THE HAGUE, 21 July (Hina) - General Tihomir Blaskic's defence on Monday cross-examined witness Robert Donia, a historian who in June presented his stands on the history and causes of the war in former Yugoslavia.
THE HAGUE, 21 July (Hina) - General Tihomir Blaskic's defence on Monday
cross-examined witness Robert Donia, a historian who in June presented
his stands on the history and causes of the war in former Yugoslavia.
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Donia's testimony refers to the causes of the war in Bosnia-
Herzegovina and is not directly connected with Blaskic's case, defence
lawyer Russell Hayman said.
During the cross-examination, defence lawyers Hayman and Anto
Nobilo used Donia's testimony to dismiss his statements saying that in
1993 Bosnian Croats wanted to provoke a war with Muslims and division of
Bosnia-Herzegovina with an 'ultimatum' on military cooperation.
Hayman and Nobilo got Donia's confirmation that Croatia and Bosnian
Croats always signed peace plans, but Donia would not conclude that the
signing of peace plans meant that Bosnian Croats agreed to dissolve
Herzeg-Bosnia.
An important admission by the witness, which he did not mention in
his previous testimony, is that the guidelines leading to Yugoslavia's
disintegration were active a long time before the outbreak of war in
Croatia and Bosnia-Herzegovina and before Franjo Tudjman was elected
Croatia's president, Hayman said.
Donia could not elaborate the problem of Serb hegemony and national
animosities in the first and second Yugoslavia, Nobilo said.
However, he admitted that Slobodan Milosevic and Serbian
nationalism caused Yugoslavia's disintegration, Nobilo added.
Donia's cross-examination will be completed on Tuesday.
The prosecution should call witness Simon Leach, the head of the
International Police Task Force (ICTY) investigating team in the Lasva
river valley.
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