THE HAGUE, April 6 (Hina) - In their first appearance before the UN war crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday, six senior Bosnian Croat wartime leaders pleaded not guilty to all charges of crimes against humanity, violations of the
laws and customs of war and grave breaches of the Geneva conventions committed against Bosnian Muslims and other non-Croats in Croat-controlled areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina from November 1991 to April 1994.
THE HAGUE, April 6 (Hina) - In their first appearance before the UN war
crimes tribunal in The Hague on Tuesday, six senior Bosnian Croat
wartime leaders pleaded not guilty to all charges of crimes against
humanity, violations of the laws and customs of war and grave breaches
of the Geneva conventions committed against Bosnian Muslims and other
non-Croats in Croat-controlled areas of Bosnia-Herzegovina from
November 1991 to April 1994.#L#
"Your Honour, I am not guilty of any of the 26 counts of the
indictment," Jadranko Prlic, Bruno Stojic, Slobodan Praljak, Milivoj
Petkovic, Valentin Coric and Berislav Pusic said separately after
Judge Alphonse Orie read a summary and each count of the indictment.
Orie said that the six were charged with all the crimes alleged in the
indictment, with Pusic being additionally charged with crimes
committed in Prozor in October 1992 and Gornji Vakuf in January 1993.
The former premier of the defunct self-styled Croatian Republic of
Herceg-Bosna, Jadranko Prlic, said he sympathised "with
Bosnia-Herzegovina and all its victims mentioned in the indictment".
He expressed confidence the court would give him a chance to present
"the truth about his role in the war in Bosnia-Herzegovina and that
the truth will release him from all the charges".
The six defendants were accompanied in the courtroom by their defence
counsel. Jadranko Prlic was represented by Camil Salahovic and Zelimir
Par. Bruno Stojic, former defence minister of Herceg-Bosna, was
represented by Zeljko Olujic, while former Croatian Defence Council
(HVO) commanders, generals Slobodan Praljak and Milivoj Petkovic, were
represented by Kresimir Krsnik and Vesna Alaburic respectively.
Tomislav Jonjic represented former HVO Military Police commander
Valentic Coric and Marinko Skobic represented Berislav Pusic, former
head of the Office for the Exchange of Prisoners of War.
The entering of pleas was preceded by a two-hour debate on procedural
issues regarding a potential conflict of interest with attorneys
representing other defendants before the tribunal, as well as an annex
to the indictment that remained unsealed until today's session.
Attorneys Olujic, Krsnik, Par and Jonjic, who are defending or have
defended other indictees before the tribunal, argued that there was no
interest of conflict, while Judge Orie said that the issue would
remain open pending decision of the trial chamber.
As for the annex to the indictment, it was decided after consultations
that the document should be unsealed on the condition that it remained
confidential because it contained the names of victims of crimes and
sites where they were committed.
Defendants told the court that they were satisfied with accommodation
and that they were feeling fine, while Pusic asked for medical care
because he had undergone spine surgery last week.
The six are charged on the basis of individual and command
responsibility with persecution of tens of thousands of Muslims and
other non-Croats, killing of several hundred civilians, rape,
destruction of towns and villages, plunder of property, deportation
and forced transfer of people, detention of civilians in inhumane
conditions, maltreatment and torture of detainees in HVO-run camps and
prisons, destruction of religious buildings and terrorising of
civilians in predominantly-Muslim east Mostar.
They are also accused of crimes committed in the municipalities of
Prozor, Gornji Vakuf, Jablanica, Mostar, Ljubuski, Stolac, Capljina
and Vares, and the Heliodrom, Vojno, Dretelj and Gabela camps.
The defendants allegedly committed those crimes as part of a joint
criminal enterprise the aim of which was to ethnically cleanse the
territory of Herceg-Bosna in order to annex it to Croatia. The
indictment says that the late Croatian president Franjo Tudjman,
defence minister Gojko Susak, general Janko Bobetko and Herceg-Bosna
president Mate Boban were also involved in the criminal enterprise.
(Hina) vm