KORDIC-CERKEZ JUDGEMENT - CONCLUSIONS OF TRIAL CHAMBER

THE HAGUE, Feb 27 (Hina) - In its judgement to Dario Kordic and Mario Cerkez, UN's war crimes tribunal in The Hague assessed that documents and witnesses reliably corroborated the prosecution's claim that the Croat Community of Herceg-Bosna (HZ HB) was established with the purpose of separating from Bosnia and Herzegovina and annexing to Croatia. According to the trial chamber, there are countless pieces of evidence to the effect that a persecution campaign against Bosnian Muslims was ongoing in Central Bosnia for the entire period of time covered by the indictment. The indictment says the campaign was led by the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia and Herzegovina party via HZ HB and HVO, the Bosnian Croat Defence Council, and that it was orchestrated from Zagreb. The trial chamber assessed the international character of the Bosniak-Croat conflict in Bosnia was corroborated by testimonies and documents on the intervention of Croat forces in Bosnia. Kordic's guilt for the persecution is considered proven as that of a regional leader who fervently committed to the joint persecution plan by planning, preparing and ordering those parts of the campaign which belonged to his sphere of powers. For the trial chamber it is indisputable that 1992 was marked by the persecution of Central Bosnia Muslims in municipalities where authority had been assumed by HVO, like Busovaca, Novi Travnik, Vares, Kiseljak, Vitez, Kresevo, and Zepca. The persecution was carried out according to pattern, the trial chamber said. Citing documents and witnesses, the chamber assesses it was proved that during 1992 Kordic combined political authority in Central Bosnia, as the Bosnian Croat leader in Lasva Valley, with military powers. Said military powers did not include a formal rank but the status he won thanks to his energy, character and commitment to the Croat issue. The chamber assessed Kordic's role was that of an at least counselling nature in relation to the commander of the Central Bosnia Operative Zone, Lt. Col. Tihomir Blaskic. The chamber holds it was proved that in early 1993, at the outset of Croat-Muslim conflicts in Lasva Valley, Kordic was implicated in an attack on Muslims from Busovaca thanks to audio recordings of his telephone conversations with Blaskic and documents from HVO archives. The court judgement accepted as correct the figure of 104 casualties in Ahmici, including 32 women and 11 children. Contrary to insufficient evidence on Kordic's involvement in the most serious Lasva Valley crime, the Ahmici massacre, the judgement lists witnesses and documents from HVO archives testifying to his and Cerkez's involvement in battles in other Lasva Valley villages on the day of the Ahmici massacre and the day after, as well as in other conflicts in June and October of 1993. An operations diary of the Central Bosnia Operative Zone for instance shows that on 16 April 1993, Kordic and Blaskic spoke on the telephone ten times, exchanging information on battles in the field, as well as that Kordic controlled HVO units. Blaskic's defence during his trial last year claimed that Blaskic, the commander of said operative zone, had been in a communications blockade. Despite a plethora of evidence on close ties between Kordic and military units, the trial chamber assessed his command liability was not proven. The chamber believes his military role was proved but not his control over military units. The chamber believes the command liability was proven in Mario Cerkez's case. The trial chamber did not accept claims by the defence that the Vitez Brigade was not organised, but assessed as proven that it was well organised and that it fought under the undoubted command of Cerkez in the Vitez and Veceriska area. The trial chamber assessed that the prosecution did not prove Kordic's involvement in the killing of 38 civilians in the village of Stupni Do in October 1993. (hina) ha