ICTY PROSECUTORS DEMAND LIFE SENTENCES FOR KORDIC, CERKEZ - EXTENDED

THE HAGUE, Dec 15 (Hina) - Prosecutors with the Hague war crimes tribunal on Friday requested life sentences for a former vice- president of the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia, Dario Kordic, and a former commander of the Vitez brigade, Mario Cerkez, who are charged with war crimes in the areas of Herzeg-Bosnia (Kordic) and Vitez (Cerkez). The prosecution believes that life sentences are adequate, Geoffrey Nice, prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY), said upon the completion of the summation by Kordic's defence. Defence attorneys for the former vice-president of the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia previously called on the trial chamber to acquit their client of any guilt, as, they said, the prosecution had failed to prove he was guilty. He should be acquitted because he is not guilty, defence attorney Stephen Sayers said. According to Sayers, the prosecution has failed to prove the high degree of Kordic's control as a civilian which is necessary for the establishment of his liability for crimes committed by his subordinates. Sayers recalled judgements by the International tribunal for crimes committed in Rwanda which define such control as the implementation of clear and final control both de iure and de facto, over any attacker who committed a crime. Kordic's other defence attorney Turner Smith said Croats in central Bosnia had not persecuted Muslims on ethnic grounds but carried out defence operations. Persecution is an elastic concept with a high threshold which must be reached with evidence and the prosecution has failed to do it, Smith said. What happened between the two ethnic groups is a matter of politics and not criminal liability, the US attorney said. The crimes in Ahmici or Stupni Dol do not constitute wide-spread and systematic persecution but are ad hoc crimes, Turner said contesting the prosecution's assessment that what happened in central Bosnia was ethnic cleansing. The reality of that area is that more than 100,000 Croats were expelled and it is therefore not true that Croats persecuted Muslims but Muslims persecuted Croats, Smith said recalling that 100,000 Croats had been expelled from central Bosnia while the others remained squeezed in four enclaves. That is a reality history will record, he said. Defence attorney Mitko Naumovski said his client had had no military or civilian powers. Kordic was not in the position to make important, strategic decisions nor did he hold any military or administrative offices of the highest rank, he said. Kordic's orders to the artillery in January and February of 1993 were a consequence of the 'confused situation' in the Busovaca area, Naumovski said. The defence is concerned that their client has been exposed to a media campaign over the past years and that "conspiracy against the tribunal", including defence attorneys from some other cases and Croatian state officials, is at work, he said. Cerkez's defence attorneys said in their summation the prosecution had failed to prove that the Vitez brigade had ever been in Ahmici and taken part in the crime in which over a hundred Muslim civilians were killed on April 16, 1993. The defendant cannot be responsible for crimes committed by other parts of the Croat Defence Council (HVO) in 1992 and 1993 just because he was an HVO commander, attorney Bozo Kovacic said. There is barely any direct evidence and too much circumstantial evidence, Kovacic added. Presenting their summation on Thursday, the prosecution told the trial chamber Kordic and Cerkez had had decisive influence on the policy and attacks which led to ethnic cleansing in Central Bosnia. Their case was corroborated by new evidence which came from an HVO archive the new Croatian authorities made available for the Hague prosecution in May this year. The materials include Kordic's orders to the commander of the Central Bosnia Operative Zone Tihomir Blaskic in the days of the fiercest attacks in April 1993 to, for example, "send back up" or "close the circle", and Blaskic's order to Cerkez to "take Donja Veceriska, Ahmici, Sibrino selo and Vrhovina." Kordic and Blaskic received feedback about progress on the ground whereas Kordic and the commander of the Ahmici military police, Pasko Ljubicic, were directly connected, the prosecutor said. The materials also include Cerkez's report to Blaskic of April 16 1993, confirming that the village of "Ahmici has been finished 70%," or documents on a meeting between Kordic and local leaders on the day before the Ahmici massacre, which show that Kordic was requested to postpone the attack on Ahmici. (hina) rml