THE HAGUE, July 30 (Hina) - Russel Hayman, a defence attorney in the trial of general Tihomir Blaskic, said Friday Blaskic could not be accused of all violence that had been committed in the Lasva River valley, because it included
independent actions, revenge or retaliation on the local level, or actions with gain as a motive.
THE HAGUE, July 30 (Hina) - Russel Hayman, a defence attorney in the
trial of general Tihomir Blaskic, said Friday Blaskic could not be
accused of all violence that had been committed in the Lasva River
valley, because it included independent actions, revenge or
retaliation on the local level, or actions with gain as a motive.
#L#
In his closing argument on the last day of the trial of the former
commander of the Operative Zone Central Bosnia at The Hague
Tribunal, Hayman said the prosecution saw Blaskic as a symbol of
everything that was wrong in Herzeg-Bosnia.
According to Hayman, it is necessary to ask oneself whether the
pattern of local violence supports the prosecution's theory on
Blaskic's grandiose criminal plan or if the world is rather more
complex and less black and white. Hayman also pointed to other leads
which did not lead to Blaskic.
The prosecution claims that Blaskic had planned an all-out attack
on Vitez, Kiseljak and Busovaca on April 16, 1993, when one of the
gravest crimes in the Lasva River valley, the one in Ahmici, was
committed.
However, according to Hayman, both witnesses and the prosecution
have proved that there had not been a single attack in the whole
Kiseljak area during the period in question, whereas in the
Busovaca municipality military police had carried out only one
retaliatory attack on the hamlet of Ocehnici.
According to Hayman, the prosecution has also failed to submit
evidence which could confirm that Blaskic had made omissions in the
investigation of crimes in Ahmici on the basis of information which
had been arriving in his command in the basement of the hotel in
Vitez.
According to Hayman, this is exactly why the prosecution attempted
to place Blaskic outside the hotel because his presence in the hotel
basement puts him in a position in which he depends on reports which
had been arriving there and which contained no information on
crimes.
According to Hayman, after the two years of trial the prosecution
has not managed to prove that Blaskic was outside of the basement.
Blaskic claimed he had learned about the crime in Ahmici only a week
after it had happened, from a letter sent to him by the British UN
commander Bob Stewart.
Reminding the court of the steps Blaskic had taken in investigating
the crime, Hayman asked whether it was possible that all those steps
had been taken to secure written evidence that he had complied with
his obligations, or rather with the aim of discovering the truth
about the massacre of one hundred Muslim residents of Ahmici on
April 16, 1993.
The defence will dedicate the afternoon part of the hearing to the
character of the conflict in central Bosnia and request that the
Tribunal acquit Blaskic.
(hina) rml