THE HAGUE THE HAGUE, June 21 (Hina) - French General Phillipe Morillon on Monday testified at the trial of the former commander of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) Central Bosnia Operative Zone, General Tihomir Blaskic, at the
International Tribunal for War Crimes (ICTY) in The Hague. General Morillon, who was elected as a deputy to the European Union Parliament at the recent election, gave his testimony at the closed session. Morillon along with other seven key persons from the 1993 Moslem-Croat conflict in Bosnia was summoned by the ICTY Trial Chamber in March to come in The Hague and try to clarify statements which the defendant, Bosnian Croat General Blaskic, gave during his own testimony. The French General just as other witnesses of the Tribunal should prepare a statement on the military situation in the Lasva River Valley during the Croat-Moslem conflict, the deployment and number of the t
THE HAGUE, June 21 (Hina) - French General Phillipe Morillon on
Monday testified at the trial of the former commander of the
Croatian Defence Council (HVO) Central Bosnia Operative Zone,
General Tihomir Blaskic, at the International Tribunal for War
Crimes (ICTY) in The Hague.
General Morillon, who was elected as a deputy to the European Union
Parliament at the recent election, gave his testimony at the closed
session.
Morillon along with other seven key persons from the 1993 Moslem-
Croat conflict in Bosnia was summoned by the ICTY Trial Chamber in
March to come in The Hague and try to clarify statements which the
defendant, Bosnian Croat General Blaskic, gave during his own
testimony.
The French General just as other witnesses of the Tribunal should
prepare a statement on the military situation in the Lasva River
Valley during the Croat-Moslem conflict, the deployment and number
of the troops in conflict, talks led with the defendant and his
personal impressions about General Blaskic.
At a request of the French Government, Jean-Pierre Thibault, who
was a former chief of the European Community's mission in Bosnia,
also gave his testimony as a witness of the Tribunal last week.
The commander of the British UN Battalion in central Bosnia,
Colonel Bob Stewart testified on Thursday and Friday when he told
ICTY judges that Gen. Blaskic as the then commander must be held
accountable for the April 1993 massacre of a hundred Moslems in the
central Bosnian village of Ahmici.
The Ahmici case is the gravest crime in the indictment of Gen.
Blaskic accused of crimes done by his soldiers.
Stewart added he had seen Blaskic as the real commander in central
Bosnia. Blaskic defence claims, however, that the crime in Ahmici
was committed by the military police then commanded by Pasko
Ljubicic.
This month, another witness summoned by the Tribunal, General Enver
Hadzihasanovic, who used to be a commander of the (Moslem-
dominated) Bosnian Army's Third Corps, also accused Blaskic of
having been responsible for acts done by the military police and
units for special purposes since they were within the structure of
the Croatian Defence Council (HVO).
Hadzihasanovic claimed that Bosnian Army had also been faced with
the problem of uncontrolled units - mujahadeen - but they had not
been inside the organisation of the Bosnian Army.
This witness maintained that Blaskic had been a part of the
instrument for accomplishing the political goals of (Bosnian
Croat) Herzeg-Bosna.
In addition to Hadzihasanovic, three commanders of the seventh
Moslem brigade during the Moslem-Croat conflict also gave
testimony.
On Wednesday, a former chief-of-staff of the HVO headquarters,
General Milivoj Petkovic, should give his testimony by the video-
link.
(hina) ms