Bosnian Muslim Pleads Not Guilty To War Crimes

3 March 2005 -- The wartime commander of Bosnia's Muslim army pleaded not guilty today of culpability for the murder and rapes of Croats and Serbs during the 1992-95 Bosnian war.
Rasim Delic says he had no command responsibility for war crimes.

Prosecutors for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia in The Hague accuse Delic of being responsible for war crimes by foreign fighters under his command. The crimes include the killing of at least 24 Bosnian Croats outside the village of Maline in June 1993. Prosecutors say he failed to take steps to punish the perpetrators.

The indictment says that Delic also failed to prevent crimes at the Kamenica prison camp, where prosecutors say foreign fighters killed Bosnian Serb soldiers and subjected three women to sexual assaults.

(Reuters)