Ljubicic to Appeal Transfer Decision

According to the indictment against him, Ljubicic “conveyed orders to his subordinates that all Bosnian Muslims of military age should be killed, the civilians expelled and Bosnian Muslim property destroyed” during attacks on towns and villages in central Bosnia in 1993.



In one attack on the village of Ahmici, more than 100 Bosnian Muslims were killed, many more detained and abused, and property was destroyed, the indictment says.



In their latest filing, Ljubicic’s lawyers outline eight grounds of appeal which they plan to pursue in due course. They will argue that the chamber failed to properly assess a number of factors which would affect their client’s right to a fair trial if his case is heard in Bosnia, including “accessibility of materials”, “possible length of sentence” and “conditions of the post-trial detention”.



Ljubicic, who surrendered voluntarily to the Croatian authorities and was transferred to The Hague in 2001, had asked to be tried in Croatia.



The transfer of low- and mid-level war crimes cases to judicial systems in the Balkans is part of the Hague tribunal's completion strategy, according to which the court is due to wind up its work by 2010.