The New York Times

Friday, March 3, 2000

War Crimes Tribunal Sentences Croat General to 45 Years

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

THE HAGUE, Netherlands -- The Yugoslav war crimes tribunal sentenced Croat Gen. Tihomir Blaskic today to 45 years in prison, the longest sentence it has issued and the first verdict against a senior military officer in the Balkan conflict.

The ruling of the three-judge court, chaired by the tribunal's president, Claude Jorda of France, could influence the way the history of the Balkan conflict is written.

"The crimes you committed, General Blaskic, are extremely serious," Jorda said. "The acts of war carried out with disregard for international humanitarian law and in hatred of other people, the villages reduced to rubble, the houses and stables set on fire and destroyed, the people forced to abandon their homes, the lost and broken lives are unacceptable."

As the verdict was read, Blaskic's wife, Ratka, broke down in sobs and a child seated next her let out a shriek and collapsed to the floor.

It was the longest sentence yet handed down by the U.N. tribunal, set up in 1993 to punish those responsible for the atrocities in the wars that followed the breakup of Yugoslavia. The maximum sentence the tribunal can impose is life imprisonment.

Blaskic's American lawyer, Russell Hayman, said he was "surprised and disappointed" and added that the verdict would be appealed.

"This is not a just verdict and I hope that the appeals chamber will effect justice," he said.

Goran Granic, vice premier of Croatia's new government, said the punishment was too harsh because the crimes were a matter of individual action, not a command responsibility.

"That is why I believe that the appeal procedure would prove that such a high verdict was unfounded," he said.

Prosecutors saw the sentence as a victory in their quest to bring senior military commanders to justice, even those who, like Blaskic, didn't commit atrocities with their own hands.

"It's a critical day for the tribunal," said Paul Risley, spokesman for Chief Prosecutor Carla Del Ponte. "This sentence promises to be the beginning of a phase at the tribunal where the sentences are taken very seriously."

The Bosnian government cautiously welcomed the verdict, but insisted that more of the alleged masterminds of massacres against Muslims need to be brought to justice -- including former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic and military chief Ratko Mladic.

"Just after that, conciliation will be possible in Bosnia," said Mirza Hajric, adviser to the chairman of Bosnia's multiethnic presidency, Alija Izetbegovic.

Blaskic's sentence follows a mammoth 25-month trial with testimony from 158 witnesses and around 30,000 pages of evidence presented to the judges, who took seven more months to reach a decision.

Blaskic, 39, was commander of Croat fighters in central Bosnia during the war. In a snub of the tribunal, he was promoted to general in Croatia's standing army after his indictment by the tribunal was made public in 1995.

He was held responsible by the court for a blitz across the Lasva River Valley that left hundreds of Muslims dead and sent thousands more fleeing the area.

In particular, the court said Blaskic ordered the April 1993 rampage in which more than 100 men, women and children were killed and the Bosnian village of Ahmici was emptied of every one of its Muslim inhabitants.

Blaskic was convicted of 20 counts of crimes against humanity, war crimes and grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions, which seek to protect civilians caught in warfare.

The indictment accused him of systematic attacks on cities and villages, destruction of homes and mosques, forcible transfer of civilians, taking hostages and using them as human shields.

"I'm satisfied, our souls are satisfied, even though it can't be compensation for what we lost," said Sulejman Pezer, 60, a survivor of the massacre at Ahmici. "I hope that more executors will be arrested in the future. After that, common life will be possible."

In an important legal finding, the court ruled that Blaskic was implementing policies formulated at the highest levels of the Croatian government, making the Croat-Muslim conflict in Bosnia an international conflict.

"The Republic of Croatia did not content itself with merely remaining a spectator on the sidelines or even seek simply to protect its borders," the ruling said. "It intervened in the conflict, pitting Muslims and Croats of central Bosnia against each other."

The Croatian government's role is crucial because of the Geneva Convention charges, which are valid only in international conflict.