BLASKIC DEFENCE ATTORNEY CROSS-EXAMINES PROSECUTION WITNESS

THE HAGUE, Aug 19 (Hina) - The defence of General Tihomir Blaskic on Tuesday finished cross-examining prosecution witness Sefkija Dzidic, former territorial defence commander in Stari Vitez. Blaskic's attorney Anto Nobilo questioned the witness, who had given his testimony in the second half of last month, about the details and the general situation in Vitez during the Croat- Moslem war in 1993. Nobilo stated that 103 Croat civilians in Vitez had been killed by sniper fire from Moslem-controlled Stari Vitez. Asked by Nobilo how many sniper rifles his men had had, Dzidic replied that they had had only one old sniper rifle which they had used against snipers on the Croat side. The witness could not say who had operated the sniper rifle. In response to a question whether UNPROFOR had informed him that on April 20, 1993 General Blaskic ordered that all sniper rifles possessed by Croat Defence Council (HVO) soldiers be collected and that anyone found with a sniper rifle after that order be executed, Dzidic said that he had no knowledge of that. The defence played a video tape showing victims of a June 10, 1993 mortar attack from the direction of Stari Vitez, when a shell hit a basketball court, killing eight children and wounding several during a lull in fighting. The film, shot by a local television station in Vitez, showed parts of the children's bodies scattered all over the playing field. Responding to Nobilo's question whether he had ordered that attack, Dzidic said that the territorial defence of Stari Vitez had not had a 120 mm mortar and that the basketball court was too close to be hit by a mortar. (hina) vm jn 191852 MET aug 97