THE HAGUE, Dec 14 (Hina) - Formal relations between Croatia and +Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993 strongly indicated there had been no +international armed conflict between the two countries, professor +Djuro Degan told the International
Criminal Tribunal for Former +Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Monday.+ Degan, an international public law professor at the University of +Rijeka and head of the Adriatic Sea Right Institute, testified as +defence witness in the trail against Bosnian Croat General Tihomir +Blaskic.+ Inter-state relations indicated Croatia and BH were allies against +Serbian forces, the witness said. The conflict between the Croatian +Defence Council and the Army of BH had been an unfortunate conflict +of internal character, he added.+ Neither Croatia nor BH had declared war to one another, nor had they +acknowledged a war situation between them, Degan told the Court, +adding there
THE HAGUE, Dec 14 (Hina) - Formal relations between Croatia and
Bosnia-Herzegovina in 1993 strongly indicated there had been no
international armed conflict between the two countries, professor
Djuro Degan told the International Criminal Tribunal for Former
Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague on Monday.
Degan, an international public law professor at the University of
Rijeka and head of the Adriatic Sea Right Institute, testified as
defence witness in the trail against Bosnian Croat General Tihomir
Blaskic.
Inter-state relations indicated Croatia and BH were allies against
Serbian forces, the witness said. The conflict between the Croatian
Defence Council and the Army of BH had been an unfortunate conflict
of internal character, he added.
Neither Croatia nor BH had declared war to one another, nor had they
acknowledged a war situation between them, Degan told the Court,
adding there was no evidence indicating the Croatian Army had
occupied part of BH.
He said the outbreak of war leads to a cessation in diplomatic
relations, the annulment or discontinuation of inter-state
agreements, a changed attitude towards the citizens of one country
residing on the territory of the other, and to a break in
cooperation and trade.
Degan emphasised not one of these war-induced changes of relations
had occurred between Croatia and BH.
He assessed it was a unique instance in the history of war that an
allegedly enemy side had supplied and thus assisted the other side
in such measure, as Croatia had done towards BH.
The counts charging Blaskic with serious violations of the Geneva
conventions (six of 20 counts) could not be taken into account,
according to the witness, given that no international conflict had
occurred in Central Bosnia to which the conventions could be
applied.
During cross-examination, the prosecutor submitted a series of
Bosnian Muslim documents speaking about the Croatian aggression.
The witness stated that not every act of aggression of illegal
military intervention turns into an international armed conflict.
Judge Shahabuddeen inquired whether two concepts co-existed in
Croatia, one for cooperation with the Army of BH against Serbs, and
the other for assisting the Croatian Defence Council against the
Army of BH.
Degan said factions adherent to the division of BH existed on both
the Bosnian Croat and the Bosnian Muslim side. He pointed out
however that good relations between Bosnian Croats and Bosnian
Muslims had simultaneously been preserved in some parts of BH.
The annexation of parts of BH to Croatia did not have to have been
the Croatian leadership's ambition, but more the ambition among
some Bosnian Croats, the witness said.
He added that Croats from Bosanska Posavina, northern BH, or
Sarajevo did not want the division of BH, while some factions in
Herzegovina, southern Bosnia, might have wanted to join Croatia.
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