OSLO: Norway’s first war crimes trial since World War II began yesterday with a Bosnian man appearing in an Oslo court accused of committing war crimes against Serb civilians during the 1992-1995 Bosnia war.
Mirsad Repak, a 41-year-old former member of the Croatian HOS military, stands charged with crimes against humanity, war crimes, torture and rape.
According to the prosecution, Repak committed the crimes between May and October 1992 against 18 civilian Serbs, most of whom were held in the Dretelj detention camp in southern Bosnia, known for the brutality of its guards.
Repak, who later moved to Norway with his family and obtained Norwegian citizenship, pleaded not guilty yesterday to the most serious charges.
He has insisted that he was only following orders.
“In big conflicts like this one, we should content ourselves with apprehending the decision-makers and most senior officials. We never manage to catch them all and it’s perhaps unfair to just go after the little soldiers,” Repak’s lawyer Heidi Bache-Wiig told the TV2 news channel.
Repak “suffered after what he had to do and what he was ordered to do, and it has haunted him ever since,” she said before entering the courtroom.
“For him, it was completely against his beliefs and he has suffered after being required to participate (in the abuse) and see how (the prisoners) were treated,” she said.
A spokeswoman for the Oslo district court, Irene Ramm, said this was the first war crimes case to be heard in Norway since the Nazi tribunals held after the end of World War II.
Yesterday’s proceedings were to focus on whether Norway’s new war crimes legislation, which came into force this year, can be applied retroactively against Repak, and also determine whether the statute of limitations had expired on some of the crimes for which he stands charged.
The court is to announce its decision on Monday.
The question of retroactivity was considered particularly central. Bache-Wiig has argued that the Norwegian constitution prohibits a new law from being applied prior to its enactment, and has therefore called for the case to be thrown out.
The prosecutor has meanwhile argued that the Norwegian parliament adopted the law with a clause stipulating that it could be applied retroactively.
If the court does not accept the war crimes charge, Repak will still face trial on other charges, unless the judge decides that the Norwegian judicial system does not have the right to try a person who did not hold Norwegian citizenship at the time the alleged crimes were committed.
Repak risks up to 20 years in prison, according to the prosecution. The trial is expected to last eight weeks. Dozens of witnesses are expected to be called to the stand, most of whom reside abroad and who survived the Bosnian war. – AFP |
