Todovic and Rasevic to Stay in Hague

Todovic faces charges of torturing, enslaving and murdering inmates of the notorious KP Dom prison in Foca in 1992, alongside fellow Bosnian Serb indictee Mitar Rasevic.



Rasevic’s indictment was amended in 2004 when Todovic was still at large.



After Todovic surrendered, the prosecution asked that the cases be jointly transferred to Sarajevo, under a procedure allowing low-ranking Hague indictees to be tried in local courts.



The defence for both men argued strongly against the proposal, saying that their clients would not receive a fair trial and instead proposed Serbia and Montenegro as a venue.



The prosecution was ordered to amend the Todovic indictment to conform with that of Rasevic. But the trial chamber made no decision on the Todovic amendments, which the Appeals Chamber said was “an error of law” and a “glaring mistake”.



The appeal judges say that a decision has to be made on the amended indictment, because otherwise the Bosnian state prosecutor will have to use the original indictment against Todevic, which “also has an impact upon the decision to refer the case of Mitar Rasevic”.



The judges have therefore suspended the transfer of Rasevic until the new amended indictment is sorted out.