A Bosnian Croat who was shot by Nato troops while resisting arrest has pleaded not guilty to war crimes at the tribunal in The Hague. Vlatko Kupreskic is accused of taking part in a massacre in central Bosnia in 1993. From The Hague, Gillian Sharpe reports:

Although he walked into court unaided, it's taken Vlatko Kupreskic almost a month to recover sufficiently to make this first appearance. He was shot and injured by Nato troops in December at his home near Vitez as he resisted arrest.

Shaking his head and sighing deeply, he told judges that he was absolutely not guilty to all the charges. He wasn't clear, he said, why he was being named.

The charges relate to a massacre in central Bosnia

Along with five others, including his two cousins, Mr Kupreskic is accused in connection with the 1993 massacre in the central Bosnian village of Ahmici. More than a hundred Muslim civilians, including women and children, were killed.

The 40-year-old Mr Kupreskic, who lived in Ahmici, is individually charged with shooting and killing a woman who was trying to escape to the forest along with her family.

"I neither had the occasion to do such a thing," he said, "nor the opportunity, nor the courage, nor the interest."

All those charged in the Ahmici indictment are likely to be tried together. No date was set but it could be many months away.
 

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