Accused of War Crime Pleads Not Guilty

Pasko Ljubicic was transported from The Hague to the war crimes court in Bosnia-Herzegovina, indicted of crimes against humanity in Ahmici.

Pasko Ljubicic, a former member of the Bopsnian Croat military police, refused to enter a plea so it was put on the record that he pleaded not guilty.

Ljubicic was transported from the prison for war crime indictees in The Hague to the war crimes prison Bosnia in October where he will hear the verdict.

Branka Prljak, his attorney, said that the court had accepted the plea Ljubicic had entered before the tribunal in The Hague, which was not favourable for her client, as during the big Croat-Muslim conflict, he was a commander of a military police battalion.

Bosnian law says that in the case of not entering a plea by the accused, it will be recorded automatically.

‘In that case I rule that the accused does not feel guilty’, said Dragomir Vukoje, the judge.

The new indictment relates to the violation of the laws and customs of war and crimes against humanity.

The chief indictment pertains to crimes in the central Bosnian village of Ahmici in April 1993 when more than a hundred Muslim civilians were killed.

Ljubicic also has Croatian citizenship and after a year of hiding, he surrendered to the Croatian authorities in 2001.