HAGUE TRIBUNAL PROSECUTOR CHALLENGES BLASKIC'S DEFENCE AT 3 LEVELS

THE HAGUE, May 19 (Hina) - A former commander of the Central Bosnian Operational Zone gave carte blanche to military police units for the slaughter in Ahmici in the early morning of 16 April 1993, and forces that committed the crime in the village were under the full command of Tihomir Blaskic. Therefore he is to be held accountable for "subsequent " acts such as the destruction of the mosque and the burning of houses, a prosecutor of the Hague International Tribunal, Gregory Kehoe, said on Tuesday. Kehoe contended that Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic had assumed full command only after the crime had been committed in the Bosnian central village of Ahmici, and tried to challenge the stands of the defence at three levels. Were soldiers who demolished the mosque in the afternoon on 16 April in Ahmici under your command? Were soldiers who set house on fire a day after the slaughter in the village, under your command, the Prosecutor questioned Blaskic on Tuesday. He also asked whether a soldier who attempted to kill Abdulah Ahmic by a hand grenade, had been also under Blaskic's command. HVO (Croat Defence Council) soldiers were under my command, responded Blaskic during the cross examination, reiterating that he had no knowledge at the time of the burnt houses or the destroyed mosque, nor had he given such orders. It was 22 April when I learnt from Bob Stewart (a UN battalion commander) of the Ahmici crime, Blaskic said. Amongst crimes included in Blaskic's indictment were attacks on villages in the Lasva River Valley, as well as the displacement of residents, which according to him, were committed by special units. Blaskic is accused of these crimes, the most serious of which is the Ahmici case, due to his commanding responsibility. On Tuesday, in a Hague courtroom, Kehoe contested Blaskic's statement that he had assumed the full command over the military police only after a hundred Moslems had been killed in Ahmici at dawn on April 16. The Bosnian Croat General had previously expressed his opinion that the Ahmici crime had been committed by HVO military policemen whom he commanded only after 11.42 am that day when they (policemen) reported to him for the first time and put themselves at his disposal in line with a decree on the temporary subordination. Kehoe contested Blaskic's statement that he had had no full control over the military police during the slaughter, by trying to show that it was, in military terms, totally unjustified not to establish contact with military police units and special units upon receiving first information about the outbreak of the conflict in the evening on 15 April. For Kehoe, an order which Blaskic had given on the same day to the "Jockeri" unit of the military police for the clashes against terrorist Moslem units was so unclear that it gave carte blanche to those forces to commit slaughter in Ahmici the following day. General, it was carte blanche for that unit to work whatever they want, wherever they want and whenever they want, wondered the prosecutor. The order, both on principle and according to its contents, corresponds to rules of the fighting against sabotage and terrorist units, Blaskic answered. I say the command was very, very precise, he stressed. Blaskic also refused Kehoe's attempt to identify Jockeri as perpetrator of the Ahmici crime. They (Jockeri) did go there and commit massacre, didn't they, the prosecutor said. I still do not know the identity of the perpetrators, Blaskic said. The defendant also refused to confirm that "Vitezovi" troops had been in Ahmici on the day of massacre. I do not believe they were there, he added. (hina) ms