SARAJEVO, June 3 (Hina) - "Those who committed the crime in Ahmici should be tried in Bosnia-Herzegovina or The Hague, and those who helped hide the perpetrators will be tried in Croatia," Croatian President Stipe Mesic said in an
interview with Bosnia-Herzegovina Television. In a statement aired on Saturday in BH Television's central news broadcast, Mesic said it was doubtless that the war crime against Bosniaks in Ahmici had been carried out by BH citizens and they should therefore be tried in Bosnia-Herzegovina or before the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). "Four persons were mentioned in the letter sent by Mrs Djurdja Susak to the President of the Republic a year after the crime in Ahmici had taken place. How many persons actually participated in that crime is to be established by a court," Mesic said, commenting on Croatian Intelligence Service's (HIS) secret d
SARAJEVO, June 3 (Hina) - "Those who committed the crime in Ahmici
should be tried in Bosnia-Herzegovina or The Hague, and those who
helped hide the perpetrators will be tried in Croatia," Croatian
President Stipe Mesic said in an interview with Bosnia-Herzegovina
Television.
In a statement aired on Saturday in BH Television's central news
broadcast, Mesic said it was doubtless that the war crime against
Bosniaks in Ahmici had been carried out by BH citizens and they
should therefore be tried in Bosnia-Herzegovina or before the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).
"Four persons were mentioned in the letter sent by Mrs Djurdja Susak
to the President of the Republic a year after the crime in Ahmici had
taken place. How many persons actually participated in that crime
is to be established by a court," Mesic said, commenting on Croatian
Intelligence Service's (HIS) secret documents on the Ahmici case,
recently published by the Croatian press.
Mesic was also asked whether the Croatian Interior Ministry had
taken measures to find the persons mentioned in those documents.
"I believe there is no reason for this crime to be tried in Croatia.
It was committed in Bosnia-Herzegovina, by BH citizens, and the
victims are also BH citizens. As I see it, there are only two
possibilities - the trial can be held either in Bosnia-Herzegovina
or in The Hague. I see no reason whatsoever why the trial should be
held in Croatia, except for the trial of those who concealed the
crime and are guilty because the criminals were not brought to
justice."
Anto Nobilo, attorney for general Tihomir Blaskic, who was
sentenced by the ICTY to 45 years in prison for the Ahmici crime, did
not want to comment on the recently discovered documents regarding
the Ahmici crime.
Nobilo only agreed to outline his general strategy in the upcoming
procedure of appeal to the sentence imposed on his client.
"One direction will be to show that Blaskic did not order the Ahmici
crime, and the other will be that the crime was organised behind his
back as a conspiracy on the night between 15/16 April 1993," Nobilo
said.
The attorney stressed that the decision and order had been issued
without Blaskic's knowledge.
"That decision was made in political circles and was forwarded to
the military police and the Security Intelligence Service (SIS),
which carried it out behind Blaskic's back," Nobilo said.
(hina) rml