THE HAGUE, July 29 (Hina) - Orders given by the commander of the Operative Zone Central Bosnia, Tihomir Blaskic, to his forces in the Lasva River valley, the day before the slaughter of one hundred Muslims in the village of Ahmici,
are legitimate military orders and are not a crime, a defence attorney for general Tihomir Blaskic, Russel Hayman, said on Thursday.
THE HAGUE, July 29 (Hina) - Orders given by the commander of the
Operative Zone Central Bosnia, Tihomir Blaskic, to his forces in
the Lasva River valley, the day before the slaughter of one hundred
Muslims in the village of Ahmici, are legitimate military orders
and are not a crime, a defence attorney for general Tihomir Blaskic,
Russel Hayman, said on Thursday. #L#
The words of the US attorney, repeated a number of times during the
day, should remind the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) that it is necessary to make a clear
distinction between legitimate military orders on defence or
seizure of military targets and orders to commit crimes.
According to Hayman, three orders given by Blaskic did not mark a
'sudden' April attack of the Croatian Defence Council (HVO) on the
Army of Bosnia-Herzegovina, but were legal, justified, reasonable
and necessary in the conditions of heightened tension, created by
the attacks on the HVO which happened previously, as well as by the
kidnapping and murder of Blaskic's guards, and an attempted
assassination of the "Vitezovi" Brigade commander.
On April 15 and early in the morning of April 16, 1993, Blaskic gave
three orders on preparations for defending the main road running
through Ahmici, repelling attacks by terrorist Muslim groups, and
blocking Muslim positions south of Ahmici.
According to Hayman, the three orders, issued one day before the
Ahmici massacre, were the only orders issued by Blaskic at the
time.
Hayman dismissed the prosecution's claim, presented for the first
time in the closing argument, that there were other orders
regarding the slaughter of civilians in Ahmici on April 16, 1993.
If Blaskic had really ordered the Ahmici massacre, why would he
request a written report on it and why would the commander of HVO's
military police send him a false report from Ahmici mentioning no
civilian victims, Hayman asked.
He concluded that either all presented documents were aimed to
trick the court or the prosecutor's theory was not valid.
Analysing the start of the Croat-Muslim conflict, which is what
Blaskic is charged with, Hayman said that the arming and the
strengthening of positions, both those of the BH Army and the HVO,
and plans on winning territory, were legitimate parts of a war and
not a crime.
According to Hayman, Blaskic's arrival in central Bosnia in 1992,
where he had been called to organise the defence of his hometown,
was not a crime either.
(hina) rml