Tribunal overturns convictions

THE HAGUE, Netherlands - In a blow to prosecutors, the Yugoslav war crimes tribunal overturned the convictions yesterday of three Bosnian Croats sentenced in one of the worst massacres of the Bosnian war.

Calling the trial "critically flawed," the panel ordered the three defendants immediately released and reduced the sentences for two others.

The five were convicted in January 2000 of participating in the 1993 massacres in Ahmici, where more than 100 Muslim civilians, including dozens of women and children, were killed.

It was the first time since the court was created in 1993 that an appeals chamber of the U.N. tribunal threw out the convictions of a lower court and acquitted the defendants.

Within hours of the ruling, two brothers and their cousin were hustled from the U.N. detention center, in Scheveningen, a seaside suburb of The Hague, where they had been held for four years.

Relatives of the defendants hugged each other and cried out in joy at the announcement of the acquittals. The brothers threw their fists in the air in triumph as tears welled in their eyes.

The Ahmici case, based on 1995 indictments, was one of the first that went to trial in The Hague, and reflected the inexperience of the court in dealing with the traumatic testimony of survivors and witnesses of the horrific Balkan wars.

Deputy Prosecutor Graham Blewitt said the prosecution had "come a long way" since the early indictments and "has learned a lot since then." The acquittal will enhance the court's image as fair and impartial, Blewitt told The Associated Press.