Author: Tim

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Mandic charged with war crimes

Bosnian Serb minister Momcilo Mandic, who is already standing trial for abuse of office and organized crime, was given the additional charge of war crimes on Monday. According to the report, Mandic led an attack by Serbian Police on a training camp in Sarajevo in April 1992.

“The indictment further alleges that the accused, having the duties of justice minister … was exclusively responsible for the functioning of the correctional facilities in the Serb Republic between May and December 1992,” the court said in a statement.

The prisons, two near the Bosnian capital and one in the eastern town of Foca, were allegedly run as detention camps where many non-Serbs were illegally imprisoned, it added.

Mandic served as deputy interior ministry and justice minister under Radovan Karadzic who is currently a war crimes fugitive.

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HR 723

At the end of September, the African Union will withdraw its troops from the Darfur region of the Sudan. The UN has no plans to send troops into the region until January of 2007, and the US has yet to promise any involvment in the ongoing genocide.

Congress crafted a resolution to urge the President to send peacekeeping troops to the region — entitled HR 723, which has yet to make it to a vote. If you’re interested in showing your support for this bill, write your Congressman and urge him to co-sponsor the bill.

For more info — see the Genocide Intervention Network.

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Samphan flees

Khieu Samphan, one of the chief architects behind the Khmer Rouge genocide, was seen leaving his house on Tuesday with a truck filled with houshold items. His family denies that he is fleeing the area.

Samphan’s sudden departure comes just one day after a UN appointed tribunal began gathering evidence on him. It is believed that nearly two million Cambodians were killed while he was head of state.

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Serbian trials

The Hague began the largest group trial in its history today. It’s the latest in a series of trials for accused war criminals from the Bosnian Serb army. A similar trial of six Serb military officers and politicians accused of crimes from the 1999 war in Kosovo opened this past Monday.

In a rather startling opener, Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte was asked to sit down after the defense objected to the emotive nature of her opening statement. The defense argued that this should be saved for the opening arguments, which are slated to take place on August 21.

The following men are being charged with genocide:

Ljubisa Beara — chief of security for the Bosnian Serb army
Ljubomir Borovcanin — deputy commander for the Bosnian Serb special police
Vinko Pandurevic — the brigade commander that led the attack on Srebrenica
Drago Nikolic — the brigade’s chief of security
Vujadin Popovic — military police officer

The remaining two men — Radivoje Miletic and Milan Gvero — are charged with war crimes and crimes against humanity. It is alleged they blocked aid and supplies from getting to thousands of refugees in Srebrenica.

The former Serbian president Slobodan Milosevic died in March of a heart attack, bringing a close to his own trial. The two men who were chiefly behind the killings — Gen. Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadic — have never been captured.

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Sudan continues civilian attacks

Even as relief organizations attempt to aid refugees in the devastated Darfur region, a recent report claims that the Sudan Liberation Army has fractured and the government is again supporting attacks. Minni Arcua Minnawi, leader of the SLA and signer of a May cease-fire agreement, has come into conflict with these new SLA groups, and has allegedly carried out attacks on at least two of them.

The Sudanese government is using white helicopters, the kind used by African Union and UN peacekeepers, to aid in the attacks against the splinter groups. This infighting has led to the murder, rape, and displacement of some 8,000 civilians, and reports continue to stream out that aid workers are being attacked “on an almost daily basis.”