[JURIST] War crimes suspect Vinko Kondic [case materials] pleaded not guilty [press release] Monday in the War Crimes Chamber [HRW backgrounder] of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina to crimes against humanity and incitement to genocide charges allegedly committed during the Bosnian war. A former police deputy for the Prijedor region, Kondic is suspected of overseeing the torture, murder, and forced relocation of Muslims and Croats. Kondic was indicted [text] March 4 under Articles 172 and 176 of the Criminal Code of Bosnia and Herzegovina [PDF text].

Kondic's case came before the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina [official website] through a deal with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] to lighten the ICTY case load. Under the ICTY's completion strategy [ICTY materials], all trials are supposed to finish this year, and all appeals are scheduled to finish by the end of 2010. AP has more.