BLASKIC TESTIFIES IN HIS DEFENCE

ZAGREB/THE HAGUE, Feb 17 (Hina) - After the trial has lasted for more than a year and a half, General Tihomir Blaskic took the stand before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on Wednesday to testify in his own defence. Blaskic was the commander of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) operative zone for central Bosnia during Croat-Moslem conflicts. He has been indicted of harsh violations of Geneva conventions, war rights and customs and crimes against humanity. According to his attorney, Ante Nobilo, General Blaskic began the first day of his testimony by describing his life. Born in the Kiseljak municipality (near Sarajevo) in 1960, Blaskic said he had been posted in Slovenia as part of the Yugoslav People's Army (JNA). His first conflict within the JNA was in 1986 when he refused to go to Kosovo, although he had been offered a higher salary and a flat. When the JNA attacked Slovenia in 1991, Blaskic went to Vienna where his in-laws lived. He meant to stay in Vienna and start a new life. However, as the war spread to Bosnia-Herzegovina, he was getting calls to help defend it. In the spring of 1992, he decided to go to Kiseljak and remain only two months and as an expert organise the defence. He found chaos in Kiseljak. Bosnia-Herzegovina institutions had fallen apart, and every village had to find weapons for itself without organisation and coordination. Blaskic was appointed commander of the crisis centre in Kiseljak which consisted armed groups of Croats and Bosniaks. In late spring and the summer of 1992, first incidents between Croats and Bosniaks occurred which escalated into conflicts. The incidents, Blaskic said, were not based on nationality at the beginning, and the Croat side had no plans or intention to enter into a conflict with the Moslems. Blaskic will continue his testimony on Thursday. According to Nobilo, he will testify for three, and prosecutors will spend about the same time cross-examining him. (hina) lml jn