THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - The defence attorney of Bosnian Croat Mladen Naletilic Tuta, Kresimir Krsnik, told the Trial Chamber of the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday that his client committed no
crimes against Moslem citizens in the Mostar area. In his opening speech, Krsnik said that the evidence used by the prosecution to back the indictment was false.
THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, March 26 (Hina) - The defence attorney of Bosnian
Croat Mladen Naletilic Tuta, Kresimir Krsnik, told the Trial
Chamber of the international war crimes tribunal in The Hague on
Tuesday that his client committed no crimes against Moslem citizens
in the Mostar area. In his opening speech, Krsnik said that the
evidence used by the prosecution to back the indictment was false.
#L#
Tuta is charged with the persecution, killing, torture and exile of
Moslems from Moslar in 1993 when he was the commander of the
Convicts' Battalion, as well as the abuse of prisoners at a Mostar
concentration camp.
The defence will prove that Mladen Naletilic is not a person who led
the campaign against Moslems, Krsnik said. He added that the
defence would also prove that the victims in Mostar were not the
result of ethnic cleansing carried out by Croat troops, but the
result of conflicts with victims on both sides.
In his opening speech, Krsnik said that there was no Croat-Moslim
war in Bosnia in 1993, but rather an aggression by the Bosnian Army
against the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), under orders of the
Social Democratic Action party and its president Alija
Izetbegovic. The army attempted to Islamise the areas and improve
its position in international negotiations in Geneva.
He said Naletilic never had a civilian or military commanding role
in Herzeg-Bosnia, and dismissed the prosecution's evidence and
witness testimonies as false and prepared by the Moslem secret
service.
After the opening statement, the defence counsel will call
witnesses. The first testimony will take place at a closed
session.
(hina) lml