Ex-Bosnian Muslim chief-of-staff not guilty of war crimes

UN TRIBUNAL: The highest-ranking Bosnian Muslim commander to be tried by the UN tribunal at The Hague was acquitted of war crimes yesterday.

Sefer Halilovic (53) was accused of deploying soldiers who murdered dozens of Bosnian Croat villagers in 1993, when he was chief-of-staff of the Muslim-dominated Bosnian army during an operation to lift the Croat blockade of Mostar.

"The prosecution failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt that Halilovic was commander of 'Operation Neretva 93'," said one of the three judges. "A commander cannot be held responsible for crimes committed by those not under his command."

The prosecution showed the court amateur video footage of slain children and elderly people allegedly massacred by Halilovic's men, charging that many were killed in their beds or trying to flee the onslaught.

But presiding Chinese judge Liu Daqun ruled that Halilovic - who surrendered to the court in September 2001 - was only "team leader of an inspection team not entrusted with command authority, but co-ordinating and monitoring."

The 1992-95 war mainly pitted Bosnia's Muslims against its Serbs, but for a period also saw vicious fighting between the Muslims fighters and local Croats.

The conflict killed over 200,000 people, and wartime Bosnian Serb leader Gen Radovan Karadzic and his military ally Ratko Mladic are still on the run, and believed to enjoy the support of powerful figures in politics, business and the security forces.

The EU and US have threatened tough action against Bosnia and Serbia unless the two men are handed to the UN court by the end of the year.

The Bosnian Serb police chief, Dragomir Andan, said yesterday that his forces were working with those of Serbia-Montenegro to find and catch Gen Mladic.

"All departments of the interior ministries of Republika Srpska and Serbia are working on having Mladic find himself in The Hague by the end of the year," he said.

"I can't say this will happen tomorrow or the day after tomorrow, but I hope that this huge problem for Republika Srpska and for Serbia will be solved." Belgrade newspapers report that Gen Mladic is now negotiating his surrender, with one saying that he will be arrested unless he gives up by December 15th.