DETENTION CONDITIONS OF GENERAL BLASKIC SLIGHTLY MODIFIED

THE HAGUE, April 3 (Hina) - The President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Antonio Cassese, on Wednesday issued a statement saying that he had considered requests by General Blaskic's defence and that 'General Blaskic will be transferred as soon as practicable from the Detention Unit to a residence designated by the Dutch authorities where he shall serve his detention until the completion of the proceedings...'. Cassese also decided that Blaskic 'shall not leave the Netherlands nor his residence; meetings and visits will only take place in the ICTY's Detention Unit; he shall support the costs related to his housing and security; he shall have no contact to the press; he shall not make or receive phone calls; all correspondence to of from him shall be addressed to the Detention Unit. The statement also said that one of the reasons for such a decision was the 'procedural behaviour' of General Blaskic's who 'has surrendered himself voluntarily'. 'It would be injudicious and contrary to widely accepted principles of criminal law not to take account of General Blaskic's aforementioned procedural behaviour'. However, 'General Blaskic's surrendering leaves unaffected the fact that Croatia's failure to enact implementing legislation (with regard to the Tribunal) is a blatant breach of its international legal obligations', the statement added. ICTY President Cassese refused requests by Blaskic's defence relating to Blaskic's provisional release, compulsory residence or house arrest. (hina) rm 031130 MET apr 96