THE HAGUE, Nov 13 (Hina) - Dario Kordic was a leading political figure in central Bosnia, who pulled the strings and who carried out political decisions both directly and via the Commander of the (HVO) Central Bosnian Operative Zone
Tihomir Blaskic, witnesses, UN high-ranking officers who had been in Bosnia in 1992 and 1993, said during the trail of Kordic, a former Vice-President of the Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia before the Hague-based international Tribunal. Kordic evidently wielded power and made decisions, said the Prosecution's witness, British General Alistair Duncan last Tuesday. Duncan commanded the UN British battalion in central Bosnia in the second half of 1993. The British General told the International War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) that one of Bosnian Croat political leaders, Ante Valenta, had proposed the division of Bosnia, along with the forcible resettlement of peoples and cl
THE HAGUE, Nov 13 (Hina) - Dario Kordic was a leading political
figure in central Bosnia, who pulled the strings and who carried out
political decisions both directly and via the Commander of the
(HVO) Central Bosnian Operative Zone Tihomir Blaskic, witnesses,
UN high-ranking officers who had been in Bosnia in 1992 and 1993,
said during the trail of Kordic, a former Vice-President of the
Croat Community of Herzeg-Bosnia before the Hague-based
international Tribunal.
Kordic evidently wielded power and made decisions, said the
Prosecution's witness, British General Alistair Duncan last
Tuesday. Duncan commanded the UN British battalion in central
Bosnia in the second half of 1993.
The British General told the International War Crimes Tribunal
(ICTY) that one of Bosnian Croat political leaders, Ante Valenta,
had proposed the division of Bosnia, along with the forcible
resettlement of peoples and claimed that Kordic had distilled a
policy from that idea, which the HVO (Bosnian Croat Defence
Council) had been implementing.
You have your doctrine-plan-instrument. Ahmici were the first step
in that attempt, the Briton said at the trial.
Many other international officials have described Kordic's role in
a similar way while testifying at the trial of Kordic and Mario
Cerkez, a former commander of the Vitez brigade.
This trial has been lasting for eight months. The prosecution is
currently hearing their witnesses, trying to prove the liability of
the two Bosnian Croats for the ethnic cleansing in the area of
Herzeg-Bosnia.
Asked by prosecutors who was the political leader in central
Bosnia, Lieutenant Paulus Schipper, the commander of the UN
Dutch/Belgian battalion in central Bosnia, on Friday answered that
he had often heard for the name Dario Kordic, assessing that
Kordic's clout on events was very big.
Kordic is a key political figure who made decisions, said British
Captain Lee Whitworth a month ago.
British officers also testified that during a critical stage of
negotiations led by a mixed military task force at the Sarajevo
Airport at the end of 1992, Blaskic was replaced by Kordic who made
an impression that he was fully authorised to take decisions on
behalf of the Croat party.
It was Dario Kordic who ruled the roost, said British Major David
Nigel Pinder-Koehnk last July.
A month later British General Cordy-Simpson testified that during
sessions of the mixed military task force in the end of 1992 Kordic
had presented himself as Blaskic's superior and that he had
absolute authority in the work. In addition, according to this
witness, the HVO headquarters'' chief-of-staff, Milivoj Petkovic
treated Kordic as somebody high-ranked in the army hierarchy.
British Lieutenant Bryan Watters last summer testified that there
were paramilitary units of the Croat party that obeyed political
orders, like in the German military during the Second World War.
In central Bosnia Kordic seemed to have control over those
military, paramilitary forces, while Blaskic commanded
conventional military units, Watters asserted.
This was later confirmed by Gen. Duncan.
Responding to a routine question set by the Prosecution on the
connection between the Operative Zone's commander Blaskic and
Kordic, Schipper answered, as previous prosecution witnesses, that
they had very close ties.
As part of their attempts to show Kordic's liability, through the
close connections with Blaskic who served as a means for conducting
political objectives of the ethnic cleansing, the Prosecution drew
from statements of most witnesses, who were members of
international troops, a description of the Croat armed forces as
well organised units with the strong commanding chain and
discipline.
In this context, several witnesses have confirmed that they were
told that it was necessary to obtain a permission from Kordic,
rather than Blaskic who had already given the permit, for a blocked
humanitarian convoy to continue travelling in June 1993.
Kordic solved the problem of the blocked convoy within one hour, UN
officers said.
It was clear that in this case Dario Kordic was pulling all the
strings, stated Gen. Duncan, whereas Major Pinder said it was
Kordic who had ensured the return of a seized car of a TV ITN crew.
Kordic would decide whether the swap of the POWs would be organises
and how much freedom UNPROFOR members could enjoy in their
movements, reiterated prosecution witnesses.
During the cross-examination, Kordic's defence lawyers have been
trying to stop the commanding responsibility with Blaskic or shift
it toward Mostar along the military line.
On the other hand, Blaskic's defence counsel Stephen Sayers was
constantly asking the following questions: Was Blaskic, without
any doubt, the military commander in that area? Did he take all
final military decisions? Did he answer to his superiors in Mostar?
Have you ever heard that his decisions were disobeyed?
Kordic's defence has been establishing how much international
forces' officers directly contacted Kordic in order to show that a
considerable part of testimonies was based on second-hand
information.
(hina) ms