THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 9 (Hina) - A British officer, Philip Watkins, on Tuesday testified before the Hague-based UN tribunal's appeals chamber that General Tihomir Blaskic had not had full control over all units deployed in his area of
responsibility and that European observers had come to the conclusion that the former commander of the (Croatian Defence Council, or HVO) Central Bosnia Operations Zone had not controlled the forces that had perpetrated the April 1993 crime in Ahmici.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Dec 9 (Hina) - A British officer, Philip Watkins,
on Tuesday testified before the Hague-based UN tribunal's appeals
chamber that General Tihomir Blaskic had not had full control over
all units deployed in his area of responsibility and that European
observers had come to the conclusion that the former commander of
the (Croatian Defence Council, or HVO) Central Bosnia Operations
Zone had not controlled the forces that had perpetrated the April
1993 crime in Ahmici. #L#
At the appeals hearing in The Hague, Watkins, a Briton from the
European Community's Monitoring Mission (ECMM) who often met
Blaskic during his deployment in Bosnia, described the defendant as
a professional soldier who had distanced himself from politics and
shown no sign of intolerance towards local Muslims (Bosniaks).
Watkins, who as the head of the ECMM co-ordinating centre in Travnik
also contacted the Muslim side, told the chamber during today's
questioning that Muslim representatives had differentiated
between Blaskic and Bosnian Croat political leaders whom they had
labelled as extremists.
They (Muslims) never accused Blaskic of any war crime. On the other
hand, they often associated Dario Kordic (a former vice president
of the Croat Republic of Herceg-Bosna) with war crimes, the witness
said.
The Briton testified that European monitors had come to the
conclusion that the (Bosnian Croat) military police unit called
Jokers, accountable for the massacre in Ahmici, was under Kordic's
control and that Kordic was Blaskic's superior and gave him
orders.
The witness went on to say that Blaskic was the commander only on the
paper, but in reality had no control over his subordinates on the
ground, because of isolation and some other circumstances.
As a result of impeded communication between some enclaves
controlled by the HVO in central Bosnia, individual leaders
appeared in some pockets. For example, in the area of Kiseljak,
Ivica Rajic was the real commander and Blaskic had no control over
him, the witness said.
Watkins also cited a case of thwarted evacuation of the wounded from
the town of Travnik in mid-1993, when HVO troops told him that they
did not recognise Blaskic's order to let the convoy with the wounded
pass.
Cross-examining the witness, the tribunal's prosecutors said the
communication had existed between Blaskic and units on the ground,
as this was proved by several orders he had sent to the units in
Kiseljak.
The prosecutors claimed that Blaskic had ordered the obstruction of
the work of international representatives in the area, but the
witness said he had no knowledge of it.
The appeals hearing continued behind closed doors with the
questioning of a new witness, whom the defence introduced as a key
witness.
The U.N. tribunal's Appeals Chamber is holding a two-week hearing
on 73 new pieces of evidence which the defence found after the
initial trial and which it claims change the facts outlined in the
verdict.
Blaskic was found guilty on 3 March 2000 and sentenced to 45 years in
jail for war crimes committed in Lasva Valley from mid-1992 to 1994,
the gravest of which was the April 1993 slaughter of some 100
Muslims in the village of Ahmici.
Blaskic has been in detention since 1 April 1996.
(hina) ms sb