Oric Acquitted in Appeals Hearing

by IWPR for IWPR July 07, 2008 Mixed reactions to court ruling in Bosnia and Serbia. By Merdijana Sadovic in Sarajevo and Simon Jennings in The Hague The appeals chamber of the Hague tribunal this week acquitted former Bosnian commander Naser Oric of crimes committed against Serbs in the Srebrenica area during the 1992-95 conflict. The ruling reversed a judgement delivered by the trial chamber in June 2006, sentencing Oric to two years in prison for failure to prevent murder and cruel treatment of Serb prisoners in Srebrenica between late 1992 and early 1993. He was convicted on the grounds that he failed to prevent crimes committed by individuals believed to belong to the military police, which was technically subordinate to him as local commander of Bosnian government forces. At the June 2006 sentencing hearing, Oric was... [read full story]