LATE CROATIAN PRESIDENT'S ADVISER TESTIFIES AT HAGUE TRIBUNAL

THE HAGUE, June 10 (Hina) - A former Croatian presidential advisor on Monday denied the assertion by the Hague war crimes tribunal's prosecution that Croatia had been involved in the Bosnian conflict and had territorial aspirations towards the neighbouring state. #L# Croatia in no way participated in the conflict in Bosnia- Herzegovina, Ivic Pasalic told the UN court. "Quite the contrary, the policy of the Republic of Croatia was to establish and contribute to peace in BH, contribute to bringing the suffering and the war to an end for a whole variety of reasons," he said. Pasalic has been invited to testify as a defence witness in the trial of Bosnian Croats Mladen Naletilic aka Tuta and Vinko Martinovic aka Stela. They are both charged on command and personal responsibility for crimes against humanity, grave breaches of the Geneva conventions, and violations of the law and customs of war committed against Muslim civilians and prisoners in southern Bosnia's Mostar and Jablanica areas in 1993. The Naletilic-Martnovic indictment charges Croatia with involvement in the Bosnian war. The prosecution is proving this, among else, with transcripts of conversations from former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman's office. The defence contests the authenticity of these documents. During examination by defence attorney Kresimir Krsnik, Pasalic denied that Croatia had planned or supervised military operations in Bosnia with the purpose of annexing territory or securing them for Bosnian Croats. "Such claims do not stand at all," he said, adding that Croatia's role had been to care for the victims of the war in Bosnia. Speaking about Croatia's constitutional order, Pasalic said that the late Tudjman "could make only a few decisions on his own." This elicited smiles in the gallery, as did claims that Tudjman could appoint ambassadors only at the foreign minister's proposal. The testimony continues. (hina) ha