The Boston Globe Online CRISIS IN KOSOVO / WAR CRIMES COURT Leader of prison convicted, then freed Bosnian Croat said to allow deaths By Mike Corder Associated Press, 05/08/99 THE HAGUE - A Bosnian Croat prison camp commander was convicted yesterday of letting Muslim inmates be beaten to death or used as human shields, and he wept as he was ordered to be freed because he had already served his sentence. Zlatko Aleksovski, 39, put his face in his hands and wiped away tears as he heard he would be released by the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal because the time he spent in jail before and during his trial was longer than the 30-month sentence imposed by the UN court for his single war crimes conviction. ''Never have I hated anyone,'' Aleksovski said after hearing the verdict. ''Never have I wanted to play a part in inflicting anything bad on anyone. I was, I am, and I wish to remain a citizen of mankind.'' The three-judge panel found Aleksovski guilty of participating in a Bosnian Croat campaign to drive Muslims out of the central Bosnian Lasva River Valley in 1993. At Kaonik camp, where Aleksovski was commander, Muslim prisoners were beaten to death during interrogation sessions while others were ordered to dig trenches for Bosnian Croat forces or deployed as human shields, according to the charge Aleksovski was convicted of. He was acquitted of two charges of violating Geneva Conventions covering the same crimes after the tribunal ruled the conventions, which protect civilians and prisoners of war, were not applicable because the conflict that pitted Bosnian Muslims against Croats in central Bosnia was a civil war. The Geneva Conventions, drawn up after World War II, only apply in international conflicts. Aleksovski's attorney, Goran Mikulicic, said the ruling that there was no international armed conflict at the time of Aleksovski's crime could lead to the dropping of similar charges against other Bosnian Croats indicted for ordering or carrying out atrocities. But prosecutor Brenda Hollis told the presiding judge she was planning to appeal. She probably will challenge the length of Aleksovski's sentence - the shortest passed by the tribunal - and his two acquittals. During his 12-week trial, Aleksovski said he had no power to stop atrocities at the camp and did his best to alleviate the suffering of hundreds of prisoners. Set up in 1993 to bring to try those accused of committing atrocities in wars since the breakup of the former Yugoslavia, the court has convicted and sentenced three other Bosnian Croats for war crimes in Bosnia. It has also jailed one Bosnian Serb and two Muslims for atrocities. One Bosnian Muslim has been acquitted. This story ran on page A09 of the Boston Globe on 05/08/99. � Copyright 1999 Globe Newspaper Company.
