Kordic and Zigic Transferred to Austrian Prison System

As a leading Bosnian Croat political figure during the war, Kordic was found by Hague judges to have instigated and ordered crimes against Muslim civilians in central Bosnia, including persecutions, murder, plunder and wanton destruction. He played an instrumental role in ordering the attack on the village of Ahmici in April 1993 during which more than 100 people were massacred.



He was taken into tribunal custody in October 1997 and his trial – including an appeal – finished in December 2004.



Zoran Zigic served as a reserve police officer in Bosnia's Prijedor municipality during the war years. Judges found that he visited the notorious Serb-run Keraterm, Omarska and Trnopolje detention camps there in order to beat, torture and kill prisoners.



Zigic arrived in The Hague in April 1998 and his sentence was affirmed by appeals judges at the tribunal in February 2005.



Following the transfer of Kordic and Zigic towards the end of last week, Austria now holds four individuals convicted of war crimes by the Hague tribunal. The other countries currently hosting people convicted in The Hague are Germany, Spain, Norway, Italy, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, France and the United Kingdom.



A recent audit of the United Nations detention unit in The Hague noted difficulties faced by the tribunal in getting third countries to receive prisoners convicted of war crimes. The report said those convicted have to wait on average over 200 days to be transferred to serve out their sentence.



Issues arising as a result were found to include security problems, strained relations with other detainees still awaiting a judgement and difficulties for those who have been sentenced in trying to plan for the future.