WITNESS FOR PROSECUTION TESTIFIES ON LINKS BETWEEN ZAGREB, MOSTAR

THE HAGUE, Sept 15 (Hina) - A senior Bosnian Muslim political official testified as a protected witness for the prosecution in the trial of Mladen Naletilic Tuta and Vinko Martinovic Stela before the Hague war crimes tribunal on Thursday. The witness testified about connections between Zagreb and Mostar, unsuccessful negotiations with the Croat side on coexistence between Herzegovina Bosniaks and Croats and his year-long imprisonment in the Croat-run prison camps. The witness, who met Naletilic only on one occasion, was arrested in May 1993 at the very beginning of the Croat-Muslim conflict in Mostar. He was taken, together with other members of his family, to a prison camp in Mostar, from where he was relocated to another camp and eventually to another one in Ljubuski near Mostar. He was released in March 1994, as of the prisoners to be released last. The witness said he had learned from newspapers and other sources that the Mostar authorities had charged him with "instigating hatred" and sentenced him to 20 years in prison despite the fact that he had never been put on trial on those charges. The witness said the then president of the Bosnia-Herzegovina Presidency, Alija Izetbegovic, had tried to intercede for him with former Croatian President Franjo Tudjman, of which he was informed at a meeting in Medjugorje in June 1993, to which he was taken from prison. The meeting, which tackled the dismantling of prison camps and the release of prisoners from both sides, was attended, along with Croatian and Turkish ambassadors, by Vladimir Seks, Ivo Sanader, Hido Biscevic and Bruno Stojic, the witness said, adding he had had the impression Seks "was running the show in the group." The meeting did not result in any agreement and the prisoners were not released. At the time, there were around 3-4,000 people in Croat camps and around 80 people in the hands of the Bosnian Army. During his imprisonment, the witness said, he was pressured by a representative of the Muslim Democratic Party, Armin Pohara, who visited him once with Radio Mostar director Zlata Brbor, to state that the Bosnian Army was attacking Croats in line with orders by Alija Izetbegovic. The witness also described his meeting with Croatian representatives, headed by Slobodan Praljak, in October 1992 in Prozor, where Croat forces were setting Muslim houses afire. The witness said he had told Praljak that did not have to be done, to which Praljak replied that "Bosniaks in Herzegovina are in for trouble." The witness saw Naletilic only once, at a meeting about Croat- Muslim relations between Mate Boban and Jadranko Prlic. During the meeting, Naletilic interrupted the conversation to say that Herzegovina was made up of "two peoples - Croats and Serbs", and that there were Croats of Catholic and Muslim religion. The witness also said that the Croat side had negotiated with the Serbs on making Bosniaks "disappear" from Herzegovina and that (Bosnian Croat and Serb war-time leaders) Mate Boban and Radovan Karadzic had discussed this at a meeting in Graz. Naletilic did not attend part of the testimony because he had toothache and had to see a dentist. The trial of Mladen Naletilic Tuta and Vinko Martinovic Stela started last Monday. The two are charged with being responsible for crimes committed by the Convicts' Brigade in the Mostar area during 1993. Naletilic was the commander of the brigade and Martinovic the commander of one of its units. (hina) rml