DEFENCE: TUDJMAN'S AUTHORITIES, PROSECUTION WITHHELD ACQUITTING EVIDENCE IN BLASKIC TRIAL

THE HAGUE, April 7 (Hina) - The defence for Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic requests the acquittal of the former commander of the Central Bosnia Operative Zone as it believes that recently discovered evidence, which was withheld both by the former Croatian authorities and the prosecution of the Hague war crimes tribunal, indisputably proves Blaskic's innocence, reads an appeal by Blaskic's defence, released by the Hague-based International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY). #L# Tudjman's authorities intentionally withheld and denied the existence of key information and documents which undoubtedly prove Blaskic's innocence, says the revised text of the appeal, released in March. The ICTY is obliged to remove all evidence and protected testimonies from documents prior to their publication. On March 3, 2000 the ICTY found Blaskic guilty and sentenced him to 45 years in prison for war crimes committed in the Lasva Valley between the middle of 1992 and 1994, of which the gravest one is the massacre of some 100 Muslim civilians in the village of Ahmici on April 16, 1993. The appeal to the verdict was lodged on January 15 and the prosecution must respond to it by April 30. According to the defence, the withholding of the acquitting materials was a calculated political decision. Although the materials relieve Blaskic of responsibility, they unanimously implicate members of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina, which was in direct contact with Tudjman's HDZ. In an attempt to hide any connection between Zagreb and the crimes in central Bosnia and without Blaskic's knowledge, Tudjman's authorities cold-bloodedly decided to offer him as a sacrificial lamb, says the defence in the appeal. Noting that Blaskic constantly claimed that the crime in Ahmici was committed by the military police without his knowledge and consent, the defence further says that the documents withheld by Tudjman's authorities clearly prove the authenticity of Blaskic's testimony. Those documents include numerous reports on events in central Bosnia, which the then head of the Croatian Intelligence Service (SIS), Miroslav Tudjman, drew up for his father, President Franjo Tudjman. Those reports, the defence says, identify Dario Kordic, Ignac Kostroman, Ante Sliskovic, Pasko Ljubicic and Vlado Cosic as the persons responsible for planning and commanding the Ahmici crime, which was committed by the military police 4th battalion. None of the documents proves that Blaskic had any role in or previous knowledge of the crimes, the defence says. The Croatian archives also contain an official SIS report about the crime in Ahmici in 1993, which the Hague trial chamber said would most probably have acquitted Blaskic. The fact that he did not submit it as evidence in court casts doubt on the very existence of such a report, the chamber concluded. This report, the defence says, contains the names of those responsible for the crime. The documents which were intentionally withheld by Tudjman's authorities also contain a variety of additional information proving Blaskic's innocence with regard to other crimes he was convicted of, reads the appeal. Blaskic's defence also claims that the acquitting character of the evidence that was withheld by Tudjman's authorities is additionally confirmed by evidence in the possession of the prosecution, which was never presented. In its desire to convict Blaskic and contrary to its duties, the prosecution withheld extensive acquitting materials which prove that Dario Kordic is responsible for most crimes Blaskic was sentenced for, the defence says. The evidence proves the defence's stand that there were parallel lines of command which enabled Kordic to control military units, including the military police, reads the appeal. Blaskic's defence also believes that the trial chamber made a series of factual and legal mistakes which call for the rejection of the ruling of the court of first instance. (hina) rml