CROATS FROM DRVAR PROTEST AGAINST BLASKIC'S SENTENCE

DRVAR, Mar 6 (Hina) - Several thousand Croat refugees from central Bosnia currently living in Drvar, a municipality in south-western Bosnia-Herzegovina, gathered on Monday for a peaceful meeting in the central town square, expressing protest against the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and disbelief at the 45-year imprisonment sentence the Tribunal imposed on general Tihomir Blaskic. The meeting was organised by civil and military associations formed during the Bosnian Croats' Homeland War. The head of the local Association of Homeland War Volunteers, Stipe Lucic, said that the Bosnian Croats, who "protected their children and their ancestral homes in central Bosnia, surrendered voluntarily to The Hague, confident that they would prove their innocence and convince the world of the suffering of the Croat population in the region." However, Lucic said, "the Hague Tribunal has not only sentenced general Blaskic but the whole Croat people." Lucic expressed belief general Blaskic's sentence would be re- examined and annulled because, he said, Blaskic was innocent. Blaskic's embittered fellow-soldiers, who together protected Vares, Kakanj, Kiseljak and other towns in central Bosnia and are currently living in Drvar with their families, demanded that the ICTY try those responsible for crimes committed against Croats. (hina) mm rml