The New York Times

Thursday, March 8, 2000

Bosnian Croats Protest War Crimes Court Sentence

By Reuters

KISELJAK, Bosnia (Reuters) - Thousands of Bosnian Croats protested Wednesday against the U.N. war crimes tribunal's decision to sentence former Bosnian Croat General Tihomir Blaskic to 45 years in prison.

Several thousand demonstrated in Blaskic's hometown Kiseljak, 19 miles west of the capital Sarajevo. A Reuters Television cameraman said thousands more took to the streets in their part of the ethnically-divided southern town of Mostar.

Schools and shops in Kiseljak were closed, and students carried Croatian flags and Blaskic posters. Some of them had placards reading ``Why don't you take Muslim generals'' and ``We want General Tihomir Blaskic.''

The tribunal last Friday sentenced Blaskic, the most senior figure to be tried, for orchestrating bloody ethnic cleansing against Muslims during the 1992-1995 Bosnian war. The sentence was the heaviest it has handed down.

The court said Blaskic played a key role in a notorious incident in the Lasva Valley, when Bosnian Croats murdered more than 100 villagers in Ahmici in April 1993 before torching their homes.

``He did not do this evil,'' said Marko Tuka, 55, from Kiseljak. ``One could not have found a better man than him. We were always proud of him and we still are.

``This is an unjust sentence, it is too heavy. There is no evidence for a such verdict,'' declared Tuka, who said he had known Blaskic since he was a school student.

Tuka's remarks echoed opinions of most people who arrived from central Bosnia to pledge support for the former commander of the Bosnian Croat HVO militia. Some of them traveled in buses organized by war veterans' and volunteers' associations.

A Croat from Nova Bila, who declined to identify himself, said that he came to the meeting on his own initiative. ``I feel sorry for the man. He is not guilty,'' he told Reuters.

Croatian government officials and Bosnian Croat leaders have strongly condemned the verdict, saying it was too heavy.

Croatia's Prime Minister Ivica Racan said Monday his government had unearthed files dating back to the rule of the former nationalist cabinet that supported Bosnian Croats in the war which could help establish Blaskic's innocence.

Muslim survivors from Ahmici said last week that a 45-year sentence against Blaskic was too mild.