CRO GOVT FINDS DOCUMENTS BRINGING INTO QUESTION BLASKIC SENTENCE

ZAGREB, Mar 6 (Hina) - Croatian authorities have found documents

bringing into question the sentence of 45 years in prison The Hague-based war crimes tribunal passed against general Tihomir Blaskic for crimes committed in Lasva Valley, Croatian Premier Ivica Racan said in Zagreb on Monday. "A few days ago we found in Zagreb extensive documentation on the war in BH (Bosnia-Herzegovina) in the period between 1992 and 1994, which sheds more light on the events for which general Blaskic was sentenced in The Hague, and which by first viewing bring into question the arguments of the verdict, and the severity of the sentence itself. The documents, it seems, can identify the real culprits of some crimes, like the one in Ahmici," Racan told on an extraordinary press conference. The premier announced the government would put the documentation at

the disposal of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia in keeping with, he said, the government's obligation to unveil the truth regardless of what it was. "It will be our help in the defence of the country and to general Blaskic in The Hague," Racan asserted. He said the former, Croatian Democratic Union-led government was in possession of the documents, but had not put them at the disposal of Blaskic's defence. General Blaskic, a former military commander in central Bosnia, was sentenced to 45 years in prison for crimes committed in Lasva Valley. Speaking about the Blaskic sentence, Premier Racan said he thought "there was too much politicising in the sentence, i.e. the

argumentation of the sentence." "The sentence is severe, even too severe, and for such a severe punishment it is necessary to have adequate arguments," Racan

said. He voiced hope the sentence would be re-examined during appeal.