THE HAGUE, Feb 25 (Hina) - Croatian Defence Council (HVO) General Tihomir Blaskic on Thursday resumed his defence testimony before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in The Hague. Blaskic spoke in his own
defence against accusations of violation of the Geneva conventions, the law and customs of war, and crimes against humanity. Blaskic told the tribunal the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina was faced with the problem of parallel commanding in Lasvanska Valley in 1993 which, he said, contributed to a strained situation. In the past few days, the accused HVO general spoke about a parallel commanding system within the HVO. The defence is attempting to prove that Blaskic cannot be charged on commanding responsibility. Blaskic said "one of the chief causes of the rift between the peoples" in central Bosnia were the Bosnian Army's special purpose units, like the Black Swans,
THE HAGUE, Feb 25 (Hina) - Croatian Defence Council (HVO) General
Tihomir Blaskic on Thursday resumed his defence testimony before
the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in
The Hague.
Blaskic spoke in his own defence against accusations of violation
of the Geneva conventions, the law and customs of war, and crimes
against humanity.
Blaskic told the tribunal the Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina was faced
with the problem of parallel commanding in Lasvanska Valley in 1993
which, he said, contributed to a strained situation.
In the past few days, the accused HVO general spoke about a parallel
commanding system within the HVO.
The defence is attempting to prove that Blaskic cannot be charged on
commanding responsibility.
Blaskic said "one of the chief causes of the rift between the
peoples" in central Bosnia were the Bosnian Army's special purpose
units, like the Black Swans, El Mujahid, and the Seventh Muslim
Brigade. These units, the defendant said, also "obstructed
cooperation between the Bosnian Army and the HVO."
Blaskic said he had requested the commander of the Bosnian Army's
third corps, Enver Hadzihasanovic, to disband the Seventh Muslim
Brigade which included a high number of foreign citizens.
The "brothers in faith" brigade was beyond Hadzihasanovic's
supervision, despite formally being under the third corps'
command. Hadzihasanovic had said he could not vouch for the
brigade's behaviour, primarily due to the fact that its members had
been detained by the Bosnian Croat side.
The defendant explained the HVO would imprison all foreigners
caught with terrorist equipment to deport them on the basis of a
then valid law. These were mainly people from Arabian countries, he
said.
Blaskic went on by saying that in April 1993, prior to Croat-Muslim
conflict in Bosnia, he was working towards decreasing incidents,
strengthening discipline, and eliminating crime from HVO ranks.
Blaskic corroborated the statement by mentioning that 14
disciplinary measures had been passed by the commander of the
Nikola Subic Zrinski brigade to a 20-man reconnaissance platoon in
just one week.
In April 1993, Blaskic said he also issued an order for an
inspection to be undertaken to check whether members of the Croat
Armed Forces (HOS) had a criminal background prior to joining the
HVO.
In March 1993, Blaskic told the tribunal on Wednesday, he ordered
that criminal groups in Lasvanska Valley be located, disarmed, and
sent to work.
Blaskic also said that a European monitoring mission had warned in
April 1993 that the "sources of instability" on both sides were
local commanders.
(hina) ha jn