Hague: Delić trial begins

Hague: Delić trial begins

Once the motion to refer the Delić case to the Bosnian courts and the urgent prosecution motion to postpone the trial were dismissed, the ground was cleared for the trial of former commander of the Bosnian Army Main Staff to start.

Before delivering his opening statement, prosecutor Daryl Mundis tried once again to get the Chamber to postpone the trial by at least a couple of days, saying that the prosecution “is not ready to proceed” until it has determined how the court’s decision on a number of pre-trial briefs will affect its case.

As Mundis said, the probable outcome of the trial given the current restrictions would be Delić's acquittal, and the prosecution doesn't want to take the risk to open its case until it was certain about the time it will have on its disposal and the number of witnesses that will be allowed to call.

The judges, however, did not accept the arguments, ordering the prosecutor to begin the opening statement. They noted that the prosecution was entitled to seek to enlarge the witness list and to ask for more time for its case.

At the beginning of the opening statement, the prosecutor described the Rasim Delić case as “a case where there was no action” in situations in which Delić, as the commander of the Bosnian Army Main Staff, “had a duty to act”.

As the result of his failure to perform that duty, Mundis said, “crimes were committed, and their perpetrators were allowed to go with impunity”. In other words, Delić is responsible for failure to prevent or punish the crimes committed between June 1993 and October 1995 by the members of the El Mujahed Detachment.

The prosecutor devoted most of his opening statement to Bosnian Army documents that show the ties between the so-called Islamic “holy warriors” and the Bosnian Army, even before the El Mujahed unit was placed under the command of the 3rd Corps.

The 3rd Corps commander Enver Hadžihasanović first broached the idea of establishing a unit where all the foreign fighters would serve. Alija Izetbegović approved it and on 13 August 1993 and the accused Rasim Delić signed the order forming the unit.

A number of reports on the operation and conduct of the Mujahedin sent by Bosnian Army units to the Main Staff prove, the prosecutor allegeD, that Delić was regularly informed about their misdeeds and knew about their “propensity for crimes”.

The prosecutor also showed a series of photographs of the most prominent figures among the Mujahedin: Abdul Aziz, Sheik Shaban, Abu Haris, Abu Maali, Aiman Avad, Abu Hamza and others. Evidence about them will be called during the trial. There was also footage of the Mujahedin being sworn in in front of the religious school in Travnik, and an audio recording of an interview Abdul Aziz gave Andrew Hogg, an English reporter. Hogg will be called tomorrow as the first prosecution witness at the trial.

In the opening statement, the prosecutor described briefly the Mujahedin crimes that Delić had allegedly failed to prevent or punish: the massacre of at least 24 Croat civilians and soldiers in Bikosi near Travnik, and cruel treatment and abuse of Serb prisoners in Livade and the Kamenica camp. The BH Army documents show, the prosecutor claims, that Delić knew about the crimes. When the prosecution contacted the courts in Travnik and Zenica, they confirmed that no BH Army soldiers had been prosecuted for war crimes.

Prosecutor Mundis will complete his opening statement tomorrow afternoon, and will then call the first prosecution witness.