Scott told the Hague-based UN tribunal today that atrocities against Bosnian Muslims (Bosniaks) in Stupni Dol or the existence of the Dretelj camp were consequences of the joint criminal enterprise and that people involved in that enterprise planned to cleanse an area of Bosnia and Herzegovina of Bosniaks and non-Croats and annexe that area to Croatia.
The greater Croatia project was devised under the leadership of Franjo Tudjman and the six indictees were its architects and the ones who carried out that plan, according to the prosecutor.
The six former officials of the Croat Republic of Herceg Bosna -- Prime Minister Jadranko Prlic, Defence Minister Bruno Stojic, the HVO (Bosnian Croat Defence force) commanders, General Slobodan Praljak and General Milivoj Petkovic, HVO Military Police commander Valentin Coric, and the head of the commission for the exchange of prisoners of war, Berislav Pusic -- are charged according to personal and command responsibility for crimes against humanity, grave violations of the Geneva Conventions and breaches of laws and customs of war committed through the expulsion of Bosniaks and other non-Croats.
According to the prosecutor, the late Franjo Tudjman was obsessed with the idea of restoring Croatia within its borders in 1939.
In this context, prosecutor Scott cited statements by former Croatian Prime Minister Josip Manolic, former U.S. Ambassador to Croatia Peter Galbriath, and former Croatian Foreign Minister Mate Granic.
The U.S. ambassador testified about Tudjman's negative attitude towards Bosniaks and about him advocating the relocation of the population.
This mood was shared by Herceg Bosna's political and military leadership, Scott said.
Prlic himself confirmed to Tudjman that he had pursued the policy which Tudjman had demanded of him, the prosecutor said, quoting from a transcript of Prlic's talks with the first Croatian president.
Praljak told prosecutors that he had been conducting a policy which was parallel to the policy of Croatia, according to Scott.
The defence teams for Petkovic and Praljak confirmed that Herceg-Bosna's civilian structures had control over the HVO and that the military forces had been implementing what politicians had ordered, Scott said.
The trial started in April 2006. The defendants have been in the Scheveningen detention centre since 5 April 2004.