ICTY convicts former Bosnian Muslim commanders of war crimes News
ICTY convicts former Bosnian Muslim commanders of war crimes

[JURIST] A panel of judges at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [official website; JURIST news archive] on Wednesday convicted [press release; ICTY judgment summary] former Bosnian Muslim General Enver Hadzihasanovic and former Brigadier Amir Kubura for their failure to check or punish war atrocities [ICTY case backgrounder] committed against Bosnian Croat and Serb civilians by troops under their command during the Bosnian war from 1992-1995 [JURIST news archive]. The Hague tribunal sentenced Hadzihasanovic to 5 years in jail and Kubura to 2 1/2 years. Although prosecutors urged the court to give 20 years to Hadzihasanovic and 10 years to Kubura for their war crimes, the tribunal elected shorter sentencing, which would take into account time already spent by the men in detention.

The court said that prosecutors had failed to fully persuade the court that the men had complete knowledge of the abuses and retained effective control over all perpetrators, who, in many cases, were non-Bosnian fighters. Reuters has more.

THIS DAY @ LAW

UN General Assembly approves Palestine partition plan

The UN General Assembly approved UN Resolution Resolution 181 (II) on November 29, 1947, recommending that the British Mandate for Palestine be split into a Jewish state, an Arab state, and an international zone for Jerusalem. The vote in the assembly was 33 for to 13 against, with 10 abstentions. The resolution sparked a war between Palestinian Arabs and Jews in 1947 and a wider war after Egypt, Syria, Jordan, Iraq, and Lebanon invaded the new State of Israel in 1948. Read Resolution 181 (II).

UN divided Palestine between Arabs and Jews

On November 29, 1947, the UN General Assembly voted to partition Palestine into Jewish and Arab territories, leading to the establishment of a Jewish state the following year. Read UN General Assembly Resolution 181.

Defense Secretary Robert McNamara resigns during Vietnam Conflict

On November 29, 1967, Secretary of Defense Robert S. McNamara announced that he was resigning from his office to accept an appointment as head of the World Bank. The announcement came as the Vietnam Conflict was becoming increasingly unpopular in the United States and abroad.