THE HAGUE, March 11 (Hina) - General Tihomir Blaskic on Thursday testified that he had first learned about the Ahmici crime from a letter by the commander of the British U.N. battalion, Bob Stewart, sent to him a week after the crime
had been committed. "That was the first time I was faced with the concrete name of the village and the eight victims", Blaskic said before the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Today is the twelfth day Blaskic is testifying in his own defence. "I was certainly distressed about the letter I had received from him because it was the first time I was faced with real crime and suffering", Blaskic said. The slaughter of one hundred civilians in Ahmici, in the Lasva River valley (central Bosnia) on April 16, 1993 is one of the gravest crimes the Prosecution is charging Blaskic with on the principle of commanding responsibility. In his letter of April
THE HAGUE, March 11 (Hina) - General Tihomir Blaskic on Thursday
testified that he had first learned about the Ahmici crime from a
letter by the commander of the British U.N. battalion, Bob Stewart,
sent to him a week after the crime had been committed.
"That was the first time I was faced with the concrete name of the
village and the eight victims", Blaskic said before the
International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
Today is the twelfth day Blaskic is testifying in his own defence.
"I was certainly distressed about the letter I had received from him
because it was the first time I was faced with real crime and
suffering", Blaskic said.
The slaughter of one hundred civilians in Ahmici, in the Lasva River
valley (central Bosnia) on April 16, 1993 is one of the gravest
crimes the Prosecution is charging Blaskic with on the principle of
commanding responsibility.
In his letter of April 22, Stewart informed Blaskic that he had
visited Ahmici and found the burnt bodies of six children, a man and
a woman, and required an investigation and punishment of
perpetrators.
Blaskic said that upon receiving Stewart's letter he asked his
colleagues if the command had any other information on the crime and
ordered that all documents, orders and reports of April 15 be
gathered so that it could be established whether they contained any
mention of the crime.
In a letter to Stewart a day later, on April 23, Blaskic implored him
to help in the investigation. He also asked that the existing joint
commission, including representatives of the Army of Bosnia-
Herzegovina, Croatian Defence Council (HVO) and European
Monitoring Mission, conduct an investigation, which would be "more
objective and have a more expert approach".
Blaskic said he did not order the military police to investigate the
crime which had happened in their area because he was aware that the
commander of the 4th battalion had been sending him false reports,
and also because he had no power to dismiss the battalion.
As early as April 18, I gave an order that reports on civilian
victims be submitted by all subordinates, but I received no report
on Ahmici from the military police, the defendant said.
That was why on April 24 he ordered the head of an intelligence
service, which was the only segment apart from the military police,
which could launch an investigation into military police forces, to
conduct an investigation.
Blaskic further said that he visited Ahmici for the first time on
April 26 or 27. Earlier visits had not been possible bacause of the
fighting.
The panel of judges interrupted Blaskic's testimony a number of
times, demanding that he explain in detail his first information
about the Ahmici crime, the gravest one he is charged with on the
principle of commanding responsibility, as well as the steps taken
in the investigation and punishment of perpetrators.
(hina) rml