THE HAGUE, Dec 4 (Hina) - The prosecution of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has amended the original indictment against Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic, who made his second appearance before
the Trial Chamber I in The Hague on Wednesday.
THE HAGUE, Dec 4 (Hina) - The prosecution of the International
Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has amended the
original indictment against Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic,
who made his second appearance before the Trial Chamber I in The
Hague on Wednesday. #L#
The amended indictment which was confirmed by judge Gabrielle
Kirk McDonald on 22 November this year, replaces a previous
indictment against General Blaskic together with five other Bosnian
Croats.
The original indictment remains unchanged and valid for the
other five - Dario Kordic, Mario Cerkez, Ivan Santic, Pero
Skopljak and Zlatko Aleksovski.
Asked whether he received and understood the new indictment
and whether he felt guilty as charged in the new indictment,
Blaskic said "I received and understand the indictment and I feel
completely innocent".
Blaskic voluntarily handed himself over to the Tribunal on 1
April 1996.
The new indictment contains 19 counts, while the original one
had 13. Seven new counts have been added and one from the original
indictment has been abolished.
The previous indictment concerned incidents in central Bosnia
in the period from May 1992 to May 1993. In the amended indictment,
the period has been extended from May 1992 to April 1994.
The new indictment did not contain new important elements and
cited a lot less specific locations where the crimes had allegedly
taken place according to the counts of the indictment, Blaskic's
attorney, Ante Nobilo, said.
The prosecution asked that the trial, scheduled for 8 January
1997, be postponed, which Blaskic's defense lawyers, Ante Nobilo
and Russel Hayman, opposed.
They held that the prosecution should have been ready for the
commencement of the trial.
The Trial Chamber I will later reach a decision about the
prosecution's request to postpone the trial, but it is quite
certain that it will not begin on 8 January next year because a
discussion on the defense's objections to the new indictment has
been scheduled for 12 March next year.
(hina) lm jn
041559 MET dec 96