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Arrest warrants for two war crimes suspects transmitted to Belgrade: UN tribunal

Arrest warrants for two war crimes suspects transmitted to Belgrade: UN tribunal

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The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has forwarded to Belgrade arrest warrants for two men charged with war crimes during the conflict which engulfed Bosnia and Herzegovina in the early 1990s.

Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson transmitted the arrest warrants for Radovan Stankovic and Dragan Zelenovic to the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia on Wednesday. Both men are charged with crimes against humanity and violations of the laws or customs of war for their part in the detention, torture and sexual assault, including rape, of Bosnian Muslim women and girls after Serb forces overran the Bosnian town of Foca in 1992.

The arrest warrants were sent at the request of the Tribunal Prosecutor's Office, which believes that the two men are likely to be in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. At the Prosecutor's request, Judge Robinson also sent Belgrade orders for the surrender of the two men.

Judge Robinson's orders "directed the authorities of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) to search for, arrest and surrender to the International Tribunal" Mr. Stankovic and Mr. Zelenovic, and to advise them of their rights.

In a separate development, the Tribunal's Appeals Chamber today cleared a defence attorney, Anto Nobilo, of contempt charges filed in connection with his examination of a witness who had been granted protection. The court found that although Mr. Nobilo had disclosed protected information concerning another case during his client's trial, he had not knowingly violated an order to protect a Tribunal witness. In granting Mr. Nobilo's appeal, the Tribunal revoked the fine that had originally been imposed on him.