians from the Konjic region were detained in the camp and subjected to torture and inhumane treatment during the war.
Delic was found guilty of murder, torture and the rape of two "defenceless" Serb women and convicted by a lower trial chamber to 18 years in prison. He was acquitted of one charge of murder on appeal.
"Mr Delic took sadistic pleasure in causing suffering to the inmates and often inflicted electric shocks on them," the judges said.
Bosnian Croat Mucic, 47, the commander of the Celebici camp, was found to have command responsibility for murder, cruel treatment and torture committed by his staff in the camp and convicted to nine years in prison.
Lanzo, a 30-year-old Bosnian Muslim, was the only one to express remorse during the trial. The former camp guard was found guilty of murder, torture and inhumane treatment and convicted to 15 years.
Tuesday's ruling on the defendants' appeals against those sentences will be the first time the court has delivered a final decision against Bosnian Muslims since it was set up in 1993 to handle war crimes cases during the bloody breakup of the former Yugoslavia in the 1990s.
If Nuremeberg Principles is taken as a yardstick, Aliya Izetbegovic and U.S. Ambassador Warren Zimmerman would be on trial for CRIME AGAINST PEACE, They jointly sabotaged Lisbon peace agreement and put Bosnia on a warpath.
As a result, 100,000 Bosnian Muslims, Croats and Serbs have died. As a bonus, Al-Qaeda got it's foothold in Europe and America got it's money's worth. If there were no Bosnia war, probably there would be no 9-11.
Failing to point it out clearly is historical revisionism aimed toward obfuscatuion the roots of war and exoneration of the perpetrators.
Was it being a "forgotten trial" part of the plan to have a token trial to prove "fairness" yet keep down the news of Croat and Muslim run torture prisons of Serbs? Further, many inmates of these prisons witnessed Izetbegovic coming for visits: http://www.balkanpeace.org/wcs/wct/wcts/wcts08.shtml
Similar testimony about his visits came from Serbs survivors of other prison camps like the Silo at Tarcin. That must have been a typical part of Izetbegovic's itinerary - visiting the concentration camps of Serbs. UN soldiers (Malaysian and likely others) were seen providing security for his visits.
The fact that poor inocent Muslims run numerous horrendous concentration camps would shatter ICTY and expose shameless liars who compared Bosnia with Belsen and Auschwitz, the most brazen Holocaust diminishing lie so far.
Uh, yeah.
Izetbegovic backed out of Lisbon 3 months after Arkan overran Bijeljina and laid the Bosnian Serb's cards on the table.
Find some new lies, Milosevici.
Not according to historical record.
Timeline goes as follows:
March 18 1992 Lisbon agreement was signed
On March 26 1992 Army of Republic of Croatia and Muslim bashibozouk commited crimes in the Bosnian village of Sijekovac, killing 20 Bosnian Serbs. At that time Bosnia was part of Yugoslavia.
April 1 1992 Arkan in Bijeljina, according to HRW
According to General Bobetko's memoirs, Republic of Croatia was the first one to "overrun" Bosnia, i.e. Herzegovina in Fall of 1991. At that time Bosnia and Herzegovina was part of Yugoslavia. It was AGRESSION on neighboring state. After secession, Croatian forces had no right to be on Yugoslav soil. Yet they were there and Croatian general boasted about it.
Arkan came to Bijeljina April 1 1992, several months AFTER Croatians overrun Bosnia and Herzegovina and 3 days after Croatian Army slaughtered Serbs in Bosnia. Arkan's deplorable actions were provoked by Croatian atrocities several days earlier in Sijekovac. Bijeljina was part of Yugoslavia then.
April 6 1992Bosnia declared secession fronm Yugoslavia.
You may hurl insults and make tantrum but you can not change the facts.
Hoplite, Balzac advised that liars should have good memory!
Thank you for awarding me an oportunity to demonstrate how history revisionists rewrite known historical facts to suit their goals.
Ahem, excuse me dear Hoppie, but your chronology is a little skewed:
Izetbegovic rejected the Lisbon Agreement on March 25. According to my math, that's about a week after it was accepted. Which he then followed up with an order for the full mobilization of Muslim forces on April 4.
