Courtside: Martic Trial
By Mirko Klarin in The Hague (TU 298, 27-31 January 2003)
Courtside: Martic Trial
By Mirko Klarin in The Hague (TU 298, 27-31 January 2003)
During his initial appearance before the tribunal in May last year, Martic, pleaded not guilty to charges of ordering a rocket attack on Zagreb at the beginning of May 1995, in which seven civilians were killed and more than 200 wounded.
However, in the meantime, the five counts of the original indictment for bombardment of Zagreb have been amended and expanded to include an additional 14 counts for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war.
Invited to enter his plea once again, Martic last week pleaded not guilty to all 19 counts and concluded his statement by expressing the hope that he and his defence team will be successful in proving his innocence.
In the new indictment, Martic is charged for participation in two joint criminal enterprises organised by Slobodan Milosevic in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
The additional fourteen counts claim that Martic was responsible for expulsion of the non-Serb population, killings, detention, torture and cruel treatment, deportations, ruthless destruction of settlements, looting of public and private property, as well as other crimes allegedly committed by "Martic's militia" between 1991 and 1995 in Croatia and Bosnia-Hercegovina.
Mirko Klarin is a senior IWPR editor in The Hague and the editor-in-chief of the SENSE news agency.
