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THE HAGUE, Netherlands – An apparent clerical error prompted judges to postpone thelong-awaited war crimes trial of former Bosnian Serb militaryleader Ratko Mladic on Thursday, possibly for months. The delay cast a shadow over one of the court's biggest cases— and over the reputation of the court itself, where mostprominent trials have proceeded at a snail's pace, frustrating manyvictims. It also highlighted problems faced by international tribunals inprosecuting sweeping indictments covering allegations of atrocitiesspanning years in countries far from the courts where defendantsface justice. "It is fraught with delay because of the volume of documentationand scope of alleged crimes," Richard Dicker, the director of HumanRights Watch's international justice program, said in a telephoneinterview Thursday. "Add to that the need to translate and itreally takes it to a whole new level of complexity that you don'tsee in domestic trials." Presiding judge Alphons Orie said he was delaying the Yugoslav warcrimes tribunal case due to "significant disclosure errors" byprosecutors, who are obliged to share all evidence with Mladic'slawyers. Orie said judges will analyze the "scope and full impact" of theproblem and aim to set a new starting date as soon as possible. Thepresentation of evidence was supposed to begin later this month. Prosecutors had already acknowledged the errors and did not objectto the delay. Mladic's attorney has asked for six months to studythe materials. Mladic is accused of commanding Bosnian Serb troops who waged acampaign of killings and persecution to drive Muslims and Croatsout of territory they considered part of Serbia during Bosnia's1992-95 war. His troops rained shells and snipers' bullets down on civilians inthe 44-month siege of the Bosnian capital, Sarajevo. They alsoexecuted thousands of Muslim men and boys in Srebrenica, the siteof Europe's worst massacre since World War II. The war itself leftover 100,000 dead. Mladic has refused to enter pleas to the charges but denieswrongdoing. If convicted, he faces a maximum sentence of lifeimprisonment. Court spokeswoman Nerma Jelacic told The Associated Press that muchof the material the defense did not get was about witnessesprosecutors had intended to call to testify before the court'ssummer break. Prosecutors acknowledged the error "could impact onthe fairness of the trial," she said. The tribunal published a letter from prosecutors to Mladic's lawyerthat said the missing documents were not uploaded onto anelectronic database accessible to defense lawyers. "We sincerelyapologize for the inconvenience," it read. Hatidza Mehmedovic, whose husband and two sons were slain by Serbforces during the Srebrenica massacre, said she hoped the delaywould not be too long. "We are worried he won't live to see justice," Mehmedovic said inthe tribunal's lobby as she prepared to make the long trek back toSrebrenica. Her fears are not without reason. Mladic, now 70, suffered threestrokes during his 15 years as a fugitive, his lawyer says. In another case that suffered repeated delays, former YugoslavPresident Slobodan Milosevic died of a heart attack in 2006 beforejudges could deliver a verdict in his trial, which dragged on forfour years. Milosevic was accused of orchestrating deadly conflictsacross the Balkans in the 1990s. The delays in Milosevic's trial were largely caused by his illhealth and his lengthy political grandstanding while acting as hisown defense lawyer. "The script we have seen used for Milosevic's trial is nowrepeating," said Enisa Salcinovic, who said she was attacked bySerb soldiers under Mladic's command. "First, they did not want tocapture him while he was healthy enough to stand a trial and nowwhen he is sick they will let the trial drag on just as they didwith Milosevic." Suspects like Milosevic and his Bosnian Serb counterpart RadovanKaradzic — whose trial is at its half-way stage afterstarting in October 2009 — "seek to use the criminal processas a platform to expound their views and rewrite history in a waythat is favorable to them," said Dicker. The Yugoslav court is not the only war crimes tribunal to suffer.Cases at the International Criminal Court and the trial of formerLiberian President Charles Taylor also have been hit by lengthydelays. The U.N. Security Council set up the Yugoslav tribunal with warstill raging in Bosnia in an attempt to hold the perpetrators ofmassive crimes in the conflict criminally responsible. The move was quickly followed by a similar court dealing with thegenocide in Rwanda as activists pinned their hopes on internationaljustice not only to deter crimes but also to promote reconciliationin countries torn apart by conflict. Temporary tribunals also havesince been set up to deal with crimes in Sierra Leone, Lebanon,East Timor and Cambodia, followed in 2002 by the InternationalCriminal Court, the first permanent war crimes tribunal. Earlier Thursday, prosecutors wrapped up their opening statement inMladic's genocide trial by recounting in chilling detail hisforces' systematic slayings in Srebrenica in July 1995. Mladic's army "carried out their murderous orders with ...dedication and military efficiency," prosecutor Peter McCloskeysaid. Mladic showed no emotion as McCloskey showed video footage of whathe said were the bodies of executed Muslim men piled in front of abullet-riddled wall. McCloskey described how Mladic's forces summoned buses and trucksfrom across Bosnia to transport women and girls out of theSrebrenica enclave. The Muslim men and boys were then driven toremote locations and gunned down by firing squads, their bodiesplowed into mass graves. The remains — sometimes no more than a couple of bones— of 5,977 victims have been exhumed so far, McCloskey said.Estimates of the dead run to 8,000. He showed photographs of an exposed mass grave to underscore thepoint that the victims were not war casualties. One photo showed askull, its teeth exposed and its eyes covered by a blindfold.Another showed a pair of hands bound with a strip of cloth behind abody's back. In a video, Mladic was seen strutting through the deserted streetsof Srebrenica and berating the commander of Dutch U.N.peacekeepers. It was all too much for Mehmedovic, who wept in the court's lobby. "I buried both of my sons and my husband. Now I live alone withmemories of my children," she said. "I would never wish even Mladicto go through what I go through. Not Mladic or Karadzic. Let Godjudge them." In Mladic's former wartime stronghold of Pale, Bosnian Serbs whoregard him as a hero clapped each time he appeared on TV screens incafes. "I'm sorry to see our general being treated like this," saidBosnian Serb Milan Tadic. "We should all be ashamed of allowingthis to be happening to him. He only defended the Serbs. He willalways have support in Pale." ____ Sabina Niksic and Eldar Emric in Sarajevo contributed. We are high quality suppliers, our products such as Sheet Metal Components , Wire Storage Cage Manufacturer for oversee buyer. To know more, please visits Basket Cable Tray.
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