RETRIAL OF BOSNIAN CROAT GENERAL POSSIBLE?

ZAGREB, Nov 4 (Hina) - The Appeals Chamber of the UN war crimes tribunal at The Hague has convened a session for Nov. 21 to deliberate if new evidence submitted by the defence of Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic justified a retrial. #L# The Appeals Chamber made a decision to that effect on Oct. 31, the tribunal's Zagreb office said upon receiving the decision on Monday. The Appeals Chamber concluded that it was not willing to make a ruling of not guilty without previously reviewing the entire case. It would be more appropriate to re-examine the new evidence in the Blaskic case before a court of first instance, the decision read. Blaskic, a former commander of the Central Bosnia Operations Zone, was sentenced by a court of first instance in March 2000 to 45 years in prison on command responsibility for war crimes committed in central Bosnia, including the April 1993 massacre of 100 Muslims from Ahmici. Blaskic's defence on three occasions in 2001 and 2002 submitted requests for the presentation of new evidence which meets the criteria of mitigating or freeing evidence and which was not available to it during the trial. The Appeals Chamber may order a retrial in line with Article 117 of the Hague tribunal's rules on procedure and evidence. Blaskic has been in prison since 1 April 1996. (hina) ha sb