|
Press Release . Communiqué de presse
(Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document)
The Hague, 17 January 2005
JP/P.I.S./929e
INITIAL APPEARANCE OF SAVO TODOVIC SCHEDULED FOR WEDNESDAY, 19 JANUARY 2005
Following his transfer to the ICTY Detention Unit on Saturday 15 January 2005, Savo Todovic will make his initial appearance at the ICTY on Wednesday, 19 January 2005 at 4.30 p.m. in Courtroom III, before Judge Agius.
Background
On 29 November 2001, following a request by the Prosecutor, Judge Liu Daqun unsealed an Indictment against Savo Todovic and Mitar Rasevic. Mitar Rasevic was transferred to the ICTY on 15 August 2003 and is currently awaiting trial in the ICTY Detention Unit (see Press Release 775e). Originally, Savo Todovic and Mitar Rasevic were jointly charged with Milorad Krnojelac in an
Indictment dated 11 June 1997. On 15 June 1998, SFOR apprehended Milorad Krnojelac who was subsequently transferred to the Tribunal to stand trial. On 15 March 2002, Trial Chamber II sentenced him to seven and a half years’ imprisonment. Following an Appeals Chamber Judgement rendered on 17 September 2003, Kronjelac’s sentence was increased to 15 years’ imprisonment.
According to the Indictment, on 7 April 1992, Serb military forces, which included Bosnian Serbs and citizens of Serbian descent from other parts of the former Yugoslavia, began the occupation of Foca town, which was completed on 16 or 17 April 1992.
As soon as the Serb forces controlled parts of Foca town, military police, accompanied by local and non-local soldiers, started arresting Muslim and other non-Serb inhabitants. Most, if not all, detainees were civilians who had not been charged with any crime and were mostly Muslim men from 16 to 80 years’ of age, including mentally handicapped, physically disabled and seriously
ill persons. The Foca Kazneno-Popravni Dom (KP Dom), one of the largest prisons in the former Yugoslavia, became the primary detention facility for the men.
Savo Todovic worked in the KP Dom prison from 4 January 1974 until at least October 1994. As deputy commander of the KP Dom prison staff from April 1992 until at least August 1993, he was second in command in the prison hierarchy and had similar powers and duties as the camp commander. According to the Indictment, Savo Todovic was in charge of selecting detainees for killings,
beatings, interrogations, forced labour, solitary confinement and exchanges. He was also responsible for the punishment of the detainees.
The Indictment alleges that, "On numerous evenings from April until July 1992, the KP Dom guards used prepared lists to select detainees who were to be beaten…Most evenings, Savo Todovic delivered the lists to the guards, who then took the detainees to the administration building for additional interrogations and beatings."
Charges
The Indictment charges Savo Todovic on the basis of his individual criminal responsibility (Article 7(1) of the Statute) and, or alternatively, superior criminal responsibility (Article 7(3) of the Statute) with:
Seven counts of crimes against humanity (Article 5 of the Statute – persecutions on political, racial and religious grounds; torture; inhumane acts; murder; imprisonment; enslavement), Five counts of violations of the laws or customs of war (Article 3 of the Statute – torture; cruel treatment; murder; slavery), and Six counts of grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions (Article 2
of the Statute – torture; willfully causing serious injury to body or health; wilful killing; unlawful confinement of a civilian; willfully causing great suffering; inhuman treatment)
The full text of the Indictment is available on the Tribunal’s website www.un.org/icty. Hard copies can also be obtained from the Press Office.
|
