THE HAGUE, June 17 (Hina) - A British officer on Thursday told judges at The Hague tribunal Bosnian Croat war crimes suspect Tihomir Blaskic must account for the massacre of some 100 Muslim civilians killed in a central Bosnian
village during the Croat-Muslim conflict in 1993. Lt. Col. Robert Stewart told the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia he was certain the Croatian Defence Council (HVO), of which the defendant was an officer, had committed the biggest massacres in April 1993. It is very hard to believe the HVO command in Vitez did not know about or had not ordered the attack on Ahmici, which is only 3.5km from Vitez Hotel, Stewart said. He told the court he believed Blaskic had been HVO's commander in central Bosnia and was therefore responsible for the behaviour of his soldiers, even if he did not know about or had not ordered the killings. Lt. Col. Stewart, a retired
THE HAGUE, June 17 (Hina) - A British officer on Thursday told
judges at The Hague tribunal Bosnian Croat war crimes suspect
Tihomir Blaskic must account for the massacre of some 100 Muslim
civilians killed in a central Bosnian village during the Croat-
Muslim conflict in 1993.
Lt. Col. Robert Stewart told the International Criminal Tribunal
for the Former Yugoslavia he was certain the Croatian Defence
Council (HVO), of which the defendant was an officer, had committed
the biggest massacres in April 1993.
It is very hard to believe the HVO command in Vitez did not know
about or had not ordered the attack on Ahmici, which is only 3.5km
from Vitez Hotel, Stewart said.
He told the court he believed Blaskic had been HVO's commander in
central Bosnia and was therefore responsible for the behaviour of
his soldiers, even if he did not know about or had not ordered the
killings.
Lt. Col. Stewart, a retired British army officer, is The Hague
tribunal's sixth witness in the trial of Tihomir Blaskic, former
commander of Operative Zone Central Bosnia accused of crimes
committed by his units in Lasva Valley, central Bosnia, in 1993.
At the time, Stewart commanded a British UNPROFOR battalion which
in April 1993 discovered the massacre of some 100 Muslims in the
village Ahmici. This crime is the heaviest Blaskic is charged
with.
Stewart reiterated several times on Thursday he had personally
liked Blaskic and that he considered Blaskic and his wife very
decent people.
Blaskic was a person who could be trusted, he kept his word and was a
professional soldier, Stewart said, but pointed out he had been
disappointed by the post-Ahmici behaviour.
Despite reiterated demands, no investigation had been conducted
into the Ahmici crime, the British officer said.
He explained he had also always believed Blaskic to be the real
commander in central Bosnia, whereas Dario Kordic, another Bosnian
Croat war crimes suspect also detained in The Hague, represented a
"complication".
Stewart said the British had always been baffled by the commanding
structure, which he said was further complicated by Kordic.
(hina) ha