UN APPEALS COURT ACQUITS BOSNIAN HERO NASER ORIC OF ALL WAR CRIMES CHARGES

THE HAGUE, The Netherlands (July 3,2008) - A U.N. appeals court today overturned the war crimes conviction of Bosnian war hero Naser Oric,the commander of the Bosnian Army in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.

Oric,41,had been convicted in 2006 of failing to prevent subordinates from killing six genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's soldiers captured and held by the Bosnian Army in 1992 and 1993 in Srebrenica.

However,judges gave him a lenient two-year sentence and ordered his immediate release because of time spent in custody.

But appeals judges went even further, overturning both convictions because the original trial failed to establish that Oric had control over Bosnian forces responsible for the killings of six captured genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's soldiers.

"The appeals chamber reverses Naser Oric's conviction," said judge Wolfgang Schomburg of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, (ICTY) based in The Hague.

The court emphasized that "proof that crimes have occurred is not sufficient to sustain a conviction of an individual for these crimes."

The court criticised the fact that the perpetrators then had not been sufficiently identified. So it could not be proven whether they had in fact been under Oric's command.

Oric stared ahead without showing any emotion as the judgment was read and then bowed briefly to judges before sitting down. Outside court, he hugged friends and his lawyer before walking out the front door a free man.

"Of course I am very happy," he said.

His lawyer, Vasvija Vidovic, said the acquittal was no surprise.

"Anyone who followed the trial could expect the result that he is not guilty," she said.

Oric said he was not bitter about spending nearly three years in pretrial custody, only to ultimately be found not guilty on all charges. "It was my destiny," Oric said.

Oric led the heroic defense of the Srebrenica enclave against attacks from the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's forces from early in the war. In 1995, the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's forces stormed a U.N.-declared "safe haven" in Srebrenica and mass murdered some 10,000 Bosnian civilians,which was Europe's worst civilian massacre since World War II.

Oric defended the actions of all Bosnian soldiers in the enclave, saying they were in a desperate situation.

"I don't think they really committed crimes," he said outside court. "We were under siege. We were just fighting to survive and fighting for our lives."

One of the genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's commanders,Serbian war criminal Radoslav Krstic, has already been sentenced to 35 years after a conviction on genocide charges.

The commander of the genocidal paramilitary fascist forces of the Serbians living in Bosnia (VRS), Ratko Mladic - also charged with genocide for the Srebrenica mass murders - is believed to be hiding in the genocidal Serbia.

Munira Subasic, head of the Mothers of Srebrenica Association, said Oric's innocence was obvious from the start.

"He was himself the victim of genocide" as 22 members of his family members had been murdered by Serbs, Subasic said.

"The fact that the court even indicted him for war crimes made us all believe it had become unjust."

In March 1995 Naser Orić was awarded the "Golden Lily", the highest award given by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Bosnian Army.


Bosnian war hero Naser Oric (R) and his lawyer Vasvija Vidovic sit in the courtroom of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) as he waits for the judgement on his appeal in The Hague July 3, 2008. Oric, wartime commander of Srebrenica, was acquitted of all war crimes charges including the killings of six genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's soldiers captured and held by the Bosnian Army in 1992 and 1993 in Srebrenica.


Bosnian war hero Naser Oric, right, and his lawyer Vasvija Vidovic, left, are seen in the courtroom of the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal in The Hague, Netherlands, Thursday July 3, 2008. A U.N. appeals court has overturned the war crimes conviction of Oric and acquitted him of all war crimes charges including the killings of six genocidal Serbian fascist aggressor's soldiers captured and held by the Bosnian Army in 1992 and 1993 in Srebrenica.


Bosnian war hero Naser Oric smiles as he leaves the ICTY building after his release in the Hague July 3 2008. The U.N. war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Thursday overturned the conviction of the commander of the Bosnian Army in the eastern Bosnian town of Srebrenica,during the 1992-1995 Serbian aggression against Bosnia.


Bosnian war hero Naser Oric, the former commander of the Bosnian Army in Srebrenica, is photographed near Tuzla in 1995.In March 1995 Naser Orić was awarded the "Golden Lily", the highest award given by the Chief of Staff of the Supreme Command of the Bosnian Army.
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UNESCO WARNS BOSNIA OVER MOSTAR OLD BRIDGE

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 3,2008) - The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO) is threatening to remove the Mostar Old Bridge from the world heritage list.Now,authorities in the southern Bosnian city of Mostar have asked the state government to help them keep the famous Old Bridge on the UNESCO world heritage list.

