Global Policy Forum

The two former army commanders are charged with the murder of at least 200 Bosnian Croat and Serb civilians in central Bosnia-Hercegovina in 1993. Ex-General Enver Hadzihasanovic, 53, and Brigadier Amir Kubura, 39, deny charges including murder. They were transferred to the tribunal in August 2001, before being freed pending the start of the trial. A third man named in the original indictment, General Mehmed Alagic, died in March this year. Serbs see the international tribunal at The Hague as a political court with anti-Serb bias. Observers say putting more high-profile Bosnian Muslims in the dock will do little to change this sentiment. The most senior Bosnian Muslim investigated by the tribunal was the country's war-time leader Alija Izetbegovic, who died last month. The investigation was made public on the day of his funeral - 22 October 2003.

The indictment against the army commanders charges them with failing to stop their subordinates when they attacked towns and villages, killing Croat and Serb civilians as well as Croatian soldiers who had surrendered. "They knew, or had reason to know, that the forces under their command had committed or were going to commit these acts," the indictment says. "They did not take necessary and reasonable measures to prevent them or punish those who committed them." Prosecutors claim worst of these crimes were carried out by foreign Muslim fighters, known as mujahideen, under the command of the accused. Mr Hadzihasanovic and Mr Kubura appeared as witnesses in the trial of the Croatian General, Tihomir Blaskic, who received a 45-year jail term for war crimes. However, they are not the first Muslims to go on trial at the tribunal. Two camp commanders were sentenced in 1998 for crimes against Serbs. Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic have been indicted by the tribunal for war crimes but remain at large. Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic is on trial for alleged war crimes offences in Bosnia and elsewhere.

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