UN court overturns three Bosnian-Croats' convictions

The United Nations War Crimes Tribunal has overturned the convictions of three Bosnian-Croats who have been in prison in the Hague since their surrender four years ago.

Zoran, Mirjan and Vlatko Kupreskic, who are all related, were convicted of participating in an offensive on Ahmici and surrounding villages in Bosnia in April 1993 during which 100 Muslim civilians were slaughtered.

However, the War Crimes Tribunal ordered their immediate release today because the prosecution had built a weak case using “unreliable” witnesses.

The trial also ignored the testimony of one witness who could have altered the outcome. The presiding judge, Patricia Wald, said the men’s convictions were “a miscarriage of justice”.

In another development today, the tribunal also reduced the sentences of two other Bosnian-Croats convicted of involvement in the Ahmici massacre, Drago Josipovic had his 15-year sentence reduced to 12 years and Vladimir Santic had his 25-year sentence reduced to 18 years.

The tribunal said the indictments against the men were “too general and vague” and added that the trial court was “critically flawed” in its assessment of the evidence.

Today’s judgements will come as a major setback to the UN prosecutors, who are currently pressing the Governments of Serbia and Montenegro to extradite more war crimes suspects from the former Yugoslavia