Editing Nicholas Ribic (section)

==Arrest and subsequent trials==
In 2000, the [[Royal Canadian Mounted Police]] traced Ribic down to his new home in Germany, and he was arrested in February. Nine months later, he was [[extradited]] to face charges in Canada,<ref name="bail"/><ref>{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/edmonton-man-accused-of-hostage-taking-returned-to-canada-1.187363 |title=Edmonton man accused of hostage taking returned to Canada |work=CBC News |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20121113190449/http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/story/1999/05/14/ribich990514.html |archive-date=13 November 2012}}</ref> where he was defended by lawyer D'Arcy DePoe.<ref name="press">Thorne, Stephen. [[Canadian Press]], Peacekeeper-Hostage, 2nd Writethru Bgt</ref>

Ribic's trial began in [[Ottawa]], [[Ontario]] on October 8, 2002.<ref name="post">[[National Post]], "Case collapse against Canadian Serb soldier", January 22, 2003</ref> The trial however unraveled three months later when judge Douglas Cunningham of the [[Supreme Court of Ontario]] declared a [[mistrial (law)|mistrial]] on 20 January 2003, after only nine days of testimony.<ref name="CBC">{{Cite news |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/mistrial-declared-in-trial-of-canadian-serb-accused-of-using-un-observers-as-human-shields-1.384525 |title=Mistrial declared in trial of Canadian-Serb accused of using UN observers as human shields |date=January 20, 2003 |work=CBC News |access-date=March 14, 2020}}</ref>
 
Ribic was retried in 2005 for hostage taking and allegedly threatening death. His lawyer, D'Arcy DePoe, called it "one of the most unusual criminal trials in Canadian history" as it was the first time a Canadian had been tried in this manner. "While this is an unusual form of trespass, it is submitted that NATO dropping 2,000-pound bombs on this property was clearly a trespass."<ref>"[https://nationalpost.com/related/topics/story.html?id=586429 Canadian's saga puts NATO strike on trial]" by Adrian Humphreys, [[National Post]], published June 14, 2008; retrieved July 3, 2008.</ref>

This time, there was no mistrial declared and Ribic was convicted and found guilty of [[hostage]] taking and [[threat]]ening death and sentenced to three years in prison. Two witnesses from the [[Canadian Armed Forces]], known only as Witness A and Witness B, were only allowed to testify by transcript during Ribic's 2005 trial.

In 2008, Ribic appealed the decision to the [[Ontario Court of Appeal]]. Ribic's attorney DePoe objected to the fact that the two witnesses from the Canadian Armed Forces were only allowed to testify by transcript.<ref>"Hostage-taker in Bosnia in 1995 can't claim self-defence, Crown argues", Ciara Byrne, [[Canadian Press]], Canoe CNEWS, June 17, 2008; retrieved July 3, 2008.</ref>

The court rejected Ribic's appeal, concluding that Ribic had no connection to the ammunition bunkers that entitled him to defend them from trespassing and that the trial judge's handling of Witness A and Witness B was acceptable.<ref>{{cite news|last=Makin|first=Kirk|title=Court rejects hostage-taker's defence|newspaper=The Globe and Mail|date=November 25, 2008|page=A9}}</ref>