THE HAGUE, 2 April (Hina) - A former commander of the Bosnian Croat forces (HVO), General Slobodan Praljak, said during a testimony at the trial of Mladen Naletilic Tuta before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Tuesday that the
Croatian Army did not deploy its forces to Bosnia-Herzegovina nor did it send commanders from Croatian ranks to that country. Those were volunteers who of their own accord decided to assist in the defence of Croatian territory from Serb attacks, he said.
THE HAGUE, 2 April (Hina) - A former commander of the Bosnian Croat
forces (HVO), General Slobodan Praljak, said during a testimony at
the trial of Mladen Naletilic Tuta before the Hague war crimes
tribunal on Tuesday that the Croatian Army did not deploy its forces
to Bosnia-Herzegovina nor did it send commanders from Croatian
ranks to that country. Those were volunteers who of their own accord
decided to assist in the defence of Croatian territory from Serb
attacks, he said. #L#
Offensive attacks were the "driving force that compelled me to go to
Bosnia-Herzegovina and assist in organising defence tactics
similar to those in Croatia," said Praljak, the first public
witness called by the defence in the "Naletilic-Martinovic" case.
Praljak came to The Hague with a so-called security pass
guaranteeing that he would be protected against prosecution during
the trial.
One of the arguments by the prosecution is that due to Croatia's
involvement in the war in Bosnia an international conflict was
being waged in the Mostar region, a fact that has been confirmed in
several previous sentences, one of which is final.
Praljak said that on April 10, 1992, he took command over the Mostar
region that encompassed the area from Capljina to Konjic, where he
organised defence tactics to thwart two possible points of advance
by Serb forces - one through Kupres towards Split and the other
through the Neretva valley on to Ploce. An advance in either of
these directions, he said, would have crippled the Croatian defence
and sealed the future of the Bosnian Croat people.
"We came voluntarily and our military activities on that territory
were not commanded by Croatian Army General Janko Bobetko," Praljak
said.
He said that the number of volunteers from Croatia in the HVO did not
exceed 700 or 800 men, of whom 90 per cent were people who came to
"defend their own hearths".
The Hague prosecution has charged Mladen Naletilic Tuta and Vinko
Martinovic in their capacity as commanders of the Convicts'
Battalion and anti-terrorist corps within that battalion for
crimes committed against Muslims in the region of Mostar and
Jablanica in 1993. They have been charged also with the torture of
prisoners at a prison camp at the Mostar heliport. The Convicts'
Battalion has been charged with the expulsion, murder and torture
of the Muslim population from Mostar. Naletilic and Martinovic are
charged with personal and command responsibility for crimes
against humanity and serious violations of the Geneva Convention
and violation of the laws and customs of war.
Praljak, who first went to Bosnia on March 20, 1992, said that he
requested Croatian Army intervention on two occasions - in April
1992 in the Medjugorje region and early autumn 1993 around Stolac,
however, on both occasions the Americans objected.
He said that objections by the international community were aroused
by the fact that volunteers who had previously warred in the
Croatian Army continued to wear this army's symbols. The reason
they kept them was because this marked their military experience.
Questioned about Croatia's territorial pretensions, Praljak said
that "as far as state activities" were concerned, Croatia did not do
anything that could confirm such an assumption.
(hina) sb sp