Prosecutors and defense reached agreement on Wednesday for Bosnian Serb war crimes suspect Stevan Todorovic to withdraw allegations that the NATO-led force in Bosnia had acted illegally when it seized him in 1998.
Todorovic, former police chief in Bosanski Samac in Bosnia, is charged with involvement in murder, torture, beatings, sexual assault, forced labor, deportations and illegal detention between 1992 and 1993.
The defense at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) here had previously argued that Bosnia's Stabilization Force (SFOR) had acted illegally in kidnapping Todorovic in Serbia in September 1998.
Under the agreement between prosecution and defense, Todorovic will now plead guilty to the charge of persecution -- a crime against humanity -- and in return the prosecution has agreed to demand between five and no more than 12 years imprisonment.
Graham Blewitt, deputy prosecutor at the ICTY told journalists: "Absolutely nothing has been sacrificed."
Shortly after his arrest in 1998, a lawyer for Todorovic said his client had been snatched by "masked attackers" from his Serbian mountain home at Zlatibor, 140 kilometers (85 miles) inside Serbia, then "blindfolded and transferred to Bosnia by boat."
SFOR denied the allegations, saying that Todorovic was "detained" by soldiers under US command at an undisclosed location somewhere in northern Bosnia.
At an ICTY hearing in 1998 shortly after his arrest, Todorovic refused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty to charges of war crimes because, he said, he was too ill after being beaten during his arrest.
"I don't feel well," Todorovic said. "I received a heavy blow to my head during the kidnapping when I was transported from Serbia (to Bosnia) by boat.
"I often have headaches, sickness and vomiting," he told judges. The Bosnian Serb's lawyer, Goran Neskovic, also added to the drama saying: "Todorovic received a blow with a baseball bat over the head during the arrest" -- THE HAGUE (AFP)
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