Yugoslav Pleads Not Guilty Before War Crimes Tribunal
THE HAGUE, March 15 (News Agencies) - Yugoslav national Blagoje Simic pleaded not guilty to charges of war crimes during his first appearance Thursday before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Simic, a former mayor of the Bosnian town of Bosanski Samac and the first Yugoslav national to surrender to the U.N. tribunal here, faces charges of crimes against humanity, war crimes and superior criminal responsibility for his role in the persecution and unlawful deportation of non-Serbs from the town during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
The court alleged that as mayor, Simic "knew that Croat and Muslim civilians were being driven from the town and did nothing to prevent it."
Simic surrendered to the tribunal on Monday, saying he wanted to prove his innocence in court.
Simic was charged together with five others in the Bosanski Samac case.
Also indicted in the case were Slobodan Miljkovic Lugar, who was shot and killed in Yugoslavia in 1997; Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric, who have been released by the ICTY pending trial; and Milan Simic, currently in jail in The Hague.
The fifth man, Stevan Todorovic, was arrested by NATO-led peacekeepers in Bosnia in 1999 and pleaded guilty to several counts of the indictment. His case is being handled separately.
The trial against Simic and his co-defendants is due to begin in October.
