SERB TERRORIST NICHOLAS RIBICH AWAIST JUSTICE IN CANADIAN COURTROOM

OTTAWA - A Canadian peacekeeper who was chained to a lightning rod as a hostage against NATO bombing in Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1995 testified Tuesday that a Canadian-born Serb - member of Bosnian Serb forces - took him captive.

Capt. Patrick Rechner, who was an unarmed United Nations observer when he was taken hostage on May 26, 1995, described how Nicholas Ribich and several other Bosnian Serbs entered his office in Pale outside Sarajevo on that day.

"I'd met him before but this was the first time I saw him in a uniform and a helmet," Rechner said of Ribich, who was in the courtroom. "He told me in a stern voice to sit down."

Rechner, 39, looked similar to the televised images from 1995 that showed him chained as a human shield against NATO air strikes.

Ribich faces four terrorist hostage-taking charges.

Ribich is accused of being part of the Serb terrorist unit that abducted Rechner and a Czech peacekeeper after a NATO strike outside Sarajevo, then held them for 24 days as insurance against further bombing.

Rechner testified that Ribich and the others took them to a military compound several kilometers (miles) away from Pale, a Bosnian Serb stronghold.

Prosecutor Peter Lamont showed video clips of Rechner chained to the lightning rod next to what the captain described as a Bosnian-Serb bunker filled with mortar rounds.

Other UN observers were shown chained to bunker doors and lightning rods. Rechner said the tape was shot by one of his captors.

Lamont played an audio tape in which Rechner's voice could be heard over a crackling radio saying: "If the bombing starts again, I have been instructed to tell you that we will die for the sake of NATO. Over."

Rechner said he made the transmission on instructions from a Serb officer.

Ribich, 28, was released on bail in 1999, when his father, Peter, posted a $150,000 bond and $50,000 cash.

He has been living with his father in Edmonton, where he was prohibited from holding a passport and leaving an area within 80 kilometers of the city.

FAIR USE COPYRIGHT NOTICE: This site may contain copyrighted material the use of which has not always been specifically authorized by the copyright owner. We are making such material available in our efforts to advance understanding of scientific, historical, educational and terrorism related issues. We believe this constitutes a fair use of any such copyrighted material as provided for in section 107 of the United States Copyright Law. In accordance with Title 17 U.S.C. Section 107, the material on this site is distributed without profit to those who have expressed a prior interest in receiving the included information for research and educational purposes. If you wish to use copyrighted material from Serb Terrorism Research Center for purposes of your own that go beyond fair use, you must obtain special permission from the copyright owner.