[JURIST] Former commander of the Bosnian army during the 1992-1994 Bosnian civil war [JURIST news archive] Rasim Delic [ICTY backgrounder, PDF; Trial Watch profile] died Friday of cancer in his home. Delic was awaiting a decision from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website, JURIST news archive] on his appeal from his 2008 conviction [JURIST report]. Delic was found guilty of cruel treatment for failing to prevent abuses committed by his army detachment to detained Bosnian Serb Army soldiers, although he did not order them. He was sentenced [press release] to three years in prison after a majority of the trial chamber judges found Delic "to have had imputed knowledge of these crimes, as opposed to actual knowledge."

Delic is one of the highest-ranking Bosnian military leaders to stand trial before the tribunal. The ICTY trial of former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic [case materials; JURIST news archive] resumed earlier this week after multiple delays. In March, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon [official website] said [transcript] that the ICTY will continue to operate [JURIST report] beyond its originally planned end of 2010 until 2013 because two high-ranking subjects remain at large. The ICTY has indicted 161 political and military officials since its creation in 1993.