MESIC, TOMCIC ON HAGUE TRIBUNAL JUDGEMENTS FOR KORDIC, CERKEZ

ZAGREB, Feb 26 (Hina) - Commenting on the judgements the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague passed on Monday in the cases of Bosnian Croats Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez, President Stipe Mesic said he did not usually comment on court judgements, particularly not judgements of the court of the first instance. Kordic, once vice president of a self-proclaimed Bosnian Croat state, was sentenced to 25, and Cerkez, former commander of the Vitez Brigade, to 15 years in prison. Mesic told Croatian Radio he hoped the judges with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia had taken into consideration every aggravating and mitigating circumstance and passed a fair judgement. "We shall see if it is fair after the appeal," he said. Mesic added he was confident Tihomir Blaskic, a Bosnian Croat last year sentenced by the Hague tribunal to 45 years in prison, would have his sentence reduced with a court of the second instance ruling. Parliamentary speaker Zlatko Tomcic commented on the Kordic and Cerkez judgements by saying he was puzzled as to why the reasons for the judgements mentioned Croatia's involvement in the Bosnian conflict last decade. "I am surprised that the reasons for the judgements could even mention the Croatian armed forces and an international conflict in BH (Bosnia and Herzegovina) in which Croatia took part," he said, stressing Croatia "evidently didn't participate" in that conflict. (hina) ha sb