NOBILO: BLASKIC WILL BE ACQUITTED

( Editorial: --> 6730 ) SPLIT, Aug 29 (Hina) - The trial of General Tihomir Blaskic before the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) could end by June next year and the indictee will be acquitted, Blaskic's attorney Anto Nobilo told a local TV station in Split on Friday night. "Blaskic will be acquitted because there is no individual responsibility in his case. Should he be convicted, it would mean that politics has interfered with justice," Nobilo said. The defence is to call about 90 witnesses, including former Croatian Defence Council (HVO) officers and present members of the Croat-Muslim Federation army as well as foreigners of different nationalities and Bosniaks. The defence has interviewed about 300 witnesses and gathered at least 15,000 documents and it also has direct evidence proving Blaskic's innocence, he added. Guilt should be made individual so that Gen. Blaskic could be helped and the real perpetrators of all war crimes in Bosnia-Herzegovina be brought to justice, Nobilo said expressing satisfaction with the Croatian media coverage of the Tribunal's work. The Hague Tribunal will with time develop into a permanent war crimes tribunal, but it should already start trying those who issued orders and not only the immediate perpetrators, he concluded. (hina) rml 291115 MET aug 98