The former head of the Bosnian Muslim army will be acquitted of charges he faces at his United Nations war crimes trial that began on Monday if judges refuse to allow more witnesses to testify, prosecutors said.
Retired Gen. Rasim Delic is one of only a handful of Muslims indicted by the UN's tribunal at The Hague. He's charged with murder, rape and cruel treatment. He's also accused of letting foreign Islamic fighters, or mujahedeen, kill dozens of Serbs and Croats during the 1992-1995 war.
In order to speed the trial, judges have limited the number of witnesses prosecutors can call, to 55 from the 91 originally requested.
Prosecutors last week sought more witnesses and time to prepare, but judges insisted the trial start and said prosecutors could ask for more witnesses later.
"If we are required to start the trial under these conditions, the likely outcome would be acquittal," prosecutor Daryl Mundis said in his opening statement. "We are not in a position to be able to prove our case with 55 witnesses."
Prosecutors indicted Delic on the basis of command responsibility, arguing he knew about the mujahedeen's crimes but failed to prevent or punish them. He surrendered to the court after he was indicted in 2005 and has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
Foreign forces are accused of indiscriminately shooting and killing 24 captured Bosnian Croats outside the village of Maline in June 1993, according to the indictment.
It also alleges that in 1995 a captured Serbian soldier was beheaded by mujahedeen at a detention facility in the town of Kamenica and that all other Serbian prisoners were forced to kiss the severed head.
The war in the former Yugoslavia attracted hundreds of foreign fighters, some of them veterans of the conflict in Afghanistan involving Soviet troops. Other mujahedeen came from the Middle East and North Africa.
The Hague tribunal, set up to try war crimes committed in Bosnia, is under pressure to complete its work by 2010.
More World Headlines »
- Lady Bird Johnson dies at 94
- Lady Bird Johnson, the former first lady who worked tenaciously for the political career of her husband, former U.S. president Lyndon B. Johnson, died Wednesday afternoon.
- UN group arrives in Iran as president warns no end to nuclear program
- Iranian President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad said Wednesday his country won't end uranium production, as a high-ranking team of UN nuclear inspectors arrived in Tehran.
- Africa embracing good governance: World Bank report
- A new World Bank report sounds an upbeat note on Africa, showing that some of the continent's poorest nations have made big strides from corruption toward good governance.
- Man up, UN urges dads on World Population Day
- Fathers need to participate more vigorously in the child-rearing process, the United Nations agency that monitors population trends said Wednesday on World Population Day.
- Doctor who blew whistle on SARS banned from leaving China: report
- A Chinese military surgeon who broke government secrecy to reveal the true scale of Beijing's SARS outbreak in 2003 has been banned from leaving China to accept a human rights award, a rights watchdog said Wednesday.
Blog Watch
Most Blogged about CBC.ca Articles
Note: CBC does not endorse and is not responsible for the content of external sites - link will open in new window