This was all before Arkan arrived in Bijeljina.
But don't let me deter you. Go ahead and tell me how the author of Islamic Declarations (which he had republished in Sarajevo as recently as 1990), was truly interested in living peacefully with his Christian neighbors.
Izetbegovic rejected the Lisbon Agreement on March 25. This was all before Arkan arrived in Bijeljina. According to my math...
I've run through this exercise at least 3 times here on FR.
After several rounds of talks our "principles for future constitutional arrangements for Bosnia and Hercegovina" were agreed by all three parties (Muslim, Serb and Croat) in Sarajevo on March 18th 1992) as the basis for future negotiations. These continued, maps and all, until the summer, when the Muslims reneged on the agreement. Had they not done so, the Bosnian question might have been settled earlier, with less loss of (mainly Muslim) life and land. To be fair, President Izetbegovic and his aides were encouraged to scupper that deal and to fight for a unitary Bosnian state by well-meaning outsiders who thought they knew better.
That would be Jose Cutiliero himself, writing to The Economist in 1995. (Thanks to Honorary Serb for finding that one oh-so long ago)
And let's not forget the fighting between JNA and HVO forces in Bosnia was a two way street, Croats cleanse Serbs in Herzegovina, Croats cleanse Serbs in Posavina, with the JNA still having all the heavy weapons and armor at their disposal, so attempting to lay the blame for Arkan's actions anywhere except at the feet of miserable Serb nationalist pukes in Belgrade who supplied and paid the released-so-they-could-join convicts known as Arkan's Tigers is, well, it's just what I've come to expect from reprobates such as yourself.
Do you recall Milosevic's meeting with Tudjman at Karadjordjevo? That was the real negotiation on what was to happen in Bosnia, and it happened in the Spring of 1991, before the gloves came off, and didn't include Izetbegovic. So if you're looking for someone to blame for the cleansing of a Serb village outside of Bosanski Samac, I suggest you direct your wrath at the dipwad who assigned their homes and property to his dipwad mirror image.
The Serbs got sold out first and foremost by Milosevic - they chose their leader poorly, and are still paying for it today, even as the most deluded stick by their man who so proficiently stuck it to them.
So let's review - you need to come back with the specifics of what was agreed upon in March of 1992, which will turn out to be merely a framework agreement, the basis of which was eviscerated by the likes of Arkan and the Pale leadership who were running full fledged concentration camps by the time Izetbegovic turned his back upon negotiating with them, and somehow turn that into a refutation of what I've posted.
I expect much from you based upon your conclusion from your post, DTA - don't disappoint me.
"To be fair, President Izetbegovic and his aides were encouraged to scupper that deal and to fight for a unitary Bosnian state by well-meaning outsiders who thought they knew better"
"Well-meaning outsider" is U.S. Ambassador Warren Zimmerman.
DTA:
"If Nuremeberg Principles is taken as a yardstick, Aliya Izetbegovic and U.S. Ambassador Warren Zimmerman would be on trial for CRIME AGAINST PEACE, They jointly sabotaged Lisbon peace agreement and put Bosnia on a warpath"
Hoplite, thank you for bringing in Cutiliero to prove my point. Bosnian Muslims were advised to fight the war instead to settle dispute diplomatically.
You reminded me of a character who repeated illogical claims before blowing up. Take Bronhi, you'll breathe easier
Bosnian Muslim Hazim Delic sits in a courtroom of the UN Tribunal for former Yugoslavia April 8, 2003. The Hague (news - web sites ) war crimes tribunal on Tuesday rejected an appeal by two Bosnian Muslims and a Bosnian Croat jailed for killing and torturing Serb civilians at a prison camp in Bosnia in 1992. Delic, Bosnian Croat camp commander Zdravko Mucic and Muslim Esad Landzo were imprisoned for 20, seven and 15 years respectively in 1998 for killing and torturing Serb civilians at Celebici during the 1992-95 Bosnian war. REUTERS/POOL/Koen Suyk
How about this one?
What is 100,000 among friends.
And this one could not be happier. Guy #2 helped him to establish foothold in Europe that was used as training ground for 9-11 terrorist recruiters.
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