THE HAGUE, Nov 21 (Hina) - The defence attorneys of former CO of Central Bosnia Operation Zone Tihomir Blaskic believes that if the Chamber of Appeals is not prepared to acquit their client, a retrial before a different trial chamber
of first instance is the only acceptable outcome, attorney Anto Nobilo said in The Hague before a session of the Chamber of Appeals.
THE HAGUE, Nov 21 (Hina) - The defence attorneys of former CO of
Central Bosnia Operation Zone Tihomir Blaskic believes that if the
Chamber of Appeals is not prepared to acquit their client, a retrial
before a different trial chamber of first instance is the only
acceptable outcome, attorney Anto Nobilo said in The Hague before a
session of the Chamber of Appeals. #L#
At the session, both the prosecution and defence will state their
opinions as to whether new evidence introduced by Blaskic's defence
counsel were sufficient to call a retrial on some or all counts of
the indictment. It is not known when the chamber will make its
decision.
The new evidence, Nobilo said, indicate a different factual
situation. The relevant documents at the time of trial against
Blaskic were unavailable to the defence and the trial chamber
because of non-cooperation of Croatia and Bosnia which did not
provide the documents, which made the fairness of the trial
doubtful.
During the appeals process, Blaskic's attorneys requested on three
occasions in 2001 and 2002 that new evidence and depositions be
introduced, since they satisfied the criteria for mitigating or
acquitting evidence, but which was not available at the time of the
trial.
The court of first instance passed a guilty verdict against Blaskic
on March 3, 2000, and sentenced him to 45 years in prison for war
crimes committed in the Lasva Valley from mid-1992 to 1994, of which
the most grave was the slaughter of Moslems in the village of Ahmici
(Central Bosnia) in April 1993.
(hina) lml sb