AMSTERDAM, April 5 (Hina) - Six former Bosnian Croat political and military officials accused of war crimes arrived on Monday morning in Amsterdam aboard a regular Croatia Airlines flight. Upon arrival at Schipol airport, they
surrendered voluntarily to officials of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and Dutch police, who will escort them to the tribunal's detention unit in The Hague's district of Scheveningen.
AMSTERDAM, April 5 (Hina) - Six former Bosnian Croat political and
military officials accused of war crimes arrived on Monday morning in
Amsterdam aboard a regular Croatia Airlines flight. Upon arrival at
Schipol airport, they surrendered voluntarily to officials of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and
Dutch police, who will escort them to the tribunal's detention unit in
The Hague's district of Scheveningen.#L#
After the plane landed at the airport, Dutch policemen and ICTY
officials entered the plane to verify the identity of the accused and
inform them of their rights.
The accused were escorted out of the plane wearing bullet-proof vests
and with their hands handcuffed, with General Slobodan Praljak holding
an olive branch. Photographers and cameramen were not allowed to take
pictures of the accused while they were leaving the plane.
A former prime minister of the Croatian Republic of Herceg Bosna (HR
HB), Jadranko Prlic, former commanders of the Croatian Defence Council
(HVO), Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petkovic, former HR HB defence
minister Bruno Stojic, former HVO Military Police commander Valentin
Coric, and a former head of the HR HB office for missing and detained
persons, Berislav Pusic, are charged on the basis of individual and
command responsibility with crimes against humanity, grave violations
of the Geneva Conventions and violations of the law and customs of war
committed through the expulsion of thousands of Muslims, destruction,
killings, rape and deportation of Muslim residents from the areas of
Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Capljina
and Vares, as well as with cimes committed against prisoners in a
number of detention centres, including Heliodrom, Dretelj and Gabela.
The accused travelled to The Hague in the company of their attorneys
and Croatian Assistant Justice Minister Jaksa Muljacic.
They are expected to make their initial appearance before the tribunal
and enter their pleas on Tuesday.
The accused were in a good mood during the one and a half hour flight,
talking to their attorneys and reporters. They all said that they did
not feel guilty and were determined to challenge the charges before
the tribunal.
"I feel normal, like someone who will be arrested knowing that he did
nothing wrong," Praljak said.
He added resignedly that he nevertheless felt hurt and did not know
"what the purpose of this is".
"I am glad and proud to have been given the opportunity to defend
myself against such accusations," said Jadranko Prlic. He added that
he considered it his mission to "prove the charges wrong".
General Petkovic, who was recently relieved of his duties as Croatia's
chief defence inspector, said that the prosecution had done its part
of the job and that he and his attorney Vesna Alaburic would start
preparing an answer to the indictment. He added that his name was
mentioned in the indictment in only three places and in connection
with irrelevant events.
All indictees will be given guarantees for provisional release from
the Croatian government and their attorneys will submit requests for
provisional release after they receive guarantees from the Bosnian
government for four indictees who hold both Bosnian and Croatian
citizenships - Prlic, Stojic, Coric and Pusic.
(Hina) rml