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Press Release · Communiqué de presse
(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)
CC/PIO/039-E
The Hague, 1 March 1996
GENERAL DJUKIC INDICTED
On 28 February 1996 the Tribunal's Trial Chamber I presided over by Judge Jorda heard an application by General DJUKIC challenging his detention under the Tribunal's Rules.
Following the unequivocal statement by General DJUKIC during the hearing of this application that he was not prepared to co-operate with the Prosecutor nor was he prepared to be a witness, the result was that there was no further basis for the Prosecutor to anticipate that General DJUKIC would assist the Prosecutor's ongoing investigations, nor was there any further basis for
detaining General DJUKIC in The Hague as a witness.
Since he learnt of the arrest of General DJUKIC in Bosnia, the Office of the Prosecutor has also been investigating the possible commission by him of serious violations of International Humanitarian Law. The Prosecutor is satisfied that there is sufficient evidence to justify indicting General DJUKIC.
In particular the indictment charges General DJUKIC, who at material times was the Assistant for Logistics to General Ratko Mladic, the Commander of the Bosnian Serb Army, with a Crime Against Humanity and a Violation of the Laws and Customs of War. The indictment is based on the accused's role in aiding, as the head of logistics, the Bosnian Serb Army in its operations which
included the shelling of civilian targets during the Bosnian Serb siege of Sarajevo between May 1992 and December 1995.
In view of the pending expiration of the current order of detention on 4 March 1996, the indictment was submitted to, reviewed and confirmed by Judge Karibi-Whyte on 29 February 1996. Because General DJUKIC was already in detention at the seat of the Tribunal in The Hague, Judge Karibi-White ordered that the accused be brought before a Trial Chamber without delay to plead to the
indictment.
The Prosecutor's investigation into General DJUKIC is still continuing and it is likely that an amendment of the indictment will be sought before the accused stands trial. One consequence of the Prosecutor's indictment against General DJUKIC is that he will not be returned to the custody of the Bosnian Government in Sarajevo and will continue to be detained at the Tribunal's
detention facility in the Hague.
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