| Press Release |
APPEAL CHAMBER
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 16 October 2007
JP/MOW/ PR1192e
Appeals Chamber affirms acquittal of Sefer Halilović
The Appeals Chamber today affirmed the acquittal of Sefer Halilovi ć , former Deputy Commander and Chief of Main Staff of the Army of the Republic of Bosnia and Herzegovina (ABiH). He had been found not guilty in November 2005 of all charges regarding his alleged command responsibility for murders committed by members of ABiH troops in the villages of Grabovica and Uzdol in the Jablanica and Prozor areas of Herzegovina in September 1993. The Prosecution had appealed the judgement, seeking the reversal of the acquittal with respect to the killings perpetrated in Grabovica.
In its summary of the appeals judgement, the Appeals Chamber dismissed the Prosecution's appeal, stating that ".the Prosecution failed to show that no reasonable trier of fact could have reached the conclusion that Sefer Halilovi ć did not have the required degree of "effective control" over the perpetrators, as a commander of Operation Neretva, to establish his superior responsibility under Article 7(3) of the Statute ." Having concluded that the Prosecution had failed to show that the Trial Chamber erred in finding that a superior-subordinate relationship between Sefer Halilovi ć and the offending troops had not been established, the Appeals Chamber declared that the Prosecution's remaining grounds of appeal became moot.
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The full text of the summary of the judgement can be found at the following links:
For English: http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1192e-summary.htm
For French: http://www.un.org/icty/pressreal/2007/pr1192f-summary.htm
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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