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Former Serb policeman charged with cliff-top massacre transferred to UN tribunal

Former Serb policeman charged with cliff-top massacre transferred to UN tribunal

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International troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina have detained a Serb former special policeman wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a UN spokesman announced today.

International troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina have detained a Serb former special policeman wanted by the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), a UN spokesman announced today.

Darko Mrda, who was arrested on Thursday by SFOR, is alleged to have commanded a special police unit responsible for the execution of some 200 non-Serb men in Koricanske Stijene in August 1992.

According to the Tribunal’s indictment, which was issued in April of this year, men previously detained in a camp in Trnopolje and others from the village of Tukovi were driven by Serb special police to an isolated location and forced to kneel at the edge of a cliff. The Serb police then began firing at the men. Witnesses estimate that more than 200 were killed by the shots or by falling from the cliff, although the exact number of dead is still unknown. Twelve men are known to have survived.

Mr. Mrda, who goes by the nickname "Dado," has been charged with two counts of crimes against humanity (extermination and inhumane acts) and one count of violations of the laws or customs of war (murder) stemming from this incident. He has been transferred to the ICTY's Detention Unit in The Hague, and will make his first appearance before Tribunal Judge Schomberg on Monday.

In other news from the Tribunal, its President, Judge Claude Jorda, along with the Tribunal's Prosecutor, Carla del Ponte, and its Deputy Registrar, Bruno Cathala, will travel to Bosnia and Herzegovina next Monday for a five-day visit. During their stay, they will gather information on the country's judicial processes and hold meetings with senior legal and political figures to determine whether it may be possible to defer some cases currently scheduled to come before the Tribunal to Bosnian national authorities.