Agence France-Presse,
THE HAGUE: Rasim Delic, one of the few Bosnian Muslims to be indicted by the UN court for the former Yugoslavia, went on trial here on Monday accused of war crimes committed by Islamic volunteers under his command.
Delic, former commander of the main staff of the Muslim-dominated Bosnian army, stands accused of failing to rein in fighters who shot, tortured and beheaded Bosnian Serb and Croat prisoners during the 1992-95 war in Bosnia.
“As supreme commander of the army he failed in his duty to prevent these crimes,” prosecutor Daryl Mundis said in his opening statement.
“These failures, this inaction is what this case is all about. (Delic) had a duty to act,” he added. “He failed in that duty and as a result crimes were committed and perpetrators were allowed to go unpunished.”
The El Mujahed unit of the Bosnian army, set up by Delic in August 1993, was composed of some 1,700 soldiers including at least 500 fighters from foreign countries. The unit was infamous for criminal behaviour.
Delic, 58, has denied all the charges against him. He handed himself in to the tribunal in February 2005 and was provisionally released pending the opening of his trial.
Specifically the general faces charges over murders, torture and beatings carried out by the so-called El Mujahed unit in a detention facility for Bosnian Serb soldiers called Kamenica Camp in July and September 1995.
He is also charged with failing to prevent the rape of three Bosnian Serb women in the same detention camp.
His indictment mentions an incident were a Bosnian Serb soldier was decapitated in the Kamenica camp and other prisoners were forced to kiss the severed head.
The indictment also mentions the execution of over 20 Bosnian Croats in a massacre in the Bosnian village Maline in June 1993 by units of the 3rd corps of the Bosnian army and mujahedin fighters.
The trial opened Monday after a two hour delay because of another stand-off between the prosecution and the judges.
To speed up the trial the judges limited the indictment and ruled that prosecutors could only present 55 witnesses in 170 hours of testimony.
Protesting these measures, prosecutors last week asked for the Delic case to be transferred to a Bosnian court, but that was refused.
Another demand, this time to postpone the opening of the trial was also denied Monday just ahead of the hearing, causing more arguing between prosecutors and judges.
“It would be irresponsible for me to commence a trial knowing that the accused will be acquitted … the likely outcome would be an acquittal,” Mundis said.
The other top-ranking Bosnian Muslim commander indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Sefer Halilovic, who was Delic's predecessor as the commander of the main staff, was acquitted of similar charges in May 2005.
Apart from these two former commanders no other top-ranking Muslims have been indicted by the ICTY, prompting Serb accusations of bias.
