PROSECUTION, DEFENCE UNHAPPY WITH JUDGEMENT FOR KORDIC, CERKEZ

THE HAGUE, Feb 26 (Hina) - The international war crimes court's prosecution voiced dissatisfaction Monday with the judgement and sentence passed to former vice president of the Croat community of Herzeg-Bosnia, Dario Kordic, assessing the sentence is inadequate given the gravity of crimes of which Kordic was found guilty. Prosecutor Ken Scott told reporters after consultations with the Chief Prosecutor, the sentences were "light" in view of the committed crimes. The Hague-based war crimes tribunal on Monday sentenced Dario Kordic to 25 years, and the former commander of the Vitez Brigade, Mario Cerkez, to 15 years in prison for the persecution of Moslems in Central Bosnia in 1993. Dario Kordic's defence attorney Mitko Naumovski said the judgement was a compromise between claims of the prosecution and the defence. He remains adamant his client is not guilty of crimes of which he has been found guilty, and assessed if Kordic was really guilty for Ahmici, the sentence would be inappropriately low. Kordic's American attorney Stephen Sayers said the defence is happy with the fact its view that Kordic was not a military commander and did not belong to the highest Bosnian Croat authority echelons was accepted, but is unhappy with the dismissed thesis that there was a civil war going on in Central Bosnia. Both the defence and prosecution have announced they would make a decision on the judgement after they receive the entire text of the judgement. (hina) lml sb