Briefly Noted

Under the tribunal’s rules, low- and mid-ranking cases can be transferred to local courts, as a part of the tribunal's completion strategy, which foresees the completion of the initial trials by 2008.

Stankovic - who faces eight counts of war crimes for enslavement, rape and outrages upon personal dignity - belonged to the Serb elite paramilitary unit Pero Elez.

He is part of a larger group originally accused of the crimes, which followed the Bosnian Serb assault on the town of Foca in southeastern Bosnia.

Three Bosnian Serb soldiers have already been found guilty of rape and sexual enslavement and sentenced to prison terms ranging from 12 to 28 years.

One, Gojko Jankovic, surrendered to the tribunal in March this year, after nine years on the run. His case is also due to be transferred to Bosnia.

Two more from the original group committed suicide. And another - Dragan Zelenovic - was reportedly arrested in western Siberia, Russia last month, using a false passport.

The tribunal has welcomed his reported arrest and has sent an official request to the Russian authorities requesting “his expeditious transfer” to The Hague.

Zelenovic, the sub-commander of the police and one of the main paramilitary leaders in Foca, faces seven counts of crimes against humanity and seven counts of war crimes.

The indictment against him mentions multiple cases of individual rape as well as organising and participating in gang rapes and moving women to places for sexual assault and torture.

***

Appeal judges at the tribunal have confirmed a seven-year sentence for former Yugoslav navy admiral Miodrag Jokic for his role in the December 1991 shelling of Dubrovnik’s old town.

In 2003, Jokic pleaded guilty to six counts of violations of the laws or customs of war. He was sentenced in March 2004.

He did not order the attack on Dubrovnik himself, but he failed to prevent or punish the shelling, in which two civilians died and three were wounded.

In addition, said the appeals judgement, “numerous buildings were destroyed, including institutions dedicated to religion, charity, education the arts and sciences and historic monuments”.

Jokic put forward six grounds of appeal, including a claim that the trial chamber did not take into account all of the arguments in relation to his good character and professionalism.

At the sentencing hearing, the presiding judge specifically mentioned that Jokic had “publicly expressed his dissent and regret” at the time of the shelling, and said his attitude played at significant part in the court’s decision to hand down a lenient sentence.

Another mitigating factor was that he had shown remorse to the victims and their families, and, after the war, had worked to promote peace in the region.

Jokic also asked that his cooperation in testifying in a further case at the tribunal - that of Pavel Strugar - concerning the Dubrovnik shelling, should also have been taken into account.

But the appeals judges turned down all the six grounds for appeal and confirmed the seven-year sentence.

Jokic will remain in detention in The Hague until arrangements have been made to transfer him to another country where he will serve the rest of his sentence.

***

Closing arguments have been heard in the case against a Kosovo Liberation commander, Fatmir Limaj, and two colleagues, Haradin Bala and Isak Musliu, who face charges relating to the imprisonment, torture and murders of civilians in an ad hoc detention centre in the Kosovo village of Lapusnik from May to July 1998.

Limaj and Bala are also charged with at least ten summary executions when the camp was abandoned during a hasty retreat by local KLA forces that summer.

The prosecution has argued that the case has been proven beyond reasonable doubt and that Limaj should face a twenty-year jail term, while Bala, a detention centre guard, and Musliu, whom the prosecution alleges was the camp commander, should receive eighteen and fifteen years respectively.