THE HAGUE, July 27 (Hina) - Andrew Cayley, a prosecution attorney in the trial of Tihomir Blaskic, on Tuesday said there was ample, convincing evidence about Croatian political aspirations and Croatia's military operation in
neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina which proved that the Croat-Muslim conflict in central Bosnia had had an international character.
THE HAGUE, July 27 (Hina) - Andrew Cayley, a prosecution attorney in
the trial of Tihomir Blaskic, on Tuesday said there was ample,
convincing evidence about Croatian political aspirations and
Croatia's military operation in neighbouring Bosnia-Herzegovina
which proved that the Croat-Muslim conflict in central Bosnia had
had an international character. #L#
Cayley said Croatia had been carrying out its political ambitions
and military intervention both directly and indirectly - through
its 'agents' in Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Presenting the closing argument, Cayley concentrated his efforts
on proving that the Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia-Herzegovina
had been an international conflict, which is a precondition for
proving the existence of violations of the Geneva Conventions and
the law or customs of war, which the former commander of the
Operative Zone Central Bosnia is charged with.
According to Cayley, political aspirations reflected in the fact
that Croatian President Franjo Tudjman had made both official and
unofficial statements about a wish to expand Croatia's territory.
Cayley said that testimonies had proven that these dangerous
ambitions should have been realised with a Croat-Serb agreement on
the division of Bosnia, and that Muslims should have become an
insignificant part of Croatia.
General Blaskic was entrusted with the military implementation of
that policy, Cayley said.
He assessed that Croatia's complete control of the Croatian Defence
Council (HVO) also reflected in the fact that general Janko Bobetko
had been appointed military commander of the southern front in
Herzegovina and central Bosnia, which turned the conflict into an
international one. Croatia's direct military engagement in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, which started in January 1993, had the same effect,
Cayley said.
Prosecutor Gregory Kehoe, who spoke before Cayley, told the trial
chamber that the policy of ethnic cleansing of Muslims in central
Bosnia had been implemented under Blaskic's command and in line
with a well-known pattern. Civilians would be imprisoned, abducted
and maltreated, their homes would be burnt and they would be sent
over no-man's land into exile, Kehoe said, accusing Blaskic of
being an instrument of that policy.
According to Kehoe, everything that was done, was done with the aim
of preventing the exiled from ever returning to their homes.
Kehoe yesterday said that Blaskic, although he claimed the opposite
during his testimony, must have known about the numerous crimes
committed in the Lasva River valley during 1993, from the slaughter
of one hundred Muslims in Ahmici and the shelling of civilians in
Zenica and Stari Vitez, to using civilians as live shields and war
prisoners for digging trenches.
Kehoe compared Blaskic's claim about the sudden attack of the Army
of Bosnia-Herzegovina in April 1993 with one hundred Muslim victims
in Ahmici and one or two victims on the Croat side on the first day of
the conflict.
The conflict in the Lasva River valley was a co-ordinated HVO
attack, which ended in numerous crimes, the US attorney said,
adding that what happened in Ahmici was not an act of renegade units
but of troops which followed the orders of the most powerful man in
the Lasva River valley - Blaskic.
Presenting the pictures of burnt houses, the prosecutor said that
pain, suffering, and tragedy had been left written across the
area.
According to Kehoe, Blaskic denied having known about a single of
these severe crimes because he could not face the consequences of
severe violations of the law of war.
The prosecution in the Blaskic trial started presenting the closing
argument this week. It is expected to request life imprisonment for
Blaskic for crimes committed during the Croat-Muslim war in the
Lasva River valley in 1993.
(hina) rml