If the Trial Chamber decides that the accused is not competent to stand trial and orders the trial suspended, it seems likely that will spell the end of the Dubrovnik indictment with its three accused – General Strugar, Vice admiral Jokic and Captain Kovacevic a/k/a Rambo.


The Trial Chamber has accepted the request of General Strugar’s defense that a hearing be held to determine whether the general is competent to stand trial. The outcome of the hearing will decide whether the trial for the shelling of the Old Town of Dubrovnik in December 1991 will continue or whether it will be suspended before the conclusion of the prosecution case.

At the beginning of the trial last December, the defense filed a report made by its psychiatric expert claiming that the accused suffered from vascular dementia, depression and post-traumatic stress disorder and was therefore unable to follow the proceedings and understand what was happening in the courtroom. The Chamber, however, ordered the trial to continue, delaying its ruling on the competency of the accused until it received the report of the prosecution’s experts.

That report was filed last week, and its conclusion is that the accused is competent to stand trial, despite symptoms of dementia not unusual in people of his age. The defense, however, labeled the report "perfunctory and one-sided" and sought a hearing and an opportunity to cross-examine the prosecution’s psychiatric experts. The prosecution claimed that no hearing was necessary and that the experts’ reports are sufficient for the Chamber to rule whether the accused is competent to stand trial.

But the Chamber decided to hold a hearing, calling on the defense and the prosecution to put at least one expert each in the witness stand who will then be cross-examined by the other side. The hearing should last one workday. The date of the hearing was not set today, but as presiding judge Kevin Parker pointed out, it should be held as soon as possible since the issue of the competency of the accused "has been before the Trial Chamber too long already."

If the Trial Chamber decides that the accused is not competent to stand trial and orders the trial suspended, that will, it seems, spell the end of the Dubrovnik indictment. In addition to General Pavle Strugar, there are other two accused: Vice admiral Jokic and Captain Vladimir Kovacevic a/k/a Rambo. Jokic pleaded guilty and was sentenced to seven years in prison without a trial, while Captain Rambo has been declared incompetent to stand trial and is expected to be sent to a closed psychiatric institution for treatment soon.

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