Rasim Delić

Rasim Delić (4 February 1949 – 16 April 2010) was the chief of staff of the Bosnian Army. He was a career officer in the Yugoslav Army but left it during the breakup of Yugoslavia and was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia for failing to prevent and punish crimes committed by the El Mujahid unit under his command. He was sentenced to 3 years in prison.

Career Yugoslav People’s Army Delić began his military career in the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA) on 1 October 1967 at the Military Academy for land forces, graduating on 31 July 1971. From 1971 to September 1984, he served in an artillery battalion of the JNA based in Sarajevo, commanding the unit from October 1980 onward.

From September 1984 to August 1985, Delić served as Chief of Staff and Deputy Commander of a joint artillery regiment.

Post military and retirement Delić commanded the Army of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina until his retirement in 2000.

He also co-founded the Udruženje za zaštitu tekovina borbe za Bosnu i Hercegovinu (Association for the Protection of the Heritage of the Struggle for Bosnia and Herzegovina).

War crimes indictment Delić was charged with war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and was subsequently sentenced to three years in prison.

The Trial Chamber convicted him for failing to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers. This treatment was perpetrated by members of the El Mujahid, which was under his command. The events occurred in the village of Livade and the Kamenica camp near Zavidovići in July and August 1995.

Following the verdict, Delić remained in the ICTY's Detention Unit pending the appeal process.

History and the charge Foreign mujahideen arrived in central Bosnia in the second half of 1992 with the aim of helping their Bosniak coreligionists by conducting jihad against enemies of Bosnian Muslims during the Bosnian War.

The ICTY Appeals Chamber in the Kubura and Hadžihasanović case noted that the relationship between the ARBiH 3rd Corps, headed by Hadžihasanović, and the El Mujahid Detachment was not one of subordination but was instead close to overt hostility, since the only way to control the detachment was to attack them as if they were a distinct enemy force.

Soldiers of the El Mujahid Detachment committed various war crimes and engaged in cruel treatment of Serb and Croat soldiers, mainly prisoners.

Examples include the following:

According to the indictment, on 8 June 1993, the same day Delić was appointed Commander of the ARBiH Main Staff, the ARBiH captured 200 Croatian soldiers who surrendered after battles in and around the village of Maline. The captured soldiers were ordered by the Military Police of the ARBiH 306th Mountain Brigade to march towards the nearby settlement of Mehurići. Near the village of Poljanice, they met a group of around ten mujahideen who took a group of about twenty Croat soldiers and one woman and ordered them to return to Maline. There, they were all ordered to stand in line and were subsequently killed. The indictment alleged that Delić was informed about these crimes but did nothing to prevent them or punish the perpetrators. On 21 June 1995, two soldiers of the Army of Republika Srpska (Momir Mitrović and Predrag Knežević) were captured and soon afterwards beheaded Another group of ten Serbian soldiers was captured on 10 September 1995 and subjected to torture for a period of twelve days.

The prosecution alleged that Delić knew the mujahideen and other soldiers of his army intended to commit these crimes, knew that the Kamenica Camp was a likely location for them, and did nothing to prevent them.

Trial and verdict On 15 September 2008, after a trial of approximately eleven months, the ICTY) rendered its judgment in the case of Delić. He was twice granted provisional release to Bosnia: once in May 2005 and again on 11 December 2007.

The prosecution requested a sentence of fifteen years in prison, while the defense requested an acquittal, arguing that his guilt had not been proven. The defense claimed that during the time in question, Delić did not have control over the Mujahideen and was therefore not in a position to stop or punish them.

The Trial Chamber acquitted Delić of crimes committed against Croatian soldiers in Maline, as he had been appointed commander on the day the crimes occurred. He was also found not guilty of cruelty and murder in the village of Kesten and the Kamenica Camp, where Mujahideen forces killed one elderly man and 52 Serbian soldiers and tortured 10 others. He was found guilty on a single charge: failure to prevent or punish the cruel treatment of twelve captured Serb soldiers in the village of Livade and in the Kamenica camp. He was acquitted on all other counts.

Delić was sentenced to three years in prison, with 488 days already served in detention credited toward the sentence. He was survived by his wife, Suada, as well as his two sons and four grandchildren.

Publications Čast je braniti Bosnu (2002) Armija Republike Bosne i Hercegovine – nastanak, razvoj i odbrana zemlje (2007) 101 ratna priča (2010)