Dosen Pleads 'Not Guilty'
Tribunal Update 151: Last Week in The Hague (November 8-13, 1999)
Dosen Pleads 'Not Guilty'
Tribunal Update 151: Last Week in The Hague (November 8-13, 1999)
The indictment charges Dosen - identified as a guard shift commander at the Keraterm camp, near Prijedor - of being responsible for the conditions in which the Bosnian and Croat men, mostly of military age, were detained.
In addition Dosen, is charged in connection with the murders, torture and sexual assaults committed by guards and soldiers under his command. Dosen is also accused of personally taking part at least once in the beating of the detainees.
Dosen was arrested by SFOR in Bosnia-Herzegovina on October 25. His initial appearance before the tribunal, originally scheduled for November 1, was delayed for a week following an injury he sustained playing volleyball in the Hague Detention unit.
When asked by Judge Richard May, whether the the accused had now recovered, the temporary defence counsel, Vladimir Petrovic, said that Dosen, who is a very tall 32-year-old, still feels pain in his back.
Of the seven accused for the crimes in the Keraterm camp (indictment "Sikirica & Others"), only Dragan Kolundzija and Damir Dosen are in the Tribunal's custody. Prosecutor Grant Niemman has announced that he has some 50 witnesses prepared for the trial against the two, and that he will need approximately six weeks to present his evidence.
The starting date for Kolundzija and Dosen trial should be settled at the status conference scheduled for January 2000 presided over by Judge Richard May.