Mostar Old Bridge’s position on the list has been jeopardised by the construction of a nearby hotel, which according to UNESCO violates the bridge’s original surrounding. The latest attempt to reach a compromise between the UNESCO, city authorities and the hotel owner appear to have been unsuccessful.

City authorities, Mostar mayor Ljubo Beslic and the president of the City Assembly, Murat Coric, told Bosnian media they would send a letter to state officials asking their support ahead of the UNESCO World Heritage Committee meeting in Canada on July 2-8.

Mostar’s Old Bridge (Stari Most), is one of the most beautiful single-span stone bridges in Bosnia, originally constructed in 16th century. It was fully reconstructed in line with original blueprints and materials in 2003. Ever since, the Old Bridge attracted millions of Bosnian and foreign tourists.

In July 2005, the Old Bridge was placed on UNESCO’s World Heritage list, yet its position there was soon jeopardized by the reconstruction works on the nearby Ruza hotel. UNESCO experts claimed that architecture and height of the hotel violated the bridge’s original surrounding.

Reconstruction works on the hotel were halted by city authorities in 2006 but the city authorities repeatedly failed to find a compromise between UNESCO requirements ,which included the removal of the top fourth floor of the Ruza hotel ,and hotel owner, local businessman Emir Keco, who had already obtained all the necessary documentation for the works.

Keco even threatened to press charges against city authorities for damages worth as much as 50 million Bosnian Marks (25 million Euros) due to the two-year delay in the hotel’s reconstruction.
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BOSNIAN NATIONAL AIRLINE SEEKS STRATEGIC INVESTORS

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 3,2008) - The FBIH Entity Privatisation Agency said yesterday it had opened an international tender for a 49 percent stake in the Bosnian national carrier, BH Airlines.

The government of the FBIH entity currently holds a 99.87 percent stake in BH Airlines. The remaining 0.13 percent is held by the largest Bosnian engineering company Energoinvest.

Previously called Air Bosnia, the company went bankrupt in 2003 but resumed operations in 2005 with government help. Last year it transported 70,000 passengers.
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SHELL OIL COMPANY INTERESTED IN BOSNIA'S OIL DEPOSITS

TUZLA, Bosnia (July 3,2008) - The Tuzla Canton PM Enes Mujic was host to a delegation of specialist consultant companies from the UK and Canada. The companies are carrying out an oil market research on behalf of the Shell Oil Company. The Tuzla University is also involved in this research.

The purpose of this visit was to obtain the basic information about Bosnia’s oil potential. Mujic said that regional government would give full support to this research project, especially in the light of demand for petroleum of the local chemical industry. The Canton is also rich in coal and salt.

Shell Oil Company is the United States-based affiliate of Royal Dutch Shell, a multinational oil company of Anglo Dutch origins, which is amongst the largest oil companies in the world.

Dean of the Faculty of Technology and Mining in the northern Bosnian town of Tuzla, Abdulah Basic, told Bosnian media recently that some 500 million tonnes of oil could be located in several locations in northern Bosnia as well as further in southern Bosnia at the depth of between 4,000 and 6,000 metres.

One of the biggest Bosnian construction firms, Energoinvest, carried out a research which proved the existence of oil pools in the northern region of Posavina, as well as in several locations in the south.

Basic says that Energoinvest has the original report which indicates that Bosnia may have oil resources as big as Saudi Arabia or Iraq.

According to several Bosnian experts, British Petroleum, BP and American Oil Company, AMOCO, now also part of BP, were interested in potential oil resources in Bosnia before the 1992-1995 Serbian,Montenegrin and Croatian aggressions against Bosnia.

Yet,after the end of the war, neither the Bosnian government nor international companies showed interest to continue with the research. However this is changing now with the recent skyrocketing of oil prices on global markets.

“First barrels of oil from Bosnia could be excavated as soon as the next 15 years, under the condition that local governments start showing an interest in this,” Basic stated.
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BOSNIA OBJECTS TO FORBES' ESTIMATES

SARAJEVO, Bosnia (July 3,2008) - "The way that Bosnia was presented in a report by the Forbes magazine is a disgrace", director of the Bosnian Foreign Investment Promotion Agency (FIPA) Haris Basic said yesterday.

In the latest Forbes list of best countries for business, Bosnia was ranked 101st among 120.

"The data presented by the Forbes magazine are in fact information from the World Economic Forum report on competitiveness, and contain many inaccuracies. Furthermore, Bosnia has significantly less than 4.6 million citizens that Forbes editors claim it has, which changes conclusions about the GDP per capita, and some other indicators," Basic said.
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