By Terance Walsh
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

JERUSALEM, Israel – A district court in Jerusalem on Monday ruled that Aleksandar Cvetkovic, a Bosnian Serb, should be extradited and tried in a Bosnian court for war crimes he committed in one of the worst massacres of the former Yugoslav republic’s 1992-1995 war.

Cvetkovic was part of an eight-man firing squad that killed approximately 1,000 Muslim Bosnians at Branjevo farm in July 1995.  Evidence in the extradition reports indicates that Cvetkovic made use of an M-84 machine-gun to speed up the killings.  The 42-year-old Cvetkovic has denied the charges against him, maintaining that he was a driver for the Bosnian Serb forces but did not participate in the massacre.

The killings were part of the Srebrenica massacre, what news sources call the “worst atrocity on European soil since World War II,” which was led by Gen. Ratko Mladic and left over 8,000 Muslim men and boys dead.

In 2006, Cvetkovic immigrated to Israel.  He obtained Israeli citizenship through his Jewish wife and resided in Carmiel prior to his arrest.  If he is convicted, he will not be allowed to serve his prison sentence in Israel because the crimes of which he is accused pre-date his immigration.

The extradition process began in January this year.  Israeli authorities arrested and arraigned Cvetkovic and held him in police custody because of “the enormity of the danger posed to the public.”

Judge Amnon Cohen decided to extradite Cvetkovic and imposed several conditions on the government of Bosnia and Herzegovina, including holding Cvetkovic in a separate, secure detention wing during his arrest, and maintaining his security if he is convicted and sentenced to a prison term.

Furthermore, the Bosnian government must allow Cvetkovic regular visits by consular representatives of the Israeli embassy in Bosnia and Herzegovina.  If Cvetkovic is convicted, the Bosnian court must impose a sentence in accordance with that prescribed by the European Court of Human Rights.

The UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague has sentenced fourteen Bosnian Serbs in connection with the Srebrenica massacre.  A Bosnian war crimes court that was set up in 2005 to assist The Hague has jailed twelve and acquitted seven who were alleged to have participated in the Srebrenica massacre.

Cvetkovic will have thirty days to appeal the Israeli Supreme Court’s decision to extradite him.  Israeli officials said that the extradition appeals process might take two years.

For more information, please see:

Al Jazeera – Israel to Extradite Citizen Over Srebrenica – 1 August 2011

European Jewish Press – Israel to Extradite Serb Accused of Srebrenica Role – 1 August 2011

Jerusalem Post – Court Rules to Extradite Bosnia Massacre Suspect – 1 August 2011

Haaretz – Israeli Man Arrested for Alleged Involvement in Bosnia Genocide – 18 January 2011

By Greg Hall
Impunity Watch Reporter, Europe

THE HAGUE, Netherlands – The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague recently issued arrest warrants for Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi, as well as his son Saif al-Islam, and his military intelligence chief, Abdullah Senussi. International prosecutors have accused the three of crimes against humanity, including killing civilian protestors during Libya’s Arab Spring.

The ICC dismissed suggestions by Britain and France to allow Gaddafi the opportunity to stay in Libya as part of a negotiation to entice Gaddafi to step down from power.  The ICC said that Gaddafi could not be allowed to escape justice. “He has to be arrested,” said Florence Olara, spokeswoman for the court’s chief prosecutor, Luis Moreno-Ocampo.

Olara said the decision to seek justice had been made in the UN, adding that the ICC’s arrest warrants were “legal facts” which “cannot go away”.

The court is accusing Gaddafi of crimes against humanity and of ordering attacks on civilians during an uprising against him held in February of this year.  As a result of the orders issued by Gaddafi, thousands of civilians are believed to have been killed in the attacks.

ICC presiding judge Sanji Monageng said there were “reasonable grounds to believe” that Gaddafi and his son were “criminally responsible as indirect co-perpetrators” for the persecution and murder of civilians in Libya.

“We are extremely happy that the whole world has united in prosecuting Gaddafi for the crimes he has committed,” rebel council spokesman Jalal al-Galal told Reuters news agency from the rebel stronghold Benghazi. “The people feel vindicated by such a response.”

Libya has not accepted the ICC’s decision to call for Gaddafi’s arrest.

Mohammad al-Qamoodi told a Tripoli news conference the court was “a tool of the Western world to prosecute leaders in the third world”.

He added: “The leader of the revolution and his son do not hold any official position in the Libyan government and therefore they have no connection to the claims of the ICC against them.”

For more information please see:

Guardian – Gaddafi can’t be left in Libya, says international criminal court – 26 July 2011

Huffington Post – The Prosecutor v. Muammar Gaddafi — and a Step Closer to Justice – 26 July 2011

BBC – Libya rejects ICC arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi – 28 June 2011

Herald Sun – Libya rejects ICC’s arrest warrant for Muammar Gaddafi – June 27 2011

By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

BUDAPEST, Hungary – Lawyers for Sandor Kepiro, a war crimes suspect who was acquitted on Monday by a Hungarian court on the grounds of insufficient evidence, said on Thursday that they would appeal the court’s ruling because it does not go far enough in clearing Kepiro. The same day, prosecutors said they would appeal the ruling because they found the verdict “unfounded” and “inconsistent.”

