| Press Release |
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 13 June 1996
CC/PIO/087-E
Hazim Delic and Esad Landzo have been transferred to the Tribunal and will enter a plea on 18 June 1996.
Hazim DELIC and Esad LANDZO, two of the accused named in the Celebici indictment, issued on 20 March 1996, have been transferred to the ICTY's Detention Centre with the help of IFOR. They will make their initial appearances before Trial Chamber II on Tuesday 18 June 1996.
Hazim DELIC and Esad LANDZO were arrested on Thursday 2 May 1996 in Bosnia and Herzegovina by the Bosnian authorities, and since then have been detained in custody in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
Their transfer has been arranged jointly by the Bosnian authorities, the Tribunal's Registry and the Multinational Implementation Force (IFOR).
Based on the Memorandum of Understanding signed on 9 May 1996 by NATO and the ICTY, the support given by IFOR included military transportation and general security. Hazim DELIC and Esad LANDZO were moved by IFOR ground transportation to Sarajevo airport, where they departed for the Hague on board a military C-160 aircraft. IFOR troops provided a secure environment along the ground transportation route and at the airport.
BACKGROUND
Arising out of the operation in 1992 of a detention camp known as Celebici, located in the Konjic municipality in Central Bosnia and Herzegovina, the indictment alleges that Hazim DELIC was deputy commander of Celebici Camp between May and November 1992 and, for a brief time, between November and December 1992, its commander. In this capacity, he is charged with both (or in the alternative) individual and command responsibility for violations of the laws and customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions. Esad LANDZO is charged with individual criminal responsibility for grave breaches and violations of the laws and customs of war, allegedly committed in his capacity as a camp guard at Celebici between May and December 1992.
THE CHARGES
Hazim DELIC is charged with 17 counts of grave breaches and 23 counts of violations of the laws and customs of war. These charges relate to four murders; five acts of torture, including two rapes; and one case of causing great suffering or serious injury.
Esad LANDZO is charged with 11 counts of grave breaches and 15 counts of violations of the laws and customs of war. These charges relate to his participation in five murders, four acts of torture and one case of causing great suffering and serious injury.
THE ACCUSED
Hazim DELIC was born 14 May 1960 in Orahovic, in the municipality of Konjic, Bosnia and Herzegovina. Esad LANDZO, also known as 'Zenga', was born on 7 March 1973 in the village of Tinja, municipality of Konjic, in Bosnia and Herzegovina.
THE INITIAL APPEARANCE HEARING
The accused's initial appearance will take place on Tuesday 18 June 1996. That for DELIC is scheduled for 10 a.m. and that for LANDZO at 10.30 a.m. Both accused will then be asked to enter a plea. Both appearances will be public.
THE OTHERS ACCUSED IN THE INDICTMENT
DELIC and LANDZO are the last of the four men accused in the Celebici indictment to come into the Tribunal's custody. Earlier, Zdravko MUCIC was transferred to the Hague by the Bosnian authorities and entered a plea of not-guilty on 11 April 1996. Zejnil DELALIC was transferred to the Hague by the German authorities on 8 May 1996 and entered a plea of not-guilty on 9 May 1996.
While it is the Prosecutor's wish to try all four of those accused in the Celebici Indictment jointly, counsel for both DELALIC and MUCIC have filed motions seeking to have their clients' cases tried separately. It is open to counsel for DELIC and LANDZO to file similar motions.
THE FIGURES
Hazim DELIC and Esad LANDZO are the seventh and eighth, respectively, of 58 accused, to be held at the Tribunal's Detention Unit. The others are Dusko TADIC, Tihomir BLASKIC (Lasva Valley Indictment), Goran LAJIC (Keraterm), Drazen ERDEMOVIC (Srebrenica) and Zejnil DELALIC and Zdravko MUCIC (Celebici).
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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