Briefly Noted

In a letter to the president of the tribunal, Judge Theodore Meron, Bourgon identified several areas where he felt little or no progress had been made in negotiations with the registry. These include costs of representation, legal aid, translation expenses, and US currency devaluation.

The lawyer says in his resignation letter that these issues “have a direct impact on the fairness of proceedings”.

The ADC has 240 members at the tribunal, and aims to represent the interests of all lawyers either defending or planning to defend accused.

Bourgon is currently representing former Bosnian army general Enver Hadzihasanovic who is jointly charged with Amir Kubura with failing to take measures to prevent or punish war crimes committed by men under their command during clashes with Croat forces in Central Bosnia in 1993.

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The defence in the trial of two high-ranking Bosnian army commanders, Enver Hadzihasanovic and Amir Kubura, finished this week presenting its case in front of the Hague tribunal judges.

The defendants were the first at the tribunal to be charged solely on the basis of their responsibility as commanders for the crimes committed by their subordinates. These included also foreign fighters – so-called mujahedin – who are alleged to have abused and killed Bosnian Croat and Bosnian Serb prisoners of war and subjected detainees to inhuman treatment during 1993.

At the time of the events, Hadzihasanovic was commander of the Third Corps of the Bosnian army, and Kubura commanded the Third Corps’ Seventh Muslim Mountain Brigade, which is alleged to have had foreign fighters in its ranks as part of the El Mujahed unit, formed in mid-to-late 1993.

The Mujahedin are alleged to have operated and staffed a torture camp in the village of Orasac, near Travnik in central Bosnia, where Bosnian Serbs and Croats were beaten and psychologically abused.

The prosecution has tried to prove that the defendants had effective control over these foreign fighters, while the bulk of the defence case focused on disproving the actual authority of the two commanders over these troops.

Last month, the prosecution requested permission to re-open its case against the pair, saying that they acquired 24 new documents concerning the relationship between the mujahedin and the Bosnian army that they did not have when they closed their case in July 2004.

The tribunal is expected to announce its decision on reopening the case shortly. Two previous attempts by prosecutors in other trials to get them reopened have failed.

Since the trial opened in December 2003, the prosecutors have called 98 witnesses, the defence for Hadzihasanovic called 62 witnesses and for Kubura 11.

In July prosecution and defence will be able to present closing arguments to the judges.

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The tribunal has agreed to hear arguments for and against an application by the defence for the provisional release of former Kosovo prime minister Ramush Haradinaj, who surrendered to the court in March after being indicted for war crimes.

Haradinaj faces a total of 37 counts of crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war. Prosecutors allege that he took part in a brutal campaign to abduct, torture and murder dozens of people including Albanians and Roma as well as Serbs in 1998.

At the hearing, a representative of the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, UNMIK, has been invited to appear concerning guarantees that Haradinaj would return to face trial, along with a representative of the government of the Netherlands where the tribunal is based.

The prosecution has challenged the application for potential release, noting that the good relationship between senior members of the UNMIK administration and the former prime minister cannot guarantee his return, if he were to refuse.

The prosecution also quotes from OSCE reports on witness intimidation in Kosovo, which suggest that this is a serious problem and even more widespread than reported.

The defence has replied to these arguments by pointing out that Haradinaj had already been granted provisional release to attend his brother’s funeral recently, and complied with all the court’s conditions.

They also say that Haradinaj has publicly encouraged witnesses to come forward to testify in his case and to do so without intimidation or interference.

The hearing will be held on May 24.