Kepiro, 97, is believed to have been responsible for ordering the execution of over thirty Jews and Serbs in Novi Sad in January 1942.

The defense wants the court’s ruling to be based on its assertion that Kepiro did not commit the crimes of which he is accused, rather than on insufficient evidence.

Prosecutor Zsolt Falvai announced his decision to file an appeal immediately after hearing Judge Bela Varga read the verdict.

Prosecutors had originally asked for a prison sentence for Kepiro, arguing that he was directly responsible for the deaths of thirty-six Jews and Serbs in Novi Sad. An estimated 1,200 Jews and Serbs were massacred during a three-day period in 1942, a period that became known as the “Novi Sad Massacre.”

Though Kepiro was convicted in 1944 in Hungary, his conviction was later overturned by the government. He fled to Argentina, only to be tracked down by Nazi hunter and head of the Simon Wisenthal Center’s Israel office Efrain Zuroff.

The judge cited the prosecution’s reliance on old testimony and old verdicts as a basis for Kepiro’s acquittal.

Despite joyful reactions in the courtroom, Jewish groups and Jews across Serbia were disappointed at the verdict.

The Simon Wiesenthal Center, which assisted in bringing Kepiro to court, described the verdict as “outrageous,” and “an insult to the victims, an insult to the Jewish community, to the Serbian community, and [ ] a very sad day for Hungary.”

The American Gathering of Jewish Holocaust Survivors and Their Descendants group, based in New York, also expressed dismay at the verdict.

“Hungary has turned its back on history in failing to come to grips with its collaborationist policies with the Nazi regime during World War II,” the group’s vice president said in a statement, calling the decision “a betrayal by Hungarian judicial authorities of the demands of justice and memory.”

In related news, it was reported on Saturday in a German newspaper that John Demjanjuk, who was convicted this year for his role in the murders of thousands of Jews at the Sobibor Nazi death camp, may be prosecuted for similar crimes at another camp.

For more information, please see:

Washington Post – APNewsBreak: Defense appeals acquittal in Hungary war-crimes trial – 20 July 2011

European Jewish Press – Prosecutor to appeal Hungarian Nazi war crimes verdict, Simon Wiesenthal Centre speaks of an ‘outrageous miscarriage of justice’ – 20 July 2011

Bloomberg – Hungary Prosecutor to Appeal Nazi-Era War Crime Ruling, MTI Says – 19 July 2011

Jerusalem Post – Officer suspected of complicity in ’42 massacre acquitted – 19 July 2011

RTT News – Hungarian Court Acquits Nazi War Crimes Suspect – 19 July 2011

Jerusalem Post – ‘John Demjanjuk could face more death camp charges’ – 16 July 2011

By Polly Johnson
Senior Desk Officer, Europe

BELGRADE, Serbia – Goran Hadzic, the last Serbian war crimes fugitive, was arrested Wednesday after seven years on the run. Serbian secret police arrested him in a forest north of Belgrade and close to his family home.

Hadzic, now 53, faces fourteen counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes and was indicted in 2004 for his role in the wars following the break-up of Yugoslavia in the early 1990s. He has been accused of ethnic cleansing that led to the killings of hundreds of Croats and other non-Serbs and the deportations of tens of thousands. Specifically, he was responsible for the massacre of nearly three hundred men in Vukovar in 1991 and for the deportation of twenty thousand people from the town after it was captured.

Serbian President Boris Tadic called a news conference to announce Hadzic’s arrest, proclaiming, “With this, Serbia has now concluded its most difficult chapter in the cooperation with The Hague tribunal.”

Hadzic was the last fugitive of the 161 people indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The arrest is significant for Serbia and comes two months after the arrest of General Ratko Mladic, the former commander of the Bosnian Serb army who is currently awaiting trial in The Hague. Mladic was responsible for the 1995 Srebrenica massacre that left more than eight thousand Bosnians dead.

The European Union (EU) welcomed Hadzic’s arrest, noting that the arrest has paved the way for Serbia’s entry into the EU.

“This arrest sends a positive signal to the European Union and to Serbia’s neighbors, but most of all on the rule of law in Serbia itself,” EU leaders said in a joint statement.

The EU will present a progress report on Serbia, which is expected to show that Serbia has met its candidacy requirements. The process takes several years.

ICTY prosecutor Serge Brammertz said of the arrest, “Hadzic’s transfer into the Tribunal’s custody is a long awaited development for the victims of the crimes charged against him. It is also an important milestone in the Tribunal’s history. Eighteen years after the Tribunal’s creation, we can now say that no indicted person has successfully evaded the Tribunal’s judicial process. This is a precedent of enduring significance, not only for this Tribunal, but also for international criminal justice more generally.”

For more information, please see:

BBC – Serbia holds Croatia war crimes suspect Goran Hadzic – 20 July 2011

Belfast Telegraph – War crimes arrest could help EU bid – 20 July 2011

CNN – Last Yugoslav war crimes suspect at large is captured – 20 July 2011

Huffington Post – Goran Hadzic, Last Balkan War Crimes Fugitive, Arrested In Serbia – 20 July 2011

New York Times – Serbia Arrests Last War Crimes Fugitive – 20 July 2011

Telegraph – War crimes suspect Goran Hadzic finally captured after investigation into stolen Modigliani painting – 20 July 2011