Editing Nicholas Ribic

{{Short description|Canadian hostage taker (born 1974)}}
{{Infobox military person
|name          = Nicholas Ribic
|birth_date    = 1974
|birth_place   = [[Edmonton]], [[Alberta]], Canada
|image         = 
|allegiance    = {{flag|Republika Srpska}}
|serviceyears  = 1992–1995
|rank          = Soldier
}}

'''Nicholas "Nick" Ribic''' (born 1974) is a Canadian who fought in the [[Army of Republika Srpska|Bosnian Serb Army]] where he was also known as '''Nikola Ribić'''. In 1995, he took four [[United Nations]] [[peacekeeping|peacekeepers]] hostage and used them as a [[human shield]] to try to force a halt to the [[Operation Deliberate Force|ongoing bombing of Serb-held territories in Bosnia]] by [[NATO]] forces.

He was the first Canadian to be prosecuted for a hostage-taking committed outside the country.<ref name="bail">{{cite news |title=Nicholas Ribich granted bail |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/nicholas-ribich-granted-bail-1.182934 |access-date=March 14, 2020 |work=CBC News |date=May 18, 1999}}</ref> Ribic was charged under a section of the ''[[Criminal Code (Canada)|Criminal Code]]'' of Canada on jurisdiction that had never been used before that allows Canada to claim jurisdiction over kidnapping and hostage-taking offences outside of the country when a Canadian perpetrator or victim is involved.<ref name="post"/>

Ribic's hostage was a fellow Canadian, '''Capt. Patrick Rechner''', working in Bosnia as an unarmed U.N. military observer. The May 1995 worldwide television and newspaper coverage showed the photo of  Capt. Rechner chained to a [[lightning rod]] at an ammunition [[bunker]] in the Bosnian Serb stronghold of [[Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Pale]]. Ribic was in the uniform of a Bosnian Serb soldier, wielding an AK47 rifle, in the company of other Serb soldiers. Held for 24 days, the photo of Capt. Rechner became a symbol of the United Nations' incapacity to deal with Serb military offensives.<ref name=CBC/>

==Hostage taking==
Ribic travelled to [[Republika Srpska]] in 1992, ostensibly because he "want[ed] to fight Muslims".<ref name="post"/> There he joined the Bosnian Serb Army as a volunteer. On May 24, 1995, British General [[Rupert Smith]], leading a United Nations contingent, warned both the [[Bosnian Muslims]] and the [[Bosnian Serbs]] in [[Pale, Bosnia and Herzegovina|Pale]] to cease street fighting and shelling, or risk an [[air strike]] from [[NATO]] aircraft. The Serbian faction ignored the warning and was hit by a retaliatory airstrike which dropped two bombs on their base ten kilometres south of the city the next day.<ref name="post"/>

The day after the bombs were dropped, it is alleged that Ribic and other Bosnian Serbs walked into the United Nations office with [[AK-47]]s and took several staff members hostage, including Russians Capt. Zidlik and Capt. Pavel Teterevsk, and Canadian Capt. Patrick Rechner. They demanded that Major Guy Lavender phone Smith, and subsequently warned the General that bombing of Serb targets had to cease or the hostages would be killed.<ref name="post"/><ref name="serb">"Bosnian Serbs holding peacekeepers hostage", ''[[Toronto Star]]'', May 27, 1995.</ref>

The hostages were taken to the Serbian base south of the city, where Rechner was handcuffed to a lightning rod outside a warehouse being used to store [[Mortar (weapon)|mortar]] rounds. Ribic then allegedly phoned the United Nations and warned that "The three UN observers are at the site of the warehouse. Any more bombings, they'll be the first to go." The prisoners were noted to have been "treated well" during their confinement,<ref>[[Toronto Star]], "Serbs seize 8 Canadians", May 28, 1995</ref> and were voluntarily returned to the United Nations office on June 18.<ref name="post"/>

==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>

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{CanadianWarCrimes}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ribic, Nicholas}}
[[Category:1974 births]]
[[Category:Army of Republika Srpska soldiers]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:People from Edmonton]]
[[Category:Canadian people convicted of war crimes]]
[[Category:Canadian people convicted of kidnapping]]
[[Category:Canadian people of Serbian descent]]
[[Category:People extradited from Germany]]
[[Category:People extradited to Canada]]
[[Category:Prisoners and detainees of Canada]]