PROSECUTION PRESENTS INDICTMENT IN KORDIC-CERKEZ CASE

THE HAGUE, April 12 (Hina) - Trial began on Monday against two Bosnian Croats before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague. Standing trial for crimes against humanity, grievous violations of the Geneva conventions and of the laws and customs of war are the former president of the Croat republic of Herzeg-Bosna, Dario Kordic, 38, and former commander of the Croatian Defence Council (HV) Vitez brigade (central Bosnia-Herzegovina), Mario Cerkez, 40. Prosecutor Geoffrey Nice said on Monday the two defendants took part in an extensive and lengthy persecution of Moslems in central Bosnia. Nice invited the trial chamber to keep in mind that the crimes in the village of Ahmici in which a hundred Moslem civilians were killed at the start of Croat-Moslem conflicts in 1993, was only one part of what the defendants are charged with. Kordic and Cerkez are charged with the systematic persecution of Bosnian Moslems, civilians, on political, racial, ethnic or religious grounds, on the territory of the Croat republic of Herzeg-Bosna from the end of 1991 to March 1994, in Kordic's case, and in Cerkez's case, from April 1992 to August 1993 in Vitez, Novi Travnik and Busovaca. Both defendants pleaded not guilty on all 22 counts. Presenting political circumstances in Bosnia-Herzegovina, Nice illustrated the rise of the Croatian Democratic Union of Bosnia- Herzegovina (HDZ BiH) and the formation path of the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosna (HZHB), and later the Croat republic of Herzeg- Bosna (HRHB). On that path, moderate Croat politicians dropped out, Nice said. The goal of the HDZ BiH, HZHB and later the HRHB was to set up control over the territory of Herzeg-Bosna and ethnically cleanse it of Moslems, the prosecution said. The prosecution showed a tape of Kordic at a celebration in Busovaca after the proclamation of Croatia's independence, saying the Croat people "need the Independent State of Croatia" and this was worth the blood and sweat that was shed. The prosecutor cited Kordic saying in an interview in February of 1993 that in case of attacks on Croat municipalities, "not only will there be a Bosnia-Herzegovina, there will be no Moslems left". Presenting the case, the prosecutor spoke about the role and influence of Croatia and its President Franjo Tudjman on events in central Bosnia. Tudjman's words in February 1993 that the world would have difficulty accepting an Islamic state in the centre of Europe had an effect on the atmosphere in Bosnia. Trial chamber president Richard May interrupted Nice's presentation and asked about the accountability of the HZHB president himself. HZHB president Mate Boban would also have been found accountable, Nice said, but the prosecution did not deal with the issue as it had received information that Boban was dead. Kordic's defence said in a pre-trial brief on Monday that Kordic was waiting for the opportunity, which is finally being given to him by this trial, to clear his name and let the whole world realise his innocence from unfounded accusations brought against him by the ICTY prosecutor's office. Kordic and Cerkez followed the trial on Monday calmly. They voluntarily surrendered to the ICTY on October 6 1997. The trial was to start five months after their deferral. (hina) lml jn