ICTY TO STEP UP BLASKIC CASE

( Editorial: --> 7835 ) THE HAGUE, Dec 12 (Hina) - The main hearing in the Tihomir Blaskic case will be stepped up, Blaskic's defence Anto Nobilo said Thursday, adding the trial chamber at the international war crimes tribunal decided the prosecution may make use of a total of 75 working days, 60 for the defence, for witness testimonies. The prosecution of the International War Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia to date used about 40 working days for witness testimonies. At the beginning of the trial against Blaskic, the prosecution announced some 300 witnesses, while the defence had 150. As some witnesses took up several days for their deposition, the trial has not proceeded as planned. For this reason, the trial chamber decided to limit working days both for the prosecution and the defence. (hina) ha mm 121052 MET dec 97