[JURIST] The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) [official website] announced Thursday that Vidoje Blagojevic [ICTY case backgrounder, PDF] has requested a new trial. Blagojevic, former commander of the Bratunac Brigade of the Bosnian Serb Army, claims that he had little access to his defense counsel and was prevented from testifying on his own behalf. AP has more.

The ICTY convicted Blagojevic of complicity in genocide; aiding and abetting the persecutions, killings and forcible transfer of Bosnian Muslims and sentenced Blagojevic to 18 years imprisonment [JURIST report] for his role in the 1995 Srebrenica massacre [BBC timeline; JURIST news archive]. Blagojevic's sentence was reduced to 15 years when the ICTY Appeals Chamber reversed [judgment summary; JURIST report] his conviction of complicity in genocide, holding that Blagojevic should have been acquitted on those charges because he was not aware that the massacre was going to take place.