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Tribunal Frees Goran Lajic for Lack of Evidence
Apparent case of mistaken identity
By Ian Geohegan
THE HAGUE, June 17 (Reuters) - The U.N. criminal tribunal for former Yugoslavia freed a Bosnian Serb on Monday saying it seemed to have been prosecuting the wrong man. Goran Lajic, 28, had been in prison for three months. Tribunal judge Claude Jorda told him he was being released because of a lack of evidence that he was the Goran Lajic suspected of committing war crimes at Keraterm prison camp.
Lajic, arrested in Germany in March and transferred to The Hague last month, consistently claimed that he was not the same Goran Lajic accused by the tribunal of taking part in sadistic beatings at the Keraterm camp in Prijedor, northwest Bosnia, in the summer of 1992.
One of 13 Serbs charged with atrocities at Keraterm, Lajic pleaded not guilty when he appeared before the tribunal in May, saying that he had "never set eyes" on the Keraterm camp. Lajic, wearing a white shirt and blue jeans, told the panel of three judges that it was a case of mistaken identity.
"Your Lordships, I should like to say that this error could happen only because Goran Lajic is a very frequent name in Bosnia Herzegovina. That is the main reason." "From the first day I disagreed with the war and could not understand that I would have to go to war against some people with whom I socialised. So my wife and I agreed to leave the Republika Srpska (Bosnian Serb territory)."
Prosecutor Grant Niemann told the public hearing that he had proceeded against Lajic because he had the same name, birthdate, nationality and religion as the Lajic charged with war crimes. They both also came from the same region and had similar jobs. He admitted, though, that he had had no photograph of Lajic at the time of his arrest in Germany.
One was later found at Lajic's home and included in a photoboard with 11 other faces, but only one witness in ten had been able to identify Lajic and that person was only 90 percent sure of his identity. "As a result...the prosecution believes there is not sufficient evidence to conclude that the accused is the Goran Lajic named in the indictment," it said.
Judge Jorda told the court that the whole episode had been "regrettable" and said the charges against the Goran Lajic named in the indictment, including five counts of murder, remained. The tribunal alleges that between May and August 1992 Serb forces rounded up more than 3,000 Muslims and Croats from the Prijedor district and imprisoned them at Keraterm, a former ceramics factory.
Jorda said that Lajic would be freed from the U.N.'s 24-cell detention centre near The Hague and allowed to return to Germany "with immediate effect." Defence lawyer Timo Fila had asked that Lajic be allowed to go back to Germany because if he returned to Banja Luka he would be arrested for desertion.
The tribunal, set up by the U.N. Security Council three years ago, is the first international body for prosecuting war crimes since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials in the 1950s. It has so far indicted a total of 58 men -- 46 Serbs, nine Croats and three Muslims. It holds seven suspects in its custody, but its two 'Most Wanted' men, Bosnian Serb leaders Radovan Karadzic and General Ratko Mladic, remain at large.
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Key Facts about the War Crimes Tribunal
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia from the United Nations
Coalition for International Justice
Reports concerning human rights abuses in Bosnia published by Intac Access
Major War Criminals/Suspects from CalTech's Bosnia Site
Reports on War Crimes in the Former Yugoslavia from CalTech's Bosnia Site
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