BOSNIAN HDZ PARTY DECRIES WAR TRIBUNAL'S JUDGEMENTS

MOSTAR, Feb 26 (Hina) - The Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) deems the judgement passed by the international war crimes tribunal Monday on Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez as unfair, the party's public relations office stated. The sentence to Kordic and Cerkez, who received 25 and 15 years imprisonment respectively, is "unfortunately in the service of reviewing the character of the past war in Bosnia-Herzegovina". "The faith in the fairness of the Hague-based war crimes tribunal and the good will of the accused Central Bosnian Croats to wilfully surrender to the court was exploited for a collective criminalisation and creation of a public perception that Croats in Bosnia-Herzegovina committed the most crimes and as if there were no crimes committed against Bosnian Croats," the party stated. The HDZ expects the Hague tribunal to undertake resolute measures to bring those most responsible for the war and war crimes in the region of the former Yugoslavia before justice, and to have those most responsible answer for crimes against Croats. The party also expressed hope the tribunal would correct its mistake in the second instance of the trial, and make a fair judgement in the Kordic and Cerkez case. (hina) lml