LAWYERS OF BOSNIAN CROAT INDICTEE KORDIC CLAIM TRIAL WAS UNFAIR

THE HAGUE, May 17 (Hina) - The Hague war crimes tribunal has not ensured a fair trial for a former political leader of Croats in central Bosnia, Dario Kordic, as the unclear indictment against him and his unequal treatment during proceedings brought about a confusing verdict for crimes that were not proved beyond reasonable doubt, said Stephen Sayers at the beginning of an appeals hearing in the case of Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Monday.#L# Kordic's US lawyer described the indictment as bad, incomplete and equivocal, and claimed that prosecutors were modelling the case during the trial depending on the presentation of evidence. He also accused the prosecutors of intentionally covering up some exculpatory evidence although they were supposed to show it to the defence, too. In this context, Sayers said that the prosecutors kept secret the summary of the testimonies of another ICTY indictee, Tihomir Blaskic, which he had given at hearings behind closed doors when he said that Kordic had not been in the Bosnian Croat Defence Council (HVO) chain of command, that he had not been his superior and that his statements were not binding. After the trial which lasted 240 days, the ICTY trial chamber in Febraury 2001 sentenced Kordic to 25 years in prison and Cerkez, who commanded HVO units in central Bosnia, to 15 years in prison. They were charged with crimes against humanity and violations of laws and customs of war committed during a campaign of persecution of Bosnian Muslims in the Lasva River Valley during the Croat-Muslim conflict in 1992 and 1993. The gravest crime was the massacre of over 100 Muslims (Bosniaks) in the village of Ahmici on 16 April 1993. Both the defence and persecutors appealed against the verdict of the trial chamber. During the three-day appeals hearing which began on Monday before the appeals chamber led by Judge Fausto Pocar, all sides will present their arguments. The prosecutors insisted on a life sentence for Kordic, and appealed against the decision of the trial chamber to acquit Cerkez of the Ahmici crime. On Monday, Kordic's lawyers -- Stephen Sayers, Turner Smith and Mitko Naumovski -- presented their arguments. Cerkez's lawyers -- Bozidar Kovacic and Goran Mikulicic -- will present theirs on Tuesday and the prosecutors, led by Norman Farrell, will do the same on Wednesday. The appeals chamber will make a decision on the matter later on. The verdict is based on hearsay and indirect evidence. The main prosecution witness, known as AT and convicted of murder, admitted that he had lied about his role in Ahmici at the trial, the lawyer Sayers said. The prosecutors must prove beyond reasonable doubt every element of the criminal act or acquittal is ruled. The prosecutors in the Kordic case failed to do so, despite a five-year investigation, assistance offered by the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and four trials on the same crimes previously concluded, Sayers said alluding to the trials of Blaskic, Delalic, Furundzija and Kupreskic. In the courtroom the US lawyer showed copies of two orders for the attack on the village of Ahmici signed by Blaskic, but the signatures were different, from which the lawyer concluded that pieces of key evidence were forged military documents. He stressed that although he was the president of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia-Herzegovina (HDZ BiH), Kordic did not mastermind the campaign of persecution and that he had no role in the HVO chain of command. Kordic and Cerkez have been in custody since 6 October 1997 when they voluntarily surrendered to the UN court. They pleaded not guilty at their initial appearance. (Hina) ms