After the first half of the trial of Rasim Delic, former commander of the BH Army General Staff, his defense calls for his acquittal of the charges of rape; the prosecution supports the motion


At the Rule 98 bis hearing, General Rasim Delic’s defense urged the Trial Chamber to acquit the former commander of the BH Army General Staff of the rape charges in the indictment, since the prosecution failed to call any evidence during its case to corroborate the allegations.

In his brief argument, Delic’s co-counsel Nicholas Robson stated ‘there is no evidence’ that the three women mentioned in count 3 of the indictment were raped or sexually assaulted in the Mujahideen camp in Kamenica in September 1995.

The prosecution admits ‘there was not enough evidence’ to corroborate the rape charges and agreed that the accused should be acquitted of those charges at this stage in the proceedings.

On 7 December 2007, the prosecution sought leave to withdraw those counts in the indictment, but the Chamber dismissed the motion, considering that the proceedings had gone too far to do that and that the accused had the right to get a judgment on the charges for which some evidence had already been called during the trial.

The Trial Chamber will probably deliver a judgment of acquittal for those counts on Tuesday, 26 February. The defense case will begin on 4 March.

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