SIX BOSNIAN CROATS PLEAD NOT GUILTY TO WAR CRIMES CHARGES BEFORE HAGUE TRIBUNAL

THE HAGUE, April 6 (Hina) - In their first appearance before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday, six senior Bosnian Croat wartime leaders pleaded not guilty to all charges of crimes against humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions committed against Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats in Croat-controlled areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina from November 1991 to April 1994.#L# "Your Honour, I am not guilty of any of the 26 counts of the indictment," Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic said separately after Judge Alphonse Orie read a summary and each count of the indictment. Orie said that the six were charged with all the crimes alleged in the indictment, with Pusic being additionally charged with crimes committed in Prozor in October 1992 and Gornji Vakuf in January 1993. The former premier of the defunct self-styled Croatian Republic of Herceg-Bosna, Jadranko Prlic, said he sympathised "with Bosnia-Herzegovina and all its victims mentioned in the indictment". He expressed confidence the court would give him a chance to present "the truth about his role in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that the truth will release him from all the charges". The six defendants were accompanied in the courtroom by their defence counsel. Jadranko Prlic was represented by Camil Salahovic and Zelimir Par. Bruno Stojic, former defence minister of Herceg-Bosna, was represented by Zeljko Olujic, while former Croatian Defence Council (HVO) commanders, generals Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petkovic, were represented by Kresimir Krsnik and Vesna Alaburic respectively. Tomislav Jonjic represented former HVO Military Police commander Valentic Coric and Marinko Skobic represented Berislav Pusic, former head of the Office for the Exchange of Prisoners of War. The entering of pleas was preceded by a two-hour debate on procedural issues regarding a potential conflict of interest with attorneys representing other defendants before the tribunal, as well as an annex to the indictment that remained unsealed until today's session. Attorneys Olujic, Krsnik, Par and Jonjic, who are defending or have defended other indictees before the tribunal, argued that there was no interest of conflict, while Judge Orie said that the issue would remain open pending decision of the trial chamber. As for the annex to the indictment, it was decided after consultations that the document should be unsealed on the condition that it remained confidential because it contained the names of victims of crimes and sites where they were committed. Defendants told the court that they were satisfied with accommodation and that they were feeling fine, while Pusic asked for medical care because he had undergone spine surgery last week. The six are charged on the basis of individual and command responsibility with persecution of tens of thousands of Muslims and other non-Croats, killing of several hundred civilians, rape, destruction of towns and villages, plunder of property, deportation and forced transfer of people, detention of civilians in inhumane conditions, maltreatment and torture of detainees in HVO-run camps and prisons, destruction of religious buildings and terrorising of civilians in predominantly-Muslim east Mostar. They are also accused of crimes committed in the municipalities of Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Capljina and Vares, and the Heliodrom, Vojno, Dretelj and Gabela camps. The defendants allegedly committed those crimes as part of a joint criminal enterprise the aim of which was to ethnically cleanse the territory of Herceg-Bosna in order to annex it to Croatia. The indictment says that the late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman, defence minister Gojko Susak, general Janko Bobetko and Herceg-Bosna president Mate Boban were also involved in the criminal enterprise. (Hina) vm