BLASKIC'S SENTENCE IS ICTY'S MOST DRASTIC SO FAR -- MESIC

ZAGREB, March 3 (Hina) - The sentence read by the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to General Tihomir Blaskic is so far "the Tribunal's most drastic", but is only a first-instance sentence, which means it is not final, Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in Zagreb on Friday. "Until the verdict is final, the defendant is not guilty," Mesic added. Asked whether he expected the sentence to be reduced in the appeals process, Mesic said it was not his custom to comment on court decisions. Asked to comment on the fact that, according to the sentence explanation, Croatia was declared a participant in an international conflict, Mesic said the Croatian army can only cross borders "if such a decision is reached by the commander-in-chief and co-signed by the Parliament president". "The Croatian Parliament never made such a decision because at the time in question I was president of the Parliament, and I never co- signed such a decision," Mesic said. "If somebody used the Croatian army outside Croatian borders, then this was not in line with the Constitution and is an individual responsibility, not that of the Republic of Croatia", he added. Mesic agreed with a reporter's statement that Alija Izetbegovic (chairman of the Presidency of Bosnia-Herzegovina) had called on the Croatian army to intervene in Bosnia-Herzegovina, which had been confirmed by the Split Agreement, but added that this only concerned "the region around Dubrovnik". "I do not know how much his call could be related to the whole of Bosnia-Herzegovina territory," Mesic said, admitting he did not know the details of the agreement, but the issue should be read from it. Asked whether Croatia had complete control over Bosnian Croat troops, as asserted by the trial chamber, Mesic did not want to comment directly, but instead said he was familiar with "the political part, which is that the Croatian HDZ (Croatian Democratic Union) had complete control over the HDZ of Bosnia-Herzegovina". Asked whether he felt personally partially responsible for Blaskic's sentence due to his testament before the Tribunal, Mesic answered negative, adding that he had testified that he had "heard only good about General Blaskic and knew nothing else about him". Mesic was also asked whether this sentence would affect Croatia's future cooperation with the ICTY, especially when taking into consideration the fact that the Tribunal was allegedly looking for some Croatian generals. "The Hague is not looking for Croatian generals; they are looking for war crimes suspects," Mesic said, asserting Croatia's cooperation with the Tribunal would continue. Mesic said he held Croatia should continue to be involved with Blaskic's defence, and asked whether he would advocate that Blaskic should serve a part of his sentence in Croatia, he said this would "certainly be advisable". He said he would "very gladly accept a call to stand as witness when the biggest culprits for the war in this region are tried". "These are Slobodan Milosevic, the leaders of his regime and the leaders of the Yugoslav army, who planned the war, realised it in the most brutal way and introduced into it genocide and war crime," Mesic said. (hina) lml jn