Reuters AlertNet Lite - War crimes trial opens for Karadzic ex-minister

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War crimes trial opens for Karadzic ex-minister

06 Nov 2006 14:38:03 GMT
Source: Reuters

SARAJEVO, Nov 6 (Reuters) - Bosnia's war crimes court launched on Monday the trial of the most senior Bosnian Serb wartime government official, indicted for crimes committed against non-Serbs during the country's 1992-95 war.

Momcilo Mandic served as deputy interior minister and justice minister in the government of then Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, the top war crimes fugitive wanted by the United Nations war crimes tribunal over genocide charges.

Prosecutor Behaija Krnjic said Mandic led an attack by Bosnian Serb police forces and military and paramilitary units on the police training centre in Sarajevo in April 1992, where non-Serb trainers were detained and brutally tortured.

During his tenure as Bosnian Serb justice minister, he was also responsible for three notorious detention camps, two near the Bosnian capital and one in the eastern town of Foca.

The prosecutor said evidence and testimonies would prove that non-Serb civilians held in the three camps were tortured by guards and sent to forced labour at front lines where many were killed, injured or went missing.

"The prosecution has collected 147 items of material evidence that could lead to a conclusion the indictee was responsible for these crimes," Krnjic told the court.

He said he planned to invite 51 witnesses.

Mandic's attorney Milan Vujin objected to the use of wiretapped telephone conversations as evidence, and said Mandic had only limited responsibility for the camps, which were run by military authorities and inmates were mainly prisoners of war.

The state court sentenced Mandic to nine years in prison last week for abuse of office at the now-defunct Privredna Banka. He was found guilty of transferring depositors' funds to political party accounts, eventually bankrupting the bank.

Mandic left Bosnia towards the end of the 1992-95 war and moved to Belgrade where he became a wealthy businessman. He was arrested last year in Montenegro and transferred to Bosnia.

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Last updated:Mon Nov 6 14:40:08 2006