Two former top Bosnian Serb officials closely linked to ex-leader Radovan Karadzic opened appeals Wednesday against their 22-year jail terms, accusing a Yugoslav war crimes judge of bias in their trial.
Mico Stanisic and his subordinate Stojan Zupljanin were sentenced in 2013 for their roles in a campaign to rid Bosnia of Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan country's 1992-95 war.
Stanisic, 61, a former Bosnian Serb interior minister and former regional security services chief Zupljanin, 64, faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and torture.
They were also accused of the cruel treatment of non-Serbs in municipalities and detention centres during the war that left 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million others homeless.
Stanisic's lawyer Stephane Bourgon said one of the former trial judges in his client's case showed "reasonable... bias" in favour of convicting the court's suspects, including his own client.
Bourgon based his argument on a bombshell letter written by Danish judge Frederik Harhoff in mid-2013 in which the judge harshly criticised a raft of acquittals.
In a private letter that was leaked to the press, Harhoff condemned a "change of direction" at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia amid the high-profile acquittals.
The letter was sent to 56 of Harhoff's colleagues after several top Serbian and Croat generals and military officials walked free at The Hague-based ICTY in the space of six months.
In the letter Harhoff claimed that the tribunal's then president, US judge Theodor Meron had pressured other judges to acquit accused, suggesting possible pressure from the United States and Israel.
He said the court was moving towards a policy that commanders could only be convicted if it was proven that they directly intended to commit crimes, rather than just knew or suspected that their subordinates were committing the crimes.
Harhoff was one of a three-judge bench that sentenced Stanisic and Zupljanin in March 2013.
Bourgon said Harhoff's letter showed the judge was "on a mission to convict" his client and called on the judges to overturn the verdict.
"Therefore there is only one possibility" for appeals judges.
"Stay the proceedings and release my client forthwith," Bourgon said.
The court's UN prosecutors disagreed.
Stanisic and Zupljanin were sentenced by a unanimous bench which had based their verdict on the strong evidence in the case, prosecutor Laurel Baig told the judges.
"To presume bias... implies that judge Harhoff would convict an accused without even looking at the evidence," she said.
It could take several months before a ruling by the five-member appeals bench is delivered.
Stanisic in particular is seen as a close associate of Karadzic, who himself faces genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity charges before the ICTY.
Two former top Bosnian Serb officials closely linked to ex-leader Radovan Karadzic opened appeals Wednesday against their 22-year jail terms, accusing a Yugoslav war crimes judge of bias in their trial.
Mico Stanisic and his subordinate Stojan Zupljanin were sentenced in 2013 for their roles in a campaign to rid Bosnia of Muslims, Croats and other non-Serbs during the Balkan country’s 1992-95 war.
Stanisic, 61, a former Bosnian Serb interior minister and former regional security services chief Zupljanin, 64, faced charges of war crimes and crimes against humanity including murder and torture.
They were also accused of the cruel treatment of non-Serbs in municipalities and detention centres during the war that left 100,000 people dead and 2.2 million others homeless.
Stanisic’s lawyer Stephane Bourgon said one of the former trial judges in his client’s case showed “reasonable… bias” in favour of convicting the court’s suspects, including his own client.
Bourgon based his argument on a bombshell letter written by Danish judge Frederik Harhoff in mid-2013 in which the judge harshly criticised a raft of acquittals.
In a private letter that was leaked to the press, Harhoff condemned a “change of direction” at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia amid the high-profile acquittals.
The letter was sent to 56 of Harhoff’s colleagues after several top Serbian and Croat generals and military officials walked free at The Hague-based ICTY in the space of six months.
In the letter Harhoff claimed that the tribunal’s then president, US judge Theodor Meron had pressured other judges to acquit accused, suggesting possible pressure from the United States and Israel.
He said the court was moving towards a policy that commanders could only be convicted if it was proven that they directly intended to commit crimes, rather than just knew or suspected that their subordinates were committing the crimes.
Harhoff was one of a three-judge bench that sentenced Stanisic and Zupljanin in March 2013.
Bourgon said Harhoff’s letter showed the judge was “on a mission to convict” his client and called on the judges to overturn the verdict.
“Therefore there is only one possibility” for appeals judges.
“Stay the proceedings and release my client forthwith,” Bourgon said.
The court’s UN prosecutors disagreed.
Stanisic and Zupljanin were sentenced by a unanimous bench which had based their verdict on the strong evidence in the case, prosecutor Laurel Baig told the judges.
“To presume bias… implies that judge Harhoff would convict an accused without even looking at the evidence,” she said.
It could take several months before a ruling by the five-member appeals bench is delivered.
Stanisic in particular is seen as a close associate of Karadzic, who himself faces genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity charges before the ICTY.
