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U.N. War Crimes Court Grants Provisional Release To Two Serbs
THE HAGUE, April 5 (AFP)-The U.N. war crimes court has ordered the provisional release of two Serbs held for two years pending trial on war crimes charges, court spokesman Jim Landale said.
The three judges "also considered that the accused have been held in detention awaiting trial for more than two years and that there is no likelihood of an early date being fixed for the commencement of their trial," he added.
But a spokesman for the prosecutor's office, Paul Risley, immediately announced plans to appeal the release, which would have the effect of suspending the initial order.
A trial chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) moved to release Miroslav Tadic and Simo Zaric, noting they had both voluntarily surrendered to the tribunal and had provided guarantees.
The two, indicted on charges of crimes against humanity as well as war crimes, surrendered to the tribunal in February 1998. They first petitioned for provisional release in January 1999.
They were among six Serbs indicted in connection with the arrest and detention of Bosnian Croats and Muslims in the Bosanski Samac and Odzak region of northern Bosnia in the early 1990s.
According to Tribunal figures, nearly 17,000 Croats and Muslims lived in Bosanski Samac in 1991 of a total of 33,000 inhabitants. By May 1995, the number of Croats and Muslims in the town had fallen to 300.
The six indicted men were accused of having set up prison camps where people were murdered, beaten, tortured and otherwise mistreated.
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