Ljubicic Trial Postponed Due to Untranslated Files

The BH Court has postponed the trial against Pasko Ljubicic because the prosecution has not translated important documents.

Trial Chamber president Saban Maksumic has postponed indefinitely the trial against Pasko Ljubicic, giving the Bosnia-Herzegovina Prosecution another chance to secure the translation of transcripts of the prosecution’s witness testimonies, and the defence to find and hire a lawyer who actively speaks English. Ljubicic has been indicted of War crimes against Bosniaks in central Bosnia in 1993 when he commanded the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) Military Police 4. battalion.  

The prosecution has called as many as 56 witnesses in this case.

International prosecutor David Schwendiman confirmed on Tuesday that he planned to use more than 2,600 pages of documents in the process. The documents are witness testimonies for the prosecution that were given to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. In 2006 the tribunal handed the case over to the BH Court.

Almost none of the documents the BH prosecution counts on have been translated and the estimate is that over a year is needed to translate them.

“I simply cannot believe that nobody has dealt with this problem so far”, said judge Maksumic, warning that there had been too many omissions in the Ljubicic case.

Jubicic’s attorney Branka Praljak recalled that she had pointed to this problem back in January, but the prosecution had done nothing to solve it.

She also said that her client had been waiting for the start of trial for five and a half years in custody, through no fault of his.

The defence is prepared to show good will and hire another attorney who knows English. This, along with the gradual translation of documents, would make it possible for the trial to begin in a reasonable period of time, she said.

In order to fulfil its obligations, the prosecution will have to request additional engagement of existing court translators, but also find additional translators, which will demand an additional 12,000 euros